WORDS
By Larry White
May 7, 2020
Words and Persons Words have import; they communicate thought, but only if the hearer is listening and by empathy or at least the suspension of disbelief [abeyance of incredulity], enters into the thought and considers what is said, which is active listening, or even by faith believes it as true.
Jesus is the "Word", the λόγος. But he is not just words. He is the living expression of the person of God. He is "the brightness [effulgence] of God's glory and the express image of his person, and he upholds all things by the word of his power." (Heb. 1:3) But Jesus is not just an expression - he and his father are both persons. The word of God expresses God's will. "The word of his power" suggests a divine will that calls into being all that is, and wills it to continue to be. "By him all things consist" [i.e. hold together and continue to exist] (Col. 1:17).
By definition: Logos is the Greek language for word. "the expression of thought," not the mere name of an object, (a) as embodying a conception or idea, e.g., Luke 7:7; 1 Cor. 14:9,19; (b) a saying or statement, ..."the word of the Lord," i.e., the revealed will of God. [W. E. Vine]
In a recent movie "Inkheart" Mortimer Folchart says, "The written word - it's a powerful thing." (in contradiction to the movie's theme)
Rather, I think it is the spoken word that is powerful. The story in the book Inkheart labored to make that very point. The written word is only the graphical record of the spoken message. "You cannot get wet from the word 'water'." [Alan Watts] The word must be "heard". However, even an uneducated child can hear speech. So, "to hear" in the scriptures is many times used for the faculty of understanding. Like the seed of the sower, the speech must enter the heart and be understood by the mind and apprehended or grasped, i.e. take root. This takes faith. "So then, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the sayings concerning Christ." Rom. 10:17. But to understand in any depth one has to believe what is heard. As the original quote from Isaiah asked, "Who has believed our report." (Isa. 53:1)Some in the church say they have faith, yet many do not "hear" the word of Christ. As Jesus asked the Pharisees, "Why can you not understand my speech, even because you cannot hear my word." We might translate: "Why can you not understand what I am saying, it is because you are not by faith grasping the meaning of my statements."
There is a related Greek word that is translated 'message'.
To define, we have:
[Thayer] on rhema 'ρημá "1. That which has been uttered by the living voice, thing spoken, word. 2. In imitation of the Hebrew, the subject matter of speech, the thing spoken of."[Vine] "This message or thing spoken is translated from the Greek 'ρημá, rhema> (plur. rhemata) from rheo: to flow, denotes "that which is spoken, what is uttered in speech or writing;"... Rom. 10:8 (twice),17, RV, "the word of Christ" (i.e., the "word" which preaches Christ); ...The significance of rhema (as distinct from logos) is exemplified in the injunction to take "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word [rhema] of God," Eph. 6:17; here the reference is not to the whole Bible as such, but to the individual scripture which the Spirit brings to our remembrance."
The sword of the spirit is the word (rhema) of God, i.e. the sayings; what God has said about Christ; his message and sayings that have application to the conflict with which you are faced and for which you need to draw your sword. Eph. 6:17
Another example is in linguistics: the "topic" (or theme) is informally what is talked about (our subject), and the "comment" (rheme or focus) is what is being said about the topic.
The Spirit speaks expressly
Does the Holy Spirit use his own words to speak? Jesus said,
"However, when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth; for he will not speak from himself, but whatever he hears he will speak; and he will tell you things to come. He will glorify me, for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore I said that he will take of mine and declare it to you." (Jno.16:13-15)
He showed them things to come, like the revelation to John. But it was not the Holy Spirit's revelation, it was the revelation of Jesus Christ which he received from God the father and signified and sent it by an angel to John. (Rev. 1:1)
When the Holy Spirit quickens us to spiritual life in the new birth, it is not his life he gives, but the life of Jesus Christ that he is communicating to us, (Col.3:4; Rom.8:2-4). Jesus is the resurrection and the life. (John 11:25)
"In him was life and the life was the light of men." (John 1:4)The Spirit speaks expressly in 1Tim.4:1, but they are the words of Jesus. Agabus received a revelation about Paul's arrest in Jerusalem and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit." (Acts. 21:9-11) But that still must be considered the communication of Jesus from the Father. "he shall take of mine and shall show it to you." (John 16: 14-15)
However, when it is said that the Holy Spirit himself is communicating it is with groanings that cannot be uttered. (Rom. 8:36) And here, he is not speaking to us, but to God on our behalf. It may even be that the Holy Spirit does not use words himself at all. Any words he uses are from the Word, Jesus Christ. So how could someone think that the Spirit dwells in us through the words of scripture? The Holy Spirit is not words. He is a person like all other spirits. He is non-local, like Jesus explained to Nicodemus in John 3:8.
You might be thinking that when you believe the words, they control you because they are in your heart and thus the words of the Holy Spirit have control and that is how he 'dwells' in your heart. But in that case you have redefined the word 'dwell' and left off his actual residence, because you think he is not there and cannot be there. Therefore your definition of 'dwell' becomes "has control", when the real definition is to be "fixed and operative in a house," to reside in a house (οίκέω, oikeo) and then have influence in the residence. [see Thayer]
Words have content. They have meaning. They carry ideas and information. What God says must be believed. Without faith the words of God will not benefit us, they will only condemn us for our unbelief.
To the spiritual man all this would seem elementary and unnecessary. But this is not written to the spiritual man but to the carnal, the Christian who thinks that he is in control and under law.
The Church and the Supernatural
When one teaches God's children that their only contact with God or the spiritual realm is found only by the medium of the word, meaning the written scriptures, they are being led again into bondage to the letter that Paul says kills, when all the while it is the Spirit that gives life. (2Cor. 3:6) The message of God is thus turned into another law that imprisons them to dictatorial minutia in every verse that is taken out of context and used as prima facie "word proofs". It is very like what Jesus said about the ironic behavior of the Jews.
"You search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And you will not come to me, that you might have life." (John 5:39-40)
Those who have faith in God's word, who with good and honest hearts understand it in its context and keep it, will nevertheless continue to experience the strength that the Holy Spirit gives in temptation and the insight he gives to their enlightened eyes of the spiritual realm, and will be able to discern the will of God with the mind of Christ; that which is good and acceptable and complete - these are all spiritual blessings of which the message of God speaks. (2 Timothy 2:19)
However, one runs the great risk of destroying those who instead, believe what you say, which could lead them into the habit of stifling every spiritual insight they may receive as 'weakness' or possibly as 'emotional disturbances' or even as 'insanity'. If what you call normal is just the result of words in the mind, then I'll gladly take a spiritual insight into God's word through the help of the Holy Spirit, though some may consider me to be beside myself. (2Cor.5:13; Acts 26:24-25)
The Holy Spirit gives us the light of life. (John 7:38-39; 8:12)
"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, so that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man, so Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
"Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the assembly by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
(Eph. 3:14-21)This all starts with God, who in answer to prayer, strengthens us with power through his Spirit in our inner man. No, there will not be electric sparks from our finger tips. It's rather like stepping out of a stuffy room into the cool, fresh evening air and being able to perceive the distant horizon. But spiritually, we will have the inner strength to be able to see afar off and be one in unity with God and our Lord Jesus Christ; to experience the fullness of God.
LW