Jesus is not the word of god

Chaos Frank tries to explain the Gospel…

Francis says Words of Jesus Christ are not the Word of God

For his Sunday Angelus address yesterday, Mar. 6, “Pope” Francis (Jorge Bergoglio) made a remark that is nothing short of heretical, at least implicitly, for he insinuated that Jesus Christ is not God.

It is possible he did so inadvertently; but before we examine that, let us look at the full Scripture passage on which the false pope was commenting, which was the Gospel reading for the First Sunday of Lent:

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for the space of forty days; and was tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, he was hungry. And the devil said to him: If thou be the Son of God, say to this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him: It is written, that Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the devil led him into a high mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time; and he said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them. If thou therefore wilt adore before me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answering said to him: It is written: Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and he said to him: If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself from hence. For it is written, that He hath given his angels charge over thee, that they keep thee. And that in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering, said to him: It is said: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And all the temptation being ended, the devil departed from him for a time.

(Luke 4:1-13)

In his efforts to “explain” this pericope during his Angelus address, Francis said:

And I would like to emphasize something. Jesus does not converse with the devil: he never conversed with the devil. Either he banished him, when he healed the possessed, or in this case, when he has to respond, he does so with the Word of God, never with his own word [lo fa con la Parola di Dio, mai con la sua parola]. Brothers and sisters, never enter into dialogue with the devil: he is more cunning than we are. Never! Cling to the Word of God like Jesus, and at most answer always with the Word of God. And on this path, we will never go wrong.

(Antipope Francis, Angelus Address, Mar. 6, 2022; underlining added.)

It should be immediately evident to any Catholic what the problem is here: Jesus Christ is God, wherefore His own Words are necessarily the Word of God. In fact, He Himself is the Word of God, as St. John the Evangelist tells us:

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 him: and without him was made nothing that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

(John 1:1-5,14)

In other words, for Francis to say that Christ responds with the Word of God and not “with his own word”, is false, since His own Word is God’s very Speaking.

Now the question that presents itself is whether Francis simply made a colossal and embarrassing mistake or whether he was deliberately and maliciously trying to sow the seeds of heresy in the minds of his hapless listeners.

Given Francis’ background as a notorious über-heretic and apostate, and given that he has no qualms about cracking blasphemous jokes about the Holy Trinity, no one can licitly give him the famous “benefit of the doubt”. He forfeited that benefit a long time ago!

However, in the interests of justice, we must point out that Francis’ heretical remarks were uttered by him spontaneously and were apparently not part of the original script for his address. That, at least, is what the video suggests, for when he says the offending words he is not reading the script but looking up as if to improvise (begin at the 8:57 min mark):

Regardless of his intent, however, the objective fact is that Francis implicitly declared that Jesus Christ is not God, since he contrasted Christ’s Word with God’s Word. Denial of the divinity of Jesus Christ is the heresy of Arianism, and it is now part of the public “papal” record, retrievable from the Vatican web site and from YouTube.

While, in this particular instance only, we suspect it is more likely that Francis was just being a colossal moron than a deliberate heretic, either way, he has a moral obligation to set the matter right because, even if this was a mere mistake born of inadvertence, it is incumbent upon him to ensure his words are always accurate and orthodox, and do not lend themselves to the spreading of heresy.

EPIC FAIL.

Image source: composite with elements from YouTube (screenshot) and Shutterstock (Miti74)
License: fair use and paid

Like many Christians, I strive to read the Bible every day. However, I admit frequent failures and that I’m not as diligent as in times past.

I remember the first time I set out to read the entire book from Genesis to Revelation. I was working the graveyard shift as a police dispatcher, and there usually was a lot of down time after 3:00 in the morning. I carried my Bible with me and read during those stretches and finished in a few months. When I was a pastor, I tried to read through the entire Bible every year, not always successfully.

I have given the Bible a lot of influence in my life, but not nearly as much as some. I don’t worship the Bible. Many Christians, or should I say “most” Christians, have the opinion that the Bible is the “Word of God.” Let me say up front; the Bible is not the Word of God.

