The Word
1 Peter 1: 25(a) But the word of the Lord endures forever.
From Fr. Malaty, commentary on 1 Peter
He means by this word:
Logos: that is, the Word Incarnate, for through His cross, burial and resurrection, we were buried with Him in baptism so we may rise putting on Christ. (Gal. 3:27)
The word of the gospel: by which you were preached.
I have long considered this idea, that whenever I hear or read something like “the word,” or “the word of God,” it could mean either Scripture or the Logos – the Son. Perhaps it could mean both. I think I may have even written about this in the past.
With this in mind, consider the following passages from 1 Peter (bolding is mine):
1 Peter 1: 22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, 24 because “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, 25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
2: 1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
2: 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
In each case, I can understand the term as standing in for “Scripture,” or standing in for the “Logos,” or standing in for both. It works perfectly well in all cases; it strikes me as theologically valid…or at least reasonable.
One more for good measure:
Romans 10: 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
I have wondered the same. No translation, exegesis, or explication exists in a vacuum. When is logos Word and when is it word?
As an aside, today’s OT reading is the first part of Exodus 34. The Legacy Standard Bible reads as though the two powers in Heaven are interacting with Moses. The version in the American Catholic lectionary reads as though Yahweh alone is interacting with Moses. The Spanish version is also just Yahweh and Moses.