Word (Hastings' Dictionary)

Commenting on Dt 8', Philo says [Leg. Allcg. iii. 01), rh iiii> yi.p irrdixa. ffirfx^oXov rov Xityov^ t6 5^ p^M^ fi^ptK aCrroO. The definition of priijui, as an isolated specitic alKr- mation in contrast with X47os, a connected whole, though for the most part tenable, cannot be uni- versally accepted. In LXX both words are used indilVeieiitly as tr. of i?^, and sometimes X670! is found, where on the ground of this distinction we might have expected M/«i (Is 50^).

In the familiar phrase, 'the word of the Lord came,' 'word' is rendered in the historical books, now by X47os (2 .S 24", 1 K 6" 12^ 16' etc.), now by prjfui (1 S 15'°, 2 S "*, 1 K 17» 19» etc.) ; but in the prophetical books (with the pos-sible exception of Jer 1', where the translation is inexact) X(^ot is invariably used to denote the message which God revealed to the prophet that he migTit declare it to the people in 11 is name.

It may oe noted that, in referring to the call of the Baptist — ' the word of the Lord came nnto John ' (3'^) — St. Luke uses pfifia. The choice of ^5/ia may be accidental ; or ho may have done so designedly to mark the contrast between the word that came to the Baptist and the word (X470f) pro- claimed and revealed by Christ.

At a very early date, if not at the very begin- ning of the Church, A Xoyot was used xar' ^foxi)" to desJOTate the special revelation of grace given in and by Jesus Christ (Lk 1', Ac 4 etc.) Our Lord appears to have so described His inessagc (Mt 13^, Mk4'). St. Mark thus summarizes llie teaching of Jesus (2^).

At the institution of the diacouate the apostles characterize their own distinctive duty as a steadfast continuance in the ministry of the word (Ac 6) ; it is represented as the exclusive subject and substance of the i)roclaniation of the early missionaries of the cross (Ac 8 17'' etc.); it is found in the earliest as well as in the latest of the Epistles of St. Paul ( 1 Th 1«, 2 Ti 4-).

By describing the gospel in this way, the speakers or writers meant to imply that it was tlie perfect and authoritative word which was to supersede all other words that God h.ad spoken to men. In relation to its origin it is the word of God (Lk 8", Ac 4", 1 Co 14* He 4'=, 1 P !

•«) ; in respect of its method of communication it is the word of hearing (1 Th 2", He 4-) ; as to its nature it is the word of the kingdom (Mt 13"), of truth (2 Ti 2"'), of life (Ph 2'«) ; it is pre-eminently the word of salvation (Ac 13*), of reconciliation (2 Co 5"), the word of the cross (1 Co l'). (See Cremer, Bill. Theol. Lex. pp. 302, 393; Trench, N.T. Sijn. 289, 337). For Word in the personal sense see Logos. John Patrick.