Terry Austin

In the familiar opening words of the Gospel of John, the identification of Jesus as the Word of God is clearly laid out. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” There is no way those words apply to a book. Later, John adds, “and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Then he describes how John, the evangelist baptizing people in the wilderness, made it clear that Jesus is the Word of God.

When you read the Bible with this perspective, you will find that it makes much more sense. Every time you come across the phrase “Word of God” or “God’s Word,” substitute Jesus.

• Hebrews 4:12 — For the word of God (Jesus) is alive 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.
• Psalm 119:105 — Your word (Jesus) is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
• Luke 11:28 — He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God (Jesus) and obey it.”
• Psalm 33:4 — For the word of the Lord (Jesus) is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.
• James 1:21 — Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word (Jesus) planted in you, which can save you.

That raises the question: If the Bible is not the Word of God, what is the Bible?

“In the familiar opening words of the Gospel of John, the identification of Jesus as the Word of God is clearly laid out.”

Let me begin by saying the Bible makes Christianity (and Judaism) different from all other major religions of the world. Buddhism and Hinduism do not have sacred texts that guide their belief and actions. Islam has the Koran, but it is significantly different from the Bible. It was written by one man over a short period of time, 20 years in the seventh century. Mormonism uses the Bible along with the sacred Book of Mormon written by one man in the 19th century (although he claims the book was written much earlier and given to him).

Judaism and Christianity are similar when it comes to sacred writings. In fact, Christianity incorporates the writings of Judaism into its Bible as the Old Testament, to go along with the New Testament. However, the composition of both the Old and New Testaments is similar. They are both collections of material composed over a long period of time, written by a plethora of authors.

I don’t think any of the biblical writers thought they were writing God’s words. Instead, they were writing what they knew, what they heard, what they experienced about God. The Bible is a collection of words about God, not a collection of God’s words to us.

We don’t know who wrote down the words of Scripture. Historically, names have been ascribed to various books and portions, but we know they are inaccurate. For example, many people claim Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament —Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. It is hard for that to be true since a description of Moses’ death is contained in those writings. A few books of the Bible claim to have been written by a specific individual, others were named after a likely individual, and others are simply unknown.

The Bible was written by humans who took the occasion to put down on paper (or parchment or whatever they used at the time) their experiences with God. The experiences were varied for many reasons. They happened at different times to people with different personalities and interests. Sometimes they are consistent with one another, but often they are in conflict.

The early chapters of Genesis contain two versions of the creation stories. At different times, God instructs people to destroy all the enemy, and other times God tells them not to. It seems God wanted Saul to be the king, except when God didn’t intend for the nation to have a king. The list of inconsistencies found throughout the Bible is long. You find them even in the New Testament. After being baptized, Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by Satan, yet three days after his baptism, Jesus was at a wedding in Cana.

“There has to be a better way than trying to make the Bible into something it’s not.”

In order to keep the Bible from contradicting itself, scholars have used a lot of ink along with some creative reasoning to explain how these are not inconsistencies. They feel compelled to do this because to believe the Bible is God’s Word it must not contradict itself. God never would say one thing and then later say something else. Scholars have even arrived at the point of arguing that the Bible is without error in the “original documents,” which, of course, we don’t have and never will.

Whew, that was close. Now it’s OK if the Bible contradicts itself. We can blame the scribes who came along throughout history and made copies. Someone made a tiny mistake, and after being copied and recopied countless times, some mistakes became large. But that’s OK; God’s Word was perfect when given, humans messed it up.

Even if I accept that reasoning, how does that help me? If the Bible is God’s Word, but we no longer have large portions of that Word, it feels like we might be missing something important. I guess you could say that God made sure we preserved the important parts, but now you’re just guessing; there’s no way to know that.

There has to be a better way than trying to make the Bible into something it’s not. Rather than being God’s Word to humans, the Bible is human words about God. The Bible is a collection of writings produced over time by men (and probably not women, sadly). They recorded their experiences of God and what that taught them about God.

