<p>15:3 <em>Already you are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you</em>- How does the Lord's word cleanse? It is inadequate to suppose that by reading the whole Bible, we are somehow internally cleansed. The same word is used in 13:10 of how they had been cleansed, but not all- for Judas was excepted. Yet he had heard the word, as spoken words- but was not cleansed. As ever in John, the prologue helps us toward understanding. &quot;The word was made flesh&quot;, and was &quot;in the beginning&quot; of His ministry, and &quot;was God&quot;. The reference is not to all the recorded statements of the Lord Jesus, as if we are to read and recite all the red letter words in a New Testament and thereby be cleansed by the exercise. I have suggested elsewhere that the Gospel records were indeed intended to be memorized. But &quot;the word&quot; is the Lord Jesus as a person, in the flesh, as the personality which was the sum total of all His words, miracles, work, personality and character. The word of John 1 was the light of men, in which they should live. <em>Logos</em>, &quot;word&quot;, like <em>rhema</em>, is used to translate the Hebrew <em>dabar</em>. These terms, however, are used to refer not just to words, but to actions and persons. <em>Dabar</em> is used to refer to far more than spoken words; but to things and causes. When the Lord speaks of &quot;My word&quot;, He means not simply His recorded statements, but He Himself, the summary of all His being and personhood. &quot;The acts <em>dabar</em> of David&quot; (1 Chron. 29:29) means not simply his words, but his acts and whole life story. &quot;The things <em>dabar</em> which your eyes have seen&quot; (Dt. 4:9) referred not to words heard, but to experience; and this is a common usage, speaking of event as a &quot;word&quot;. In Hebraic thought, a 'word' is a thing done and not merely words as in lexical items. &quot;The Lord was angry with me for your sakes <em>dabar</em>&quot; (Dt. 4:21) doesn't refer to words so much as to the sake or cause of a person. The Lord's &quot;word&quot; must be understood in this Hebraic sense, far wider than simply His recorded speech as it stands in the Gospels. This is why He speaks of &quot;<em>My</em> words&quot;; the word / <em>logos / dabar</em> which was Him. His reference is not to the words of God in the Bible, but to the word which was Him. Dt. 26:17 records that Israel had chosen Yahweh to be their King; but the Targum on this says that they had appointed the word / <em>logos </em>of God to be their king. The <em>logos</em> of a person is them, with all their actions and events; and thus the word of the Lord Jesus refers to He Himself, just as &quot;the word was God&quot; in the prologue.</p><p>We therefore at this point note the singular, &quot;word&quot;, not &quot;words&quot; as we would expect if His utterances were in view. References in the plural to His &quot;words&quot; may well be an example of the Hebrew plural of majesty- the one great word / <em>logos</em>, which in John's writing can be none other than the Lord personally. We are cleansed by Him, by His blood, His work, and His sacrifice of a uniquely perfect life. The association of cleansing with His sacrifice is a common New Testament theme.</p>