These days I have been hearing that the Bible is not the Word of God, because Jesus is the Word of God. The statement that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh is actually found in the Bible. But did Jesus Himself believe that the Bible is not the Word of God? When being tempted of the devil for 40 days, Matthew and Luke record for us how Jesus resisted temptation.
Satan challenged Jesus’s sonship to God by telling Him He could satisfy His hunger by changing stones into bread. Jesus answered by quoting scripture:
“It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD’.”
Matthew 4:4 NASU
To what was Jesus referring? Was He saying that He would satisfy His hunger by eating Himself, since He was the Word? Or is He saying that everything that God has and is communicating to us is our spiritual bread?
Consider Hebrews 1:1-3:
“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.”
NASU
God spoke through His prophets, as recorded in the Hebrew Bible, which to Christians is the Old Testament. At the very least, the writer claims that the Bible is the record of what God spoke through the prophets. But both the Hebrews and the Early Church believed that even the record of His statements were breathed by God the Holy Spirit as they were recorded.
God communicates both through the spoken word and through His actions. Psalms 33:6: “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.” The very act of creation communicates to us the nature of God. (Romans 1:20). Certainly God is not limited to communicating to us in writing alone, but writing is to be included and is to our benefit. (2 Timothy 3:16, Romans 15:4).
In this example from Matthew 4, Jesus used the scripture as a weapon against temptation, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17, Hebrews 4:12).
Yes, Jesus is the Word of God, eternally. It was He who created all things, saying “let there be light.” (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16). So why do we find it difficult to see that Jesus, the Word of God spoke through Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, David, and others when the Spirit of Christ was in them? (1 Peter 1:10-11). Just get out your concordance and see how many times you can find the phrase, “the word of the Lord came to Samuel, Jeremiah, Amos etc.” every time God had something to say to His people.
That is why Jesus Himself called the scripture, the Word of God. (Mark 7:13)
In Acts, Luke calls the Gospel the Word of God:
Acts 6:7: “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly;”
See also 8:14, 11:1, 12:24, 13:5,7,44,46, 17:13, 18:11, 19:20.
So was Jesus increasing and growing? Or was the message He told the apostles to preach spreading?
To recap, both the things God has said, and His gracious and mighty acts as recording in the Bible, communicate God’s Word to us. Jesus is the Word of God in eternity, and also as revealed in a human being who lived 2,000 years ago, the full and complete revelation of the person and nature of Almighty God. (1 Timothy 3:16)
In these modern times, fewer people believe as they did a generation ago, that this collection of 66 books we have today are the authentic message from God which testifies of who Jesus is. Could it be because they are uncomfortable with the truth it contains concerning our situation, and our need to totally depend upon Someone greater than us?
Funny thing that you wrote this, I just (yesterday) had to walk out of a bible study because a man that was teaching said that Jesus was not the word of God, he said Jesus was just a man but had the word but he was not the word. Sad
Jerry, it is sad that many who study the Bible are willing to compromise the Truth to accommodate the unbelieving world, or that they do not even really know Who Jesus is.
My issue with “the Bible is the Word of God” is different that what you addressed here.
Too often people take the written messages from God as the *only* words of God. I think it strange that we read of God speaking to us through dreams, visions, a small still voice, prophets, and even a burning bush and then come to the conclusion that God only speaks through what the written word.
As a follower of Jesus Christ we must accept his statement that “there is one teacher, the Christ and we are all brothers”. And the writing of the Lord Jesus teachings by the eye witnesses and those who learned directly from them should is our sure teachings from God. Still God is not speaking and we should test the spirits to see if something reveled is from Him. Of course we cannot judge what other servants of the Lord do except as it relates to what Jesus has =clearly taught.
Allen,
Thanks for the comments. Sorry that I didn’t see them earlier. I agree with you and even mentioned in the article that God speaks through other means. I am responding to many who are saying that the Bible is NOT the Word of God. I have not encountered to my knowledge any believers who deny that God speaks to us personally through various means as well as through the Bible.
There are of course those who teach that the signs and gifts in the New Testament have ceased. Some of them might believe that the Bible contains the only words of God. In my opinion there are dangerous errors on both sides of the issue.