What is the Word of God?
I am going to note a few things in this post that we can learn about the word of God from the bible, but unless I write a complete book in one post, I must limit myself to a tiny percentage of what we can glean therefrom. Even then this will be a long post.
From the very beginning we see God’s Word. God speaks and things happen. Galaxies are born and supernovas explode. Waters recede and land is formed. Trees bud and light bursts forth. From God’s mouth and breath life is created and mankind begins its reign on earth. Amazing.
Throughout the bible we read about the Word of God. God spoke the word and gave the 10 commandments.
The law, spoken to Moses, is to be read by and be the guide of the king of Israel all the days of his life.
We see God speaking to the Israelites during Joshua’s leadership.
We know God’s word is trustworthy, flawless, stands forever, and true.
Throught the bible, God’s word came to people we often hear about like Moses, Daniel, Hosea, Elijah, and Samuel, but it also came to others like Jeroboam (famous primarily for being so infamously evil), Shemaiah, and Manoah and his wife.
At God’s word, the altar was split apart and Saul was dethroned.
In early history, but as recently as Samuel’s youth, the bible tells us that during those times the Word of the Lord was rare. Interestingly, with this fact it notes that there simply weren’t many visions. One could deduce that one way God gives His word is through visions. In telling us about this time and Samuel’s call we get these curious words:
Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD : The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
An individual’s knowing God is tied to having the word of the Lord revealed to the individual.
This naturally takes us to the famous passage found in John 1, where we learn that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We later learn that the Word being describe here is Jesus Himself. Paul later tells us about Jesus’ preeminence in Colossians 1, where it states as follows:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Just as God spoke creation into existence we are given this picture of Jesus as the very word that created. Understanding that goes beyond my ken, but it is awesome to ponder.
But this takes me back to that story of the little boy Samuel, where he didn’t know God because God hadn’t revealed God’s word to him. This does not appear to be a reference to the law at all. Samuel was ministering before the Lord with Eli, the priest of the Lord. Eli had the scrolls and followed the law to conduct the ritual sacrifices. Moreover, the scrolls wouldn’t be discussed as being rare, particularly as being rare because there weren’t many visions. No, this is clearly a reference to something else, and given what is revealed in John and in Colossians, I think Samuel hadn’t been introduced to Jesus yet, but he was about to be and in that same passage we see that the Lord was with Samuel throughout his youth. Nothing about this suggests anything less than a personal, intimate relationship developed by much more than just a study of the scriptures (just as Abraham, who didn’t have the law at all, had a fantastic friendship with God).
So, why ponder all these things? Mary certainly pondered her son a bit. I am pondering them because I think we often equate the word of God with the bible even though there is not one verse in the bible that tells us to do so. We equate the word of God with the bible even though not one verse of the bible was written within centuries of a determination of the Canon. I am not at all trying to add to or take away from the words of the Bible. I believe them to be the God-breathed, inspired word of God. But I just have to wonder if those who believe God speaks only through the bible limit God, quench the Spirit, and limit their faith. In fact, it seems as though doing so creates an idol of the written words, the bible, and results in worshiping something less than God Himself.
God never changes. God is. Surely if He spoke to Samuel audibly all those years ago He still speaks today. Surely if Christ, the Word of God, speaks and holds all things together (Colossians 1:17), He is speaking in and through all of creation still today, and the Spirit, our Counselor (John 14-15), continues to teach us His words today. Could it be that the bible becomes a basis for testing the spirits, but isn’t meant to be our only way of knowing God. In fact, it seems incongruous that a God who reveals Himself throughout the scriptures as being a personal God, a God who desires intimacy with us, would limit our knowledge of Him to intellectual pursuits.
I am only thinking out loud, and trying to understand things that may be greater than my ability to understand, but I would love to hear from others about their understanding of God’s word, what it is and isn’t and how God speaks today. I believe that knowing God comes by personally knowing Jesus, the living Word of God, not by intellectually knowing the bible. All my life I sang “What a friend we have in Jesus,” but I lived as though I could only get to know God by reading His word. Reading His word clearly is a critical part for those who can read and who have access to the bible, and again I am not belittling that at all, but I believe it is but a part of our relationship and conversations with Him.
