Can the words of Christians create reality?

Our criteria for doctrinal debate is that the argument must

1. be from the Bible
2. Not appeal to contemporary expressions 
3. Not appeal to silence
4. Not appeal to events or practices of history

That is, any doctrinal defense must be Sola Scriptura.
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Introduction

As we did our research for today's post we were surprised to find a lack of truly biblical defenses of the Word of Faith perspective. We found many assertions, explanations, and position statements, but precious little from the Bible.

Conversely, those who would refute the Word of Faith (WOF) doctrines tend to be similarly lacking.

This is troubling, indeed.

We shall endeavor to close this information gap. The question we are going to examine is, what does WOF teach, and is it biblical? As our secondary goal, we will attempt to answer if our words have the power to create reality. We expect to come to a common sense, biblical conclusion regarding these questions.

Our thesis is that our words do not create reality at all. They reflect reality, or perhaps, come out of the reality we are in or beholden to. This can be God's reality (righteousness, the fruit of the Spirit, Kingdom principles), our fleshly words, or even demonic influence. Our words either conform to the Holy Spirit or the natural man and its weaknesses.

God's reality is different. There are several verses that illustrate this:

• Col. 2:17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
• He. 8:4-5 ...there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven.
• He. 10:1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming — not the realities themselves.
• 1Co. 5:7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast — as you really are.

God has much to say about His reality, like

• Jn. 4:24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.
• 1Co. 15:50 ...flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God...
• 2Co. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
• 1Jn. 1:6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
• Mt. 19:25-26 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” 26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
• Mt. 20:16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.
• Mt. 13:44 The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

God's reality is nothing like ours. The natural man cannot understand it. We need to be made new in Christ, that is, we need to be saved, in order to begin to understand these things. Then we begin the transformation into the new creation:

Ro. 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

This perfectly illustrates the natural man vs. the new creation. We were conformed to the world, now we are renewing our minds, and the result is that we begin to understand and conform to what God's reality is like.Therefore, when we speak or pray, we should seek to express God's reality.

We would suggest that the nature of God's reality is such that to reduce it down to health, wealth, and favor does violence to magnificence and glory of God.

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The Word of Faith Perspective

We are somewhat reluctant to deal with contemporary expressions and thus violate our rule #2 above, but WOF is relatively new on the scene, perhaps arriving around the 1830s. Thus it is impossible to discuss WOF without dealing with its contemporary nature.

Some think the roots of WOF are found in the teaching of E.W. Kenyon. Kenyon is credited with being an influence on Kenneth Hagin, who in turn influenced Kenneth Copeland. From there the WOF movement spread through such preachers as Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Eddie Long, Paula White, and Creflo Dollar. Today there are hundreds, if not thousands of WOF churches, all teaching that our words have power to change our circumstances, heal our bodies, and increase our bank accounts.

That is, words create reality. WOF adherents believe that their positive confessions, declarations, and recitations are powerful in and of themselves.

There are several verses relied upon by WOF teachers.

Verse #1: I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, `Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:23

Kenneth Hagin sums it up succinctly:

If we say that we cannot do something, then of course we can’t. But if we say that we can, then we can. According to Mark 11:23, we can have whatever we say, or confess, whether it be belief or unbelief, success or failure, sickness or health.

We first note that the remark begins with two unsupported assertions. It is vaguely true that telling ourselves we can't do something means we can't, but our life experiences include many examples of us surprising ourselves and doing the very thing we thought we couldn't.

Hagin assumes the truth of his first assertion and uses it a foundation to establish his second assertion. The average person would perhaps casually assent to the first and uncritically accept the second. But the second assertion is yet to be established, yet it is offered as self evident.

Hagin then cites the verse. So, we would ask some questions about his explanation of this verse.

• Is this verse a blank check, as implied by Hagin, or does Scripture contextualize the scope?
• Who is actually performing the action?
• Does this verse suggest creating reality?
• Does this Scripture teach about success or health?

From his two assertions and a Scripture, Hagin concludes, we can have whatever we say. Is this a justifiable conclusion? Perhaps if the verse were all we had to go on, but the Bible has much to say beyond this. This verse is not a blank check. These are some principles we would observe:

• a promise in the Bible does not mean that we should ask for or expect to receive something that is sinful or unholy 
• we should not ask for something that violates God's character, or His word 
• this particular verse magnifies an activity that doesn't happen otherwise; that is, a mountain thrown into the sea is remarkable, whereas a big bank account happens all the time.
• any single verse is conditional on the whole counsel of the Bible

There is only one condition within this verse, faith, which is probably why Hagin selected it. But this verse does not stand alone. So what biblical conditions that might apply to this verse?

Faith

The Scripture is not about about getting what you want, it's about faith itself. Jesus is teaching about faith: ...does not doubt in his heart... Jesus was continually distressed about the disciples' lack of faith. A similar passage is found in Mt. 17:20:

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, `Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Another similar passage is found in Lk. 17:5-6, which connects the concept much closer to the issue of faith:

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, `Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

As does Mt. 21:22

And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. 

