Rhema

Occurrences in Scripture

Rhema is a Greek word in the New Testament meaning "word" or "saying." It is used alongside logos, which has the same meaning. The New Korean Revised Version renders both words mostly as malsseum ("word") or mal ("saying"), so readers of the Korean Bible alone cannot tell the two apart. Representative passages in which rhema appears include the following:

• Matthew 4:4: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
• Luke 1:38: Mary answers the angel, "be it unto me according to thy word."
• Luke 5:5: Peter says, "at thy word I will let down the net."
• John 6:63: "the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."
• Romans 10:17: "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
• Ephesians 6:17: "And take … the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
• Hebrews 11:3: "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God."

Meaning and Background

Rhema is a noun derived from a verb meaning "to speak." Its basic meaning is "that which is spoken," that is, an utterance. At times it extends to the "thing" or "event" to which a word refers. In Luke 2:15, "this thing which is come to pass," which the shepherds set out to see, translates rhema, and in Luke 2:19, "all these things" that Mary kept in her heart translates the plural of rhema. Matthew 18:16, quoting Deuteronomy 19:15, says "that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established"; here "word" (in the sense of a matter or fact) is also rhema. The Hebrew dabar means both "word" and "thing." The Septuagint rendered it with both rhema and logos, and this use of rhema is explained as reflecting that influence.

Relationship to Logos

Within the New Testament, rhema and logos are largely used interchangeably. First Peter 1:23 uses logos for "the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever," while 1:25, shortly after, uses rhema for "the word of the Lord." Likewise, among passages that compare the word to a sword, Ephesians 6:17 uses rhema, whereas Hebrews 4:12 uses logos. For this reason, many lexicons and commentaries regard the two words as nearly synonymous, granting only that rhema places somewhat more emphasis on a concrete utterance. However, only logos is used as a title for Jesus Christ, as in John 1.

Interpretation and Debate

In the twentieth century, some within Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement taught a distinction between the two words: logos is the written, general word, while rhema is the living word that the Holy Spirit gives to a particular person in a particular situation. Kenneth Hagin, a leader of the American Word of Faith movement, is reported to have founded a Bible training center bearing the name "Rhema."

This distinction has met with objections. Critics, including those in the Reformed tradition, point out that, as the usages above show, the original language offers little basis for such a distinction. They also express concern that the distinction may lead people to treat subjective personal experiences as carrying the same authority as the word of God and may weaken the principle of the sufficiency of Scripture. Those who use the distinction explain that rhema is not new revelation added to Scripture; rather, the term refers to the experience in which the words of Scripture are understood by an individual and applied to life through the Holy Spirit. Whichever view one takes, the biblical text itself does not define the two words by dividing them in this way.

In Korean Churches

In Korea, the distinction is known to have been emphasized in the sermons and writings of David Yonggi Cho. As a result, expressions such as "logos becomes rhema" and "I received a rhema" spread widely, particularly within Full Gospel circles. Such expressions are also used in the preaching and devotional life of other denominations, and the word appears in the names of churches and mission organizations. On the other hand, some theologians and pastors, citing the criticisms noted above, caution against using this distinction.