📖 Biblical Definition
The Word of the LORD is the active, effective speech of God — both the act of speaking and the message spoken. The word of the LORD came unto the prophets in a settled formula across the Old Testament. Christ is named the Word (Jn 1:1); the Bible is the written Word; preaching faithful to the Bible is heralded as the word of the LORD. All four senses converge in one God who speaks.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
(Composite.) The active and effective speech of God; encompassing the prophetic word, the written Scripture, and the Word made flesh.
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Hebrew devar YHWH appears more than 240 times in the Old Testament. The formulation and the word of the LORD came to [prophet] is the settled prophetic introduction.
John 1:1-14 climbs the ladder: the eternal Word, the creative Word, the incarnate Word. Hebrews 4:12 makes the Word quick and powerful, sharper than any twoedged sword. The Bible itself is, in the Reformers' phrasing, the written Word of God.
📖 Key Scripture
Jeremiah 1:4 — "Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying."
Isaiah 55:11 — "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please."
John 1:1 — "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Hebrews 4:12 — "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christianity often hears the Word as advice; Scripture insists it is active, effective, and self-fulfilling.
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Isaiah 55:11 makes the claim that grounds all biblical preaching: God's word does not return void; it accomplishes. The Word is not passive information; it is divine action through audible or written form.
The household's posture toward the Word should match the Word's nature: not consultation but reception, not opinion but obedience. Read it expecting it to do what God sent it to do.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew devar and Greek logos are the foundational nouns.
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Hebrew devar — word, matter, thing; devar YHWH, the word of the LORD.
Greek logos — word, reason, account; the Logos of John 1, Christ Himself.
Usage
"The Word of the LORD does not return void."
"Christ is the Word; the Bible is the written Word; faithful preaching heralds the Word."
"Read it expecting it to do what God sent it to do."