Recently I’ve been parsing the two different words for ‘WORD’ that we find in the Greek New Covenant. They are rhema and logos. There are seventy occurrences of the word ‘rhema’ in the New Covenant. I’ll not follow all the rabbit trails (there are so many lines of thought) but there is something so very interesting found in Luke 1:37, 38.
Most translations read something like...
‘For nothing will be impossible with God.’
The context is the angel Gabriel informing Miriam of her soon to be Christ Child, as well as how it all will unfold.
Now, what is so incredible about this verse is that when you go back to the Greek, you will see that the word ‘rhema’ is actually used here, but not really clear from the English translation(s). You’ve heard it said ‘lost in translation’...well, this is one great example.
You’ll find that ‘rhema’ can indeed be translated as ‘thing’. However, the common definition means ‘a thing which has been spoken’. In other words, a topic or saying which someone has ‘breathed out’ through vocalizing it.
The Greek looks like this...
ὅτι οὐκ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ πᾶν ῥῆμα.
A literal translation would look like this...
‘for - not - will be impossible - with - the - God - every - spoken word’
So, we should think about this verse (considering its context) like: “For nothing spoken by God shall be impossible” OR “For no Word from God will ever fail” OR “Because with God every saying will not be impossible”. Wow, that’s some fresh, novel thinking for your Friday!
Now, let’s quickly READ the next verse as it should be thought of and read aloud (because rhema is used here again). Miriam says to Gabriel, “May it become to me according to your rhema”.
IF ‘thing’ were the best translation for ‘rhema’ in verse 37, then it could be used again in verse 38 here, and well, ‘let it be to me according to your thing’ just doesn’t make sense, no? :)
Isn’t God’s WORD (Logos/rhema) both remarkable and mysterious? Isn’t His Living Logos (which can be thought of as His ‘written Text’ [Torah/Instruction]) mind altering and yet so comforting at the same time? Yes, it is. To know that ADONAI’s WORD to and for us, indeed, canNot fail, behold It is Eternal And I am so thankful for It...
"Set them apart for holiness by means of the Truth - Your Word (Logos) is Truth." ~Yeshua [John 17:17]
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