The Word of Faith – The Rhema of Faith

Copyright by James Carlson

*Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity in Crisis, 1993/2012

The Word of Faith is simply the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Many writers have purposed to reveal the truth of God’s Word but many, if not most, have failed simply to take God’s Word at face value. With the movements that have championed the phrase, the Rhema of Faith, false doctrines have risen that have created cults and heresy that we still deal with in the 21st century*

Let’s begin where we always should, with the actual text of the Bible that is the focus of our attention:

8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): [Romans 10:8; New King James Version (NKJV)]

The Word of Faith is a phrase in English based upon the original Greek text where the word for ‘word’ is ‘rhema.’ As a word study, from the Greek dictionary of the Strong’s Concordance (4487), we find that it is a ‘spoken word’ made by a living voice. This is commonly used in the New Testament to refer to the dynamic living word of Jesus to draw a believer to faith in the Lord Jesus. We find it again in the same chapter as the verse above:

17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. [Romans 10:17; NKJV]

Again, the Greek word for ‘word’ here is ‘rhema.’ The word spoken is that which comes from God, not man. This has been called, "His inwrought persuasion." This is where the believer gets his foundation for faith in Christ Jesus from the word spoken (living word) from God.

It has pleased God to use this tool of ‘preaching’ to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ:

14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace [*Isaiah 52:7],

Who bring glad tidings of good things! [**Nahum 1:15]

[Romans 10:14-15]

*How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion,“Your God reigns!”

**Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace! O Judah, keep your appointed feasts, perform your vows.

So Paul used the method of preaching to distribute the Word of God, the Gospel of Peace of the Lord Jesus Christ. This method of preaching Paul also calls foolishness:

21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. [I Cor 1:21 NKJV]

The foolishness of preaching is better than the wisdom (philosophy) of man. By the wisdom of man, people were not even able to accept the basics that there is a Living God who created the entire universe:

20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, [Romans 1:20, 22; NKJV]

Paul noted here that many Romans placed greater value on the philosophy (phileo-sophia; Love of Wisdom) of man than the witness of God’s creation. Dismissing the witness of God, God decided to use preaching to reveal the mystery of the Gospel of Christ:

7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 

8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 

9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, [Ephesians 3:7-9; NKJV]

The Mystery of the Gospel was revealed by the preaching of the Apostle Paul. He was given Grace and sent by God to the Gentiles to preach of the salvation that was in Christ Jesus. We also find this in Romans where he says:

15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.

Peter also was called to preach but to the Jews of his day. On the day of Pentecost the first sermon was preached in which Peter drew from the prophecy of Joel saying:

21 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.* [Acts 2:21; NKJV]

*32 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls. [Joel 2:32; NKJV]

In Romans we find Paul echoing this verse:

13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” [Romans 1:13; NKJV]

Paul was not blindly quoting the prophet Joel or the Apostle Peter, we find a direct correlation to this verse in the meaning of what the Rhema of Faith is. As the spoken word is given via the foolishness of preaching, Paul said that this is the Word of Faith which we preach. The “WE” in this verse is no trivial. The “WE” refers to Paul and Peter and the entire promotion of the Gospel of Peace of Jesus Christ. As Peter noted that anyone who calls on the ‘name of the Lord’ shall be saved, Paul follows the verse on the Word (Rhema) of Faith in Romans 10: with Romans 10:9:

9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. [Romans 1:13; NKJV]

So as we connect the dots with Peter and Paul in Romans 10:9 & 13, let’s review what this Word of Faith actually is.

The Word of Faith in Romans 10:9 is an interesting word study with the word ‘confess’ that is translated from the Greek word ‘homologeo.’ This word comes from ‘homo’ meaning ‘same’ and ‘logeo’ from ‘logos’ meaning word. The idea of a ‘same word’ is like a contract between 2 parties that they both agree to this contract is the ‘same word’ between them. To ‘same word’ the Lord Jesus, or to ‘confess’ Jesus to become our Lord is to make a ‘covenant’ (contract) for Jesus to become our Lord; this is our ‘confession’ of Faith or the New Covenant we have with God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In a twist of word studies, the word ‘logos’ is the static written word whereas the living spoken word is fluid and not static. Once we read out loud what is written down (logos) it becomes a living word (rhema).

To review this word, ‘homologeo’ in another context, we see in 1 John how it is used:

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. [1 John 1:9-10; NKJV]

Here we have the phrase ‘confess our sins.’ Clearly, we don’t want to make contract or covenant with our sins but as the word is ‘homologeo’ in the Greek, we do want to ‘same word’ it. As God calls our sin SIN, we agree that we are sinners and ‘confess’ our sins or agree with God that we share the same word about our sins that they are sin and sinful. And in verse 10 it says that if we disagree with God about our sin, his ‘word’ (Logos; 3056) is not in us.

So back to Romans and the Word of Faith. We know now that the Word of Faith is the confession of faith in Christ Jesus where we covenant with our mouth the Lord Jesus (ask Jesus to become our Lord). As we accept his Lordship and believe in the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are saved from the slavery of our sins. This message is literally preached as the Word of Faith.

