“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” – Hebrews 4:12
The more I've re-read this verse, the more layers I've discover. Consider:
+ The word of God is alive — but not just alive, it’s active. It could be alive and passive, much as my faith sometimes seems to be. But it is actively doing things.
+ So how is it active? What actions does it take? It penetrates my very soul and spirit, my joints, my bones. Not only that, it actually judges my thoughts and attitudes.
+ How does it do that? How do words on a page become active? I get that they penetrate, but that happens when I reflect on them and allow my soul and spirit to understand their meaning. But it’s more than that. The word of God actually judges my thoughts and attitudes and it convicts me in ways that are beyond my own reasoning.
+ Is this the work of the Holy Spirit? Or is this Jesus? Or both? The Hebrews passage doesn’t capitalize “word,” but it’s the same Greek word — logos. And we know that one of the names given to Jesus was the Word.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. “ — John 1:1-3
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” — John 1:14
Note from www.blueletterbible.org: A Greek philosopher named Heraclitus first used the term Logos around 600 B.C. to designate the divine reason or plan which coordinates a changing universe.
