Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

WORD

In the OT the main term for “word,” Heb. dāḇār, means an articulate and intelligible utterance. It is used more frequently in such phrases as “the word of the Lord” or “the word of God” than in other technical senses, though it also appears in reference to human speech (Ps. 19:14[MT 15]). When not literally referring to human verbal expression the term has mainly a metaphoric meaning, implying that God, e.g., sets forth a message, command, instruction, or announcement. Sometimes this word comes as an hypostasis of God, i.e., as a divine agent acting as an emission of God’s power. At other times it is described as a personalization of God’s power in the speech of a human agent such as a prophet. It was a short step from such usage to identification of the spoken or written word of the prophets and apostles as the word of God.

The NT generally uses Gk. lógos, which means essentially the same as dāḇār in the OT. The term normally implies a dialogue between the sender and receiver of the word. In Scripture the dialogue is between humans, or in the case of the word of God it is usually between God and a person or persons. As in all communication, the sender may intend something different than the receiver hears or perceives. Words carry meaning freight which is varied with the contexts and constructs in which they are used. The Bible frequently notes that when the word of God is sent forth humans do not always “have ears to hear” or “hearts to receive” the word. This is a problematic factor in the divine-human dialogue, often associated in Scripture with human failure or disfunction. This often becomes the virtual definition of sin in the Bible, namely, broken communication and hence alienated covenant relationship. When God’s word is heard and heeded it has the power to save. The word in both testaments, particularly when associated with divine expression, is powerful to create, redeem, or judge. In the prologue to the Fourth Gospel the Word is personalized as the agent of God in creating the world, sustaining it in divine providence and illumination, and redeeming it through incarnation in Jesus Christ, who is therefore described as the transcendent and preexistent Logos.

See Logos.

J. Harold Ellens