Jesus taught us that to promote the Gospel, we have to be sewers of the word. This is found in the parable of the Sower of the Word in Matthew 13:1–23, Mark 4:1–20, and Luke 8:4–15. The word or Gospel (good news) is cast forth and lands on various kinds of soil. For the disciples (later to become apostles), they were to sew the Word of God into the hearts of those who hear them preach the Gospel. This sewing (sowing) was in reference to the Great Commission that Jesus commanded us to follow:

15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. [Mark 16:15; NKJV]

Can if be more clear? If you’ve been patient and followed along this far, we can add things up. The Gospel of Christ Jesus is what we are supposed to preach. As Paul said in Romans, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace.” This is by commission by order of our Lord Jesus. Again we find this in Ephesians:

15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; [Ephesians 6:15; NKJV]

This is a part of the Armor of God for the people of God. We are to be prepared to spread the Gospel of Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ all over the world. This is the Great Commission.

Further, as we spread the Word of Faith or the Rhema of Faith, we have learned that there are 2 forms of ‘rhema’ in the spoke or living word and then the static written word as the logos is read out loud. This Rhema of Faith is different in that it is the Gospel of Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ that is preached to all nations. This preaching is a ‘rhema’ and we have a 3rd form of ‘rhema’ with the preaching (rhema) of the Gospel.

We find this concept clearly presented in Romans:

17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. [Romans 10:17; NKJV]

As Paul preaches a Living Word (rhema) in Romans 10:8, God couples with that to send forth His own Living Word (rhema) in Romans 10:17 – the Rhema of Faith. The hearer hears the Living Word (rhema) from the preacher in the physical ear but then the hearer hears the Living Word (rhema) in the spiritual ear (in the heart). This is the penetrating Word of Faith that is coupled with the Power of God for salvation!!!

Preaching in a general context is a pretext for riots. People get stirred up by a false spirit of darkness and they in turn do works that are riotous and criminal. The preaching of the Word of God, however, is coupled with the Spirit of God who convicts the soul of the sinner to represent (turn unto) Himself for the forgiveness of sin. This God will do in the name of Jesus based upon his good work on the Cross.

17 So then faith comes by hearing [physical], and hearing [spiritual] by the word of God. [Romans 10:17; NKJV]

This is the mechanism of our salvation. This is the Great Commission. This is the Rhema of Faith, which we preach. The Gospel of Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Confess that you are a sinner, ask Jesus to become your Lord, believe that God raised Jesus from the death of the Cross having paid for the penalty of your sins, and you will be Saved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that we have an understanding of what the Word of Faith is from the Bible, we can explore what it is not.

To start with, let’s review a warning from the Apostle Paul who said:

6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,

7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 

8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 

9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

Given this passage it would be helpful to look behind the English word ‘accursed’ and discover the original Greek word ‘anathema.’ Anathema is a religious ban or excommunication. Paul was so concerned about the problem of subverting the true Gospel with another gospel that he said twice that they should be put out of the Church – excommunicated. This is not a trivial matter. The Word Faith heresy, born of a cult, is an alternate gospel and no gospel at the same time. This teaching is accursed and so too those who preach it.

A simple example will suffice to demonstrate how Biblical truths are twisted to mean something entirely different than what the Bible says:

3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. [Hebrews 11:3; NKJV]

This is different from Romans 1:20 where the Creator is clearly seen from the creation around us. Here in Hebrews we find a reference to the Creation account in Genesis:

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 

2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 

4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. [Genesis 1:1-5; NKJV]

Here in the first person witness of creation by God, we find that God spoke the sentence, “Let there be light.” It is from this that the world was created. We take this not as a witness to ourselves as this is God’s witness to us. We take it by faith that this is true because declares it to be true. So as we read in Hebrews 1:3, we know by faith; our knowledge didn’t come from science speculation or experimentation but from the Word of God and as we believe it to be true, we know if by faith. What we know is simple, God spoke the world into existence. How hard is that?

Well, it is the objective of some to twist the meaning of Hebrews 11:3 to suggest that God, by faith, spoke into existence, the world. This twist is often used to suggest we have the power of our word to create as God created in Genesis 1:3. This type of teaching is heresy. God did not use faith to create nor can we.

Many centuries ago, the Latin mass was twisted with the adulterated phrase, hocus pocus (hoc est corpus meum), which should mean, "This is my body." People over time have perverted the meaning of this phrase thinking they could transform material items just as the Priest of the Latin mass who oversees the sacrament of the Eucharist and the supposed transformation of the wafer into the body of Christ. This has since become a magician’s magic trick. The modern version is to speak a word and expect God to respond by some sort of biblical rules to accomplish a similar transformation, which amounts to nothing more than ‘wishcraft.’ It is a heresy that should be anathema in the Church.

Faith has to have an object. If the object of faith is faith itself, we have a false belief, which is by definition a superstition. Instead our faith should be in the person of Jesus; Jesus is the object of our faith. As we believe in Jesus for salvation, we trust in Jesus for our sanctification, and hope in Jesus for our glorification. The type of faith we are to have is to commit our lives to the Lordship of Jesus to guide us by His Spirit throughout our lives. And in every step along the way, Jesus is the object of our faith. We are not little lords over our lives and the circumstances we encounter. Instead, Jesus is Lord and we surrender to His Will to find the life of an overcomer. That is the purpose of Hebrews 11, the Hall of Fame of Faith.