The Word and the Word

Let me make a bold, but, I think, defensible assertion: we should approach the Scriptures with the same reverence we would have in approaching Christ.

I know the objections some will raise. “You’re making the Bible the fourth member of the Trinity.” Or, “We worship the Word of God, Christ, not the Word of God, the Bible.” Or, “There you conservatives go again, deifying the Bible.”

I’ve come across these objections often. And while they get at something true, they are almost always unhelpful. They are almost always said to back away from the full truth about the nature of God’s special revelation. The fact of the matter is we are far too quick to exaggerate the distinction between the word of God inscripturated and the word of God incarnated. The language of “the word” is rightly used because in both instances we are referring to God’s self-disclosure. Further, the two different notions of the word are, in this age, inextricably linked. The Bible is the word of God inscripturated that continues to make Christ, the word of God incarnate, available and knowable to us.

Consider these texts.

• The Acts of the Apostles begins, “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach” (1:1). Luke’s Gospel described what Jesus began to do and teach. Consequently, Luke’s second volume describes what Jesus continues to do and teach. In other words, what the Apostles teach is what Jesus teaches.
• In John 16:12-15 Jesus says, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” The “all things” does not refer to your job or potential spouse, but to all things about the person and work of Jesus Christ. And the promise is not to any Tom, Dick, or Harry, but to the disciples. Therefore, there is absolutely no place for pitting the epistles versus the gospels, red letters versus black letters, Paul versus Jesus.. The inspired Apostles (and their close associates) were merely speaking what they heard from the Spirit who has declared only what he received from Jesus Christ.
• In Matthew 10, Jesus equates rejection of the disciples’ words with rejection of him (14-15, 40).
• In John 15, Jesus equates his words abiding in us with him abiding in us (4-5, 7-8). To have Jesus’ words live in us is to have Jesus live in us.
• Likewise, in Exodus 19, we see that Israel’s relationship to God will be determined by their relationship to his words (v. 5 – “now if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession”).
• And to give one final example, in Exodus 33, Moses asks the Lord to show him his glory. The Lord responds with words. First he declares his sovereignty (33:19 – I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious). Then he proclaims his name and character (34:5-7 – The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger…).

In all these passages we see that we should approach the words of God as we would approach God himself. God does not just communicate through his word; he is present in his word. God’s speech doesn’t simply describe God; it is the instantiation of God. God is where his word is. As Timothy Ward puts it, “God has invested himself in words, or we could say that God has so identified himself with his words that whatever someone does to God’s words (whether it is to obey or disobey) they do directly to God himself” (Words of Life, 27).