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What, exactly, is the “Word of God”? When we read the words “Word of God” in our Bible, what does the author of the passage mean?

There are many passages in our Bible that refer to “the Word of God” or “the Word of the Lord”.  The Hebrew and Greek words for “word” both mean “message”.   So, when we read “Word of God” or “Word of the Lord” it means a message from our loving, heavenly Father to his human children.

In our Bible there are many occasions when our loving Father spoke to his children through prophets. (A prophet is someone used by God to pass on a message.  This message may, or may not, foretell the future.)  Passages dealing with these occasions often begin with the words; “The word of the Lord came to…”, “Thus says the Lord…”, or “Hear the word of the Lord”.

For example, in the Old Testament:

“Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah:” (Isaiah 38:4)

And in the New Testament:

“…the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah. in the wilderness;” (Luke 3:2)

The actual language used to describe these occasions is very strong. For example, a better translation of “The word of the Lord came to…” would be “The word of the Lord became actively present to…”.  These words seem a little clumsy in modern English, but they show that this was a very significant event – our loving, heavenly Father was actively communicating his wishes or his intentions through one of his human children.

Above all other prophets, of course, our loving heavenly Father actively communicated through his son Jesus who, in his time on earth, was the greatest of prophets because he was, and is, one with our Father.  (We don’t really understand that but we believe it is true.)

Here’s what I’m trying to get across in this article.  We have some passages in scripture, both in the Old and New Testament, where we are told that our loving Father was speaking through a prophet; but this is not the case in most passages in the Bible.  We have no evidence or authority to support the idea that the whole of the Bible is one coherent, complete message.  This is a human teaching that has developed slowly over the centuries since our Bible was first put together.

Today you will often hear our Bible referred to as “The Word of God”.  I think calling the whole Bible “The Word of God” causes problems, because the phrase “word of God” appears in our Bible, but it never means our Bible. “The word of God came to John, son of Zechariah, in the desert” (Luke 3:2). Did John receive a copy of our Bible?  No.  But not everyone who reads these words will understand that.  So why risk confusing any of our brothers and sisters?  If we are talking about our Bible, why not just say “the Bible” rather than “the word of God”?  It’s clear, it’s simple and everyone knows what we are talking about.

I think it is misleading and dangerous to assume that the phrase “Word of God” in the Bible ever refers to the Bible itself.  Let me give one example of what I mean. In Hebrews there is a passage about the word of God:

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit of joints and marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart, and before him no creature is hidden but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:12-13)

Does this passage refer to our Bible?  No.  It can’t refer to our Bible because our Bible didn’t exist when these words were written and wouldn’t exist until hundreds of years later.  Also, we have no authority for assuming that the writer of Hebrews foresaw the creation of our Bible and was referring to it in a prophetic sense.

This is really important because, today, we often hear this verse used as if it did refer to the Bible.  So, I think it’s worth looking at a word-for-word translation of these two verses.  The  translation reads a bit awkwardly in English, but you can probably understand it OK.  (The words in brackets are not included in the Greek, because they are not necessary in the Greek, but they help an English reader to understand the text.)

“For living (is) the word of God and effective and sharper than every double-edged sword and penetrating as far as division of soul and spirit both of joints and marrow and able to discern thoughts and insights of the heart and there is not a creature hidden from before him but all things (are) bare and having been exposed to the eyes of him to whom our account is given.”  (The New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament)

Prepare to be shocked.  Today, some modern English versions of the Bible deliberately mistranslate these verses and the only reason I can think of, for them doing so, is that the editors want the readers to think “word of God” in this passage refers to the Bible.  These translations introduce the word “it” into the passage when “it” simply is not there in the Greek text.  This is how verse 12 appears in the New International Version.  I have underlined where the word “it” has been introduced.

“For the word of God is alive 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 New International Version)

This mistranslation seems to have created a problem for the editors.  How do they translate the next words, which occur at the beginning of verse 13, “and before him no creature is hidden”?  If “word of God” is an “it”, who is this “him”?  The editors solve the problem by starting a completely new sentence and introducing the word “God”, a word which does not appear in the Greek, in this verse, at all.

“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13 New International Version)

I think this is really, really misleading.  In this passage, the phrase “word of God” is not referring to an “it” but to a “him”; the “him” from whom nothing is hidden and before whose eyes everything is laid bare.  The phrase “Word of God” does not mean the Bible in this passage, or in any other passage.

Let’s finish by talking about Jesus’ authority.  What has that to do with the Bible being the word of God?  I’ll get to that.

Jesus said that all authority in heaven and earth had been given to him (Matthew 28:18). He said that he was to be our only teacher (Matthew 23:8-10). He said that although heaven and earth will pass away, his words will never pass away (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33).  He said only what his loving, heavenly Father gave him to say (John 12:49-50).  No other writer in scripture ever made such claims about themselves or their teachings. We Christians believe that Jesus always was God, is God, and always will be God; therefore Jesus had the right to make such extraordinary claims.  But if we teach others that the whole Bible is the “word of God”, we are teaching that many human writings are the “word of God” and that means we are raising human writings to the same level of authority as the words of our loving teacher, Jesus Christ.  I think we should be very careful not to take the authority that rightfully belongs only to Jesus and give it to human writers.

 

“The Word of God is infallible, inerrant and totally inspired. And when he was about 18, he grew a beard.” (Brad Jersak)

 

May our loving, heavenly Father bless us and guide us as we seek his truth.

Jesus is Lord.

Peter O

 

 

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“What did Jesus say about his own words?”

“Did Jesus say he was God?  Yes!  So, was he mad?”

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