Rhema: Encyclopedia II - Rhema - Differences in interpreting Rhema and Logos

Rhema - Differences in interpreting Rhema and Logos

Pentecostal and Evangelical Christians have different understandings of how Rhema should be used and understood.

Pentecostal Christians view Rhema as the voice of the Holy Spirit as it speaks to the believer at the present moment. In this sense, the Christian should be guided by the Holy Spirit as he/she is guided through inner feelings, impressions and experiences. God's Rhema, the direct words of God to the individual, can also be imparted through the words of others, such as a preacher in a worship service, or a friend who counsels them. In this sense, God's direct guidance can be determined by a variety of means.

By contrast, the Logos (λόγος), as the written word found in the Bible, while important, contains general information about the Christian life rather than specific guidance.

The Spirit may, however, use passages in the Bible, the Logos, to create specific guidance, Rhema, in the individual. An example of this might be a Christian who wants to start his own small business. So he asks God whether he should begin his business now or later, and then opens the Bible and finds the verse "What you are about to do, do quickly" (John 13.27), which indicates that God wants him to start it now. Even though the verse, in its context, refers to Judas' betrayal of Jesus, the verse also has the secondary function of being used as the Spirit's direct word of guidance, and can be interpreted out of context in order for the Rhema - the direct words of God - to function.

Evangelical Christians, however, have a much different understanding of rhema. Many evangelicals, especially Calvinists see rhema as being almost synonymous with logos. In other words, the specific guidance we receive from the Holy Spirit at any given time can only be discerned by the general principles laid down in the written word - the Bible. But this sort of guidance is not the same as that described above - it can only give general guidance about how the decision should be made. If we used the same example of the Christian wondering about when to start their business, the evangelical would argue that God will not give any specific guidance - it is up to the person to work it out for themselves. What God can give guidance on is on how that business should be run, and what the business actually does (Running a Brothel, for instance, would be wrong).

For evangelicals, then, the rhema is when God speaks directly to a person as they apply the Bible's teaching to a specific subject. If there is no Biblical teaching about that specific situation then the Christian may make up their own mind as to what they should do. This is because God has already determined what will happen anyway.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Differences in interpreting Rhema and Logos", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki