The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 ESV

A while ago, I heard a teaching from an individual professing to be an apostle, and in this teaching, she was giving insight into hearing the voice of God. She talked about the rhema word and the importance of being under anointed vessels of the fivefold like herself so that the truth of the Word could be taught and imparted. She stressed to those listening how important it was to not be skeptical but to be childlike in receiving this fresh revelation and that when reading the Bible, we should expect to hear God speak something new to us every time we read it and being childlike helps us to hear God in other ways as well outside of His Word.

This same individual referenced 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 in other public teachings found online, stating that the spiritual things and the hidden mysteries are only received by those with childlike expectancy. However, a closer look at this passage indicates the spiritual things are understood by those who are believers in Christ and who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the spiritual things based on surrounding verses point to the gospel of Jesus Christ, Him crucified and resurrected. The unregenerate man considers this message folly or foolishness and cannot accept the truth of the gospel in correlation to sin and the need for Christ’s redemption and reconciliation on his/her behalf.

I mention these verses because this caught my attention, and when I heard this teaching about hearing the voice of God and the reference to having childlike faith, I understood her reference, at least from her perspective. There is an old desire to hear a fresh and new revelation from God. I say old because nothing is new about this desire. We all at some point desire new and fresh things. Sadly, I can relate too much in my former ways as a “prophet” in believing to hear God’s voice in a particular verse of Scripture and then writing about this fresh revelation and relating it to a current situation. The original context and understanding were not pursued. There was a desire to hear God for myself. There had to be something more. People are looking for more, and a rhema word falls into the category of the more.

Depending on who you ask, the rhema word is an utterance inspired by God. It is not always the spoken logos. Others would disagree with this. When looking at Scripture, we can see these two words are used in the original Greek manuscripts. For example, when describing the armor of God for the believer, Ephesians 6:17 mentions the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The word used there is rhema. In doing a study on this, Strong’s Concordance stated that rhema in this verse means, “the doctrines and promises of God revealed and taught in the Bible.” Strong’s goes on to state about rhema, “the reference is not to the whole Bible as such, but to the individual Scripture, which the Spirit brings to our remembrance for use in time of need, a prerequisite being the regular storing of the mind with Scripture.”

We see other verses referencing the spoken Word of God (rhema). Romans 10:8, 17 uses rhema for “word”, “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim). So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” This is in context to the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We know when tempted in the wilderness, Jesus spoke the written Word of God (Matthew 4:4). This is understood to be rhema. In His High priestly prayer in John 17:8, Jesus said, “For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.” Jesus spoke the written Word to His disciples.

Concerns in Hearing God Personally

According to Bill Hamon, “A rhema is an inspired Word birthed within your own spirit, a whisper from the Holy Spirit like the still, small voice that spoke to Elijah in the cave. It is a divinely inspired impression upon your soul, a flash of thought or a creative idea from God. It is conceived in your spirit but birthed into your natural understanding by divine illumination. A true rhema carries with it a deep inner assurance and witness of the Spirit.” (Prophets and Personal Prophecy) For those of us acquainted with this term in the charismatic and hyper charismatic church, this is a familiar definition. Some may have even taken passages of Scripture and given a hidden prophetic meaning to others, a fresh revelation attributed to God. Though it is stated that the logos (written) Word is held in high regard, the rhema is also held in high regard and given more attention and reverence than the Scriptures.

There are legitimate concerns with this understanding of a rhema word, the first being God speaking becoming subjective in nature. If a verse can mean whatever an individual claims while also claiming new divine inspiration and revelation from the Holy Spirit, then it has no objective meaning, and the truth becomes fluid. The concept of studying the Word for proper understanding can get pushed to the wayside and using your God given mind may be diminished or even frowned upon, despite the fact that Scripture instructs us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and our minds.

The experience now becomes central, and any appeal from contextual understanding, hermeneutics, and exegesis may be viewed as religious and void of the Spirit. A false dichotomy is drawn sometimes in saying that an appeal to Scripture and God having already spoken through His Word while expressing concerns for extrabiblical revelation and hearing God’s voice personally equivalates to denying the Holy Spirit still being active. This could not be further from the truth. The Holy Spirit is very much active in the life of a believer according to Scripture, and perhaps this is a fair consideration: The belief that a fresh utterance and a supernatural experience is the primary evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit is denying His sanctifying work in a believer and is in fact placing perceived limitations on the Third Person of the Trinity.

I encourage you to look further into the use of the word logos and rhema in Scripture and to also study from the Word of God all of the ways the Holy Spirit is active in the life of a believer in Christ. We must remember the Bible is Christ centered, and studying His Word is a labor of love. Claiming something new and fresh does not equal objective truth. Anyone claiming new revelation is to be tested. This is Biblical instruction. We can be confident in reading God’s Word He has spoken to us for our instruction and as a facet of our fellowship with Him, and we can understand His Word properly by the same Holy Spirit who carried men along to write it.

Listen to this episode of The Lovesick Scribe podcast as we take a look at some examples of “rhema” words, the meaning of this word, and the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer: The Rhema Word You Need – The Lovesick Scribe Podcast | Podcast on Spotify