What is the Word of God

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Is the Bible the Word of God?  Let’s find out.

There are many different versions of the Bible.  The version of the Bible I use most is the Authorized King James Version.  Also known as the KJV (King James Version).  It was first published in the early 1600’s.  Is the KJV the Word of God?

I went to a home fellowship once where the people believed every word of the KJV came straight from the mouth of God.  (“If it was good enough for the Apostle Paul, it should be good enough for us!” …. spoiler alert….the Apostle Paul didn’t speak English).  I know of a popular homespun ministry, known for its shared wisdom on how to train children, that firmly believes only the KJV is the Word of God to all English speaking people.

 II Timothy 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness;

What is “scripture” (writing)?  Is it the KJV?  Paul wrote this letter to Timothy in the middle of the first century (about 60 something AD).  Who decided it was the Word of God?  If it is, what made it the Word of God?  What makes it “scripture?”  Is only the KJV “scripture?”  Is only our present day Bible, in any version or language, what is being referred to in II Timothy 3:16?  Was this letter to Timothy “scripture” at the time it was written?  Because whatever this “scripture” is, it’s given by the inspiration (literally, the “breathing”) of God, and I want to know the truth of it.

John 17:17  (Jesus is praying to his heavenly Father)  Sanctify them through Your truth.  Your word is truth.

Jesus couldn’t have been speaking about the KJV, or any other version of the Bible, because it wasn’t in existence yet.   God’s word is truth (John 17:17 above), is spirit , and is life (John 6:63 below) and it predates the King James Version of the Bible.  It even predates the collected writings which make up what we today call the Bible.

John 1:1-4  In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by it, and without it was not anything made that was made.  In it was life, and the life was the light of men.

Yes, God’s word predates the Bible by a long shot!  The KJV had nothing to do with creation; at the beginning or ever since the beginning.

What we now know as the Old Testament was collected together in a single body of work beginning in about 400 BC and not finished in its present form until about 100 AD. What we now know as the New Testament was not completely collected together until about 250 AD.  Obviously, all the writings (scripture) which make up the Old and New Testament had been in existence for some time before being collected together into what we today know as the Bible.

So any reference to “the Word of God” which we see in the Bible cannot be referencing the Bible itself, because when that reference was written, the Bible did not exist!

Neither are these collected writings of the Bible the only writings done by the men of God spoken of in the Bible.

Colossians 4:16  And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.

I cannot quote you a verse from the book of Laodiceans.  I cannot say, “Please take your Bibles and turn to Laodiceans 6:14 !!  (Laodicea was a city very near Colosse)  Yet here is mentioned a letter written by Paul the Apostle to the Laodiceans!   Wouldn’t you and I just love to have that letter to see what it contains?!!!

Romans 16:25, 26  Now to Him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:

Here are referenced other scripture (writings) of prophets (other than Paul) which according to this context are the word of God, and which make known “the mystery.”   Neither Peter nor James nor Jude, neither John nor Luke, neither Matthew nor Mark (all the other New Testament writers) speak anything of this “mystery.”  Thus there must have been other writings, inspired by God, which are not contained in the Bible we know.

So the Word of God existed before our present day Bible came into being, and it also exists outside our present day Bible.

Ephesians 3:3-5  How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote before in few words, Whereby when you read you may perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

Here is this same indication that other men (and women) were receiving the Word of God, and (which we know from Romans 16) were writing it down.  These scriptures are lost to us today, and yet they were the Word of God.

We have so far discovered that the Word of God existed before the Bible and that it exists outside of the Bible.  What about today?  Does the Word of God still exist outside the Bible?  Do men and women receive revelation from God in this day and age and make this Word of God known in writings?

Ephesians 4:11-13  And he (Jesus) gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; For the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; Until we all come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge (epignosis) of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ;

Since this perfection of age and unity of faith has not yet arrived, there must of necessity continue to be apostles and prophets in the body of Christ.  And these apostles and prophets continue to receive, proclaim and write down the Word of God concerning the mystery of Christ.  And they will continue to do so until this perfection is achieved at the return of Jesus Christ.

The Word of God is the life-giving truth of the spirit of God.  It is God’s communication of Himself, therefore it is spiritual.  Some may say that words on a page are the Word of God, but they are not, and they can not be.

II Corinthians 3:6  Who (God) also has made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.

The words on the page of the Bible, no matter what version, can never give life.  Only the spirit that inspired those words can give life.

John 6:63  It is the spirit that quickens (gives life); the flesh profits nothing; the words that I speak unto you are spirit and they are life.

The Word of God is God’s communication of Himself to and in His creation.  It comes by revelation and is written, or passed on to others, by inspiration.  When by belief it is received as God’s Word, it imparts the will, the power and the life of God.

I Thessalonians 2:13  For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe.

When you hold the Bible in your hands, you hold a manifestation of the Word of God, by which you yourself may experience the Holy Spirit of God which inspired it.  Do not think that the physical manifestation of the Bible itself (the words on the page) has the power to impart life; neither think that this life-giving Word of God cannot come through other present day means other than the Bible.

The Word of God is always with us, has always been with us, and will continue to create and give life according to the inspired life-giving truth of the spirit of God wherever and whenever it is received by faith.

Isaiah 55:11  So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

One more thing:  Never forget that Jesus Christ is the word of God in the flesh.  _________________________________________

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See other studies:
The Mystery of Christ
Aspects of the Mystery of Christ
Do not preach the Old Testament.
The Manifestation of the Spirit
Jobs of the Holy Spirit