''Rhema'' (ῥῆμα in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

) literally means an "utterance" or "thing said" in Greek. It is a word that signifies the action of utterance. In

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, it was used by both

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

and

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

to refer to

proposition A proposition is a statement that can be either true or false. It is a central concept in the philosophy of language, semantics, logic, and related fields. Propositions are the object s denoted by declarative sentences; for example, "The sky ...

s or sentences. In

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

, it is used in reference to the concept of ''Rhemata Christou'', Jesus Christ's sayings.

Etymology

The Greek noun ῥῆμα "saying, utterance, word, verb" is analyzed as consisting of the root ἐρ-/ῥε- (er-/rhe-) "say" (cf. εἴρω "I say"; ἐρῶ "I will say") and the suffix -μα (-ma), a suffix used to form nouns from verbs.

Greek philosophers

Both

(c. 428–347 BC) and

(384–322 BC) used the terms ''logos'', ''rhema'' and ''onoma''. In Plato's usage, a

logos ''Logos'' (, ; ) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric, as well as religion (notably Logos (Christianity), Christianity); among its connotations is that of a rationality, rational form of discourse that relies on inducti ...

(often translatable as a ''sentence'') is a sequence in which verbs are mingled with nouns and every logos must have an onoma and rhema. For Plato, every logos was either true or false and in a logos, names included rhema ''which denotes actions'' and onoma a ''mark set on those who do the actions''.''General linguistics'' by Francis P. Dinneen 1995 page 11

/ref> Aristotle identified three components as central to the proposition: ''onoma'', ''rhema'' and ''logos''. These terms are translated differently depending on the context of the discussion—grammar or logic, as in the table on the right. But it was only in the 12th century that grammarians began to think in terms of units we understand as ''subject'' and ''predicate''.

Septuagint usage

The

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

translation of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

word '' dabar'', as the Word of God.

In Christianity

In Christianity, the Greek word ''rhema'' is useful to distinguish between two meanings of ''word''. While both ''rhema'' and ''logos'' are translated into the English ''word'', in the original Greek there was a substantial distinction. Some modern usage distinguishes ''rhema'' from ''logos'' in

Christian theology Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Ch ...

, with ''rhema'' at times called "spoken word", referring to the revelation received by disciples when the

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

"speaks" to them.''What Every Christian Ought to Know'' by Adrian Rogers 2005 page 16

/ref> In this usage, "Logos" refers to Christ.''The Trinitarian controversy'' by William G. Rusch 1980 page

/ref>

References

{{Reflist Christian theology Christology Ancient Greek philosophical concepts Greek words and phrases Linguistics Sayings of Jesus