The Strong’s Concordance definition of “word” (Greek word G3056, logos) includes: intention, purpose, plan, something said (including the thought); communication (mouthpiece, special messenger); a topic; reasoning; a motive.” It also means “Divine expression.”
The Greek word “logos” is used 331 times in the New Testament. So it is essential to consider the context. Hebrews 4:12 is referring to the actual word of God, the scriptures, which are a two-edged sword that can bless, teach, instruct, and discipline, and if taken into our hearts and lives, penetrates to our very “joints and marrow” and can help us change our thoughts and intentions of heart to a God-like character. In John 17:17, Jesus, when praying to his Heavenly Father, stated: “Sanctify them in Truth; Thy word (logos) is the Truth.” It is God’s word, His truth, as provided in scripture. Ephesians 6:17, states, “and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.” Jesus has a two-edged sword proceeding from his mouth in Revelation 1:16; 2:12,16; 19:15.
When it states that God’s word is “living and active” it brings to mind Proverbs 4:20-22, stating that God’s words are “life to those that find them, and health to all their flesh.” Jesus states in John 6:63, “…the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life,” and the Apostle Paul states in 1 Timothy 4:5, 6, “…sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine…”
When this same Greek word is referring to Jesus, it demonstrates a being, as shown in John 1:14 (KJV), “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,…” and in Revelation 19:13, “…His name is called the Word (Logos) of God.”
We see that God’s word is truth, and that Jesus as the Word or Logos was the messenger of God’s truth, plans, and purposes. Jesus, both in his pre-human existence, (see Colossians 1:15-16; Proverbs 8:22-31) and as a perfect human being here on earth, (John 1:14) was constantly teaching God’s plans as revealed in the Old Testament. The words which Jesus spoke were not only words of grace, of eternal life, but also words of purification, likened to that sharp, two-edged sword. So also with the New Testament, Jesus and the Apostles are still teaching us God’s word, and it is life to us.