The Word of God is not "it" - rethink

Recently we've been reconsidering many of the things we thought we understood regarding doctrine and faith. We have begun to question certain beliefs, church structures, and practices of the western church. Too often we have discovered unbiblical doctrines and activities. This causes us concern. We have deemed this our “rethink.”

Our questions include, how did we arrive at our doctrines? Does the Bible really teach what we think it teaches? Why do churches do what they do? What is the biblical basis of church leadership structure? Why do certain traditions get entrenched?

It's easy to be spoon fed the conventional wisdom, but it's an entirely separate thing to search these things out for one's self. In the past we have read the Bible with these unexamined understandings and interpreted what we read through those lenses. We were lazy about our Bible study, assuming that pastors and theologians were telling us the truth, but we rarely checked it out for ourselves.

Therefore, these Rethinks are our attempt to remedy the situation.

We should note that we are not Bible scholars, but we believe that one doesn't need to be in order to understand the Word of God.
----------------

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. 

Introduction

The Bible itself almost never refers to the Word as Scripture. When God speaks, this is the Word of God speaking. That is, His speaking is a person, titled the Word of God. This is our key premise.

The Son is the Word, and the Bible is the written Word of God. But the Son, the Word, and the Bible are not interchangeable. The Son exists independently from His titles. His Word exists independently from what has been written down. And what has been written down does not include the totality of what He has said. 

The Word is the things God speaks through His Word Jesus. The Bible is a record of some of that Word, just like a book is a record of some of its author's thoughts. Jesus is both the pinnacle of God's communication as well as the vehicle of His communication in these last days (Hebrews 1:1-2). Jesus sustains the universe by speaking (Hebrews 1:3).

God is recorded as having written only three things: The ten commandments (Exodus 31:18), on Belshazzar's wall (Daniel 5:5), and in the dirt (John. 8:6). Every other message from God is by Him speaking. This speaking is known as prophecy. Prophecy is God speaking via His Word to man. Everything we know about God is because He revealed it by speaking. 

Some of that speaking was written down and collected together into what we call the Bible. The entire Bible is composed of God speaking His Word. There is nothing in the Bible that was not spoken by God. Certainly the Bible records the words of people who spoke, and even the words of spiritual entities, both good and evil, but even those words are in the Bible because of God's intention.

So today's post is a rethink of the notion that the Word refers to the Bible. 

Hebrews 4:12

Hebrews 4:12 is commonly used to describe how powerful and important the Word of God is. But typically, people think this verse is about the Bible. We think this is mistaken. 

Let's quote:

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 NIV

The first thing we notice is that the word "it" appears twice in the NIV translation (as well as others). But the word "it" does not appear in the Greek:

This is the interlinear word-for-word translation. The Greek word order is different than English, but one can still discern the message. Notice that there are no occurrences of the word "it." The Greek does not contain "it" at all, but for some reason the NIV translation does!

By comparison, let's quote another translation:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 ESV

This translation does not contain the word "it," which noticeably changes the meaning of the verse. This opens the door to properly understanding it. Maybe the writer of Hebrews was not referring to the Bible at all?

Logos

"Word" ("For the word of God...") in Hebrews 4:12 is lógos, a word, being the expression of a thought; a saying. 3056 /lógos ("word") is preeminently used of Christ (John 1:1), expressing the thoughts of the Father through the Spirit.

We know Hebrews 4:12 describes the characteristics of the lógos. Without the word "it" it seems clear that the verse might mean something else. Especially since John tells us the lógos was made flesh (Jn. 1:14). We would therefore suggest that lógos in Hebrews 4:12 is the very same lógos, the articulated words of God, represented by Jesus Himself, the Word of God.

Here are some other verses that use the word lógos:

Lk. 3:4 As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the desert, `Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.

Jn. 2:22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

Ac. 6:2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.

1Co. 15:54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” [Isaiah 25:8]

Ja. 1:18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Is Scripture "the Word?"

Scripture is the written down words that have been communicated by God. However, God has said much else that has not been written down. But what has been written down was done so by the purpose of God so that man could read it and know what God wants him to know.

The Greek word for Scripture is graphé ...used 51 times in the NT – always of holy Scripture...

Some verses that use the word:

Ac. 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

2Ti. 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

It is very common for Christians to refer to the Bible as "the Word." However, the Bible itself never does this. Only graphé is ever used to describe the written down words of God. This means we confuse terms when we refer the Bible as "the Word." We therefore assert that we should not refer to the Bible as "the Word." 

Why is this important? Because if we use the wrong words we will mistake the meaning. If the Word is not the Bible and is instead something else, we would read a verse like Hebrews 4:12 and believe something false.

Conclusion

We love and honor the Scriptures, but we think mistaken Bible teachers have misled Christians to believe Hebrews 4:12 is about the Bible. Even certain Bible translations like the NIV do this. The reader can see how a misunderstanding this could lead to greater problems. 

Unfortunately, even a careful Bible student might miss what Hebrews 4:12 really means in its English form, based only on a single mistranslated word. Thus the translators lead us astray.

We would counsel the reader to carefully read the Bible, considering its context, its audience, and the Greek words used.