So, Jesus is clearly not teaching about the power of words, but rather the need for faith. Faith in God, not faith in our words. Faith is required for receiving whatever we ask. It is the power of God, not the power of our words that is at work here. Note that in Mark 11:23 Jesus says, it will be done for him. It does not say, he (the speaker) will make it happen. 

As an aside, we would not suggest that these miracles cannot be done. They are not simply metaphors explaining the nature of faith. Rather, a miraculous faith ought to be a part of every Christian's life (Ac. 2:17-19).

Faith is the first condition.

In My Name, Glory to the Father, Obedience

We also find further insight into Jesus' teaching in Jn. 14:12-17:

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. 15 If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you for ever — 17 the Spirit of truth.

This is a rich text, full of faith-building principles, as well as insight into the nature of the Trinity. The verses of interest to our discussion are 3 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father and, 15 If you love me, you will obey what I command. In My name, glory to the Father, and obedience are three more biblical conditions.

In my name is worthy of some attention. The Greek word for "in" is en. En denotes a fixed position in location, time or status. I can sit in a restaurant, but that conveys nothing about my status or any connection to the restaurant. I don’t belong to the restaurant, the restaurant conveys no identity or position to me. I am not fixed there.

Praying In my name speaks to our position. In his epistles, Paul repeatedly uses the phrase "in Christ," "in him," "in God." Asking in my name is not a formula for getting prayers answered. Tacking "In Jesus' name" onto our prayer does not legitimize the prayer. En means our status is changed. En is where we live out a life of faith. En is belonging, identity, and position.

To be En is to be contained in His exact same place and status. To be en means we have His identity. We belong to His family. We are sealed. We bear His righteousness. We’re en.

So in my name conveys the idea of our prayers expressing the heart and desire of Christ. Thus our prayers in my name must only reflect the will of God. Otherwise, our prayers will be fleshly and world-centered. Or self-centered. Our prayers must express the heart and desire of Christ as we pray from the position of a new creation, not of the Old Dead Man.

According to His Will

Finally, Paul and John fill in the last bit of information:

Ph. 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

1Jn. 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

There are, then, at least five conditions to obtaining whatever you ask for in prayer: 

1. Faith
2. asking in His name
3. it results glory to the Father
4. it comes from a heart of obedience
5. we ask according to His will

So to answer our questions:

• Is this verse a blank check, as implied by Hagin, or does Scripture contextualize the scope? (No, Scripture gives many restrictions and provisos.)
• Who is actually performing the action? (God, not our words.)
• Does this verse suggest creating reality? (No.) 
• Does this Scripture teach about success or health? (No.)

Verse #2: Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. Proverbs 18:21

This verse affirms that the tongue (our words) have power, even the power of life and death. This could be literal life and death, or spiritual. Ananias and Sapphira literally died at the words of Peter (Ac. 5). And Peter spoke and raised Tabitha from the dead (Ac. 9). We have no reason to doubt that these words written by King Solomon can be taken literally, as well as spiritually.

James spiritualizes the idea:

Ja. 3:10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.

Praise (life) and cursing (death). Words can hurt, they can damage, they can discourage. They also can be edifying, empowering, and comforting. Words have meaning, and it's the meaning that has power. The tender soul can be devastated by careless words or encouraged by words of blessing. 

Words have spiritual content:

Jn. 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life.

1Co. 2:4-4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

Thus we need to take care with our words, not because they are powerful in themselves, but because they can carry spiritual power and meaning in them.

Last, we note that there is nothing in this verse that carries any connotation of success or health, or creating reality.

Verse 3) As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” [Gen. 17:5] He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed — the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Romans 4:17 

We have often heard charismatics quote the last phrase, calls things that are not as though they were, appropriating it for their own spoken words. Contextually, this cannot be justified in any way. Paul is explaining the miracle of Abraham and Sarah having a child which fulfilled God's promise of the coming of the nation of Israel. This points to God's faithfulness, His omniscience, and the sureness of His promises. It says nothing about the words of believers.
  

Verse 4) For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 1 Peter 3:10

This verse seems to contain a promise, that a person who guards his tongue will be blessed. But actually, we see that a person who desires good things is required to guard his tongue. Whether or not good things will then come is not stated.

We should quote a larger portion of this passage to get the context:

1Pe. 3:9-12 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. 11 He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” [Psalm 34:12-16]

So we see that this passage is actually a call to righteousness, and does not speak to the power of words. If we want our prayers heard, we must turn from evil and not speak lies or insults.

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Conclusion

We believe the Bible is clear about the nature or our words. There is nothing we can find that suggests that reality can be formed simply by us speaking. Rather, we believe our thoughts, our words, and our actions need to be conformed or transformed to a new way of thinking that aligns with the fact of our status as new creations.

And that status is to be molded and shaped in accordance with God's reality.