I’m not saying their writings are not different than any of the dozens of books I’ve written over the years. They are vastly different. Paul understood this when he wrote, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

The phrase “inspired by God” is one word in the Greek language and means “God-breathed.” It means that Scripture is “God’s breath.” As the author was putting pen to paper, God was breathing on the process. It doesn’t say God dictated or spoke; God breathed. I’m not sure what that means or how much it impacted the final words, but it does make them special. Unlike anything you and I have ever produced.

A further consideration is that God’s people have agreed that these documents are unique and deserve special consideration over the centuries. History records the arduous task of finding a consensus of which writings were God-breathed and which were not. No one, not even me, is considering that any of my writing is God-breathed.

I think I’ve gone far enough that I can now explain what I believe about the Bible. It is a collection of men’s (again, it’s a shame we have no women) experiences with God and what it meant to them. As they gathered these experiences and the teaching passed down to them from others, it all was lumped together with community legends and folklore and put together with the breath of God. In other words, Scripture is not God’s word; it is men’s words about God.

All this material, woven together by God over the centuries, was further edited by the usage of people until church leaders eventually got together, debated, voted and declared, “this is the Bible.”

By the way, it is still being edited. When was the last time you took a deep dive into the Song of Solomon? How often do you read the book of Jude?

The next time you start to do something because you think it’s what the Bible says, stop and ask yourself, “Is this consistent with what I know about Jesus?” In other words, if my life shows little resemblance to how Jesus lived, then I might be listening to the wrong word of God.

Terry Austin says from his first day of life he was taught to love the church. He has lived out that passion in various ways as a pastor, church consultant, author and critic. He is currently a full-time writer and book publisher and actively engaged with house churches.

Related articles:

I knew the truth about women in the Bible, and I stayed silent | Opinion by Beth Allison Barr

Just because you believe the Bible ‘says it’ doesn’t ‘settle it’ | Opinion by Patrick Wilson

Are you sure the Bible actually says that? | Opinion by Russ Dean

Chris Oyakhilome – Jesus is NOT Gods Word anymore, You are!!

Pastor Chris Oyakhilome says:  You Are God’s Word!   –  March 23rd, 2010

“God gives us His Words for the purpose of making us His word…”

“Do you know you are God’s Word?  When you were born again, you were born by the Word of God. This means your destiny in the realm of the Spirit is to be the Word of God because you were born by the word of God. It means your nature is of the Word and your character is of the word. Glory to God!

Mountains and hills refer to authority (Isaiah 55:1- 12) and they shall break forth before you; the trees which are people shall clap their hands as you pass by! Isn’t this awesome?  That’s what God’s word says about you. Are you ready to accept it and function therein?  —    [Emphasis added]

In this snippet from video below:

The Entrance of Thy Words – a teaching by a supposed ‘man of God’, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome – learn more on this unbiblical FALSE identity…

Chris Oyakhilome you blaspheme.  To think you are a god or on the way to becoming one is heretical.  You should be bowing before Jesus Christ, but you want Him to bow down to you.  Christ Oyakhilome please repent of this vile doctrine before it’s too late.

What does the bible say, who is the only one that is divine?

Divinity of Jesus Christ

John 1:1-5

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
John 1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

The Word of God Made Flesh, that is Jesus Christ

John 1:14-18

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 1:15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
John 1:16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

This is the exact same thing that Satan said to Adam and Even in the garden of Eden:

Genesis 3:4-6

Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

This is what God thinks of mere men who want to be Him:

Ezekiel 28:1-2,6-10

Ezek 28:1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Ezek 28:2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
Ezek 28:6 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;
Ezek 28:7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
Ezek 28:8 They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.
Ezek 28:9 Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
Ezek 28:10 Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

Updated:  Added the following article…

The Bible says, “I said, You are gods” – But is this entirely true?

Many a preacher today teaches that we are gods, or little gods, based on the incorrect interpretation of scripture.  Some are very subtle in the way they teach this message, others come out right and just say it.

The verse they will show you to try prove their point is   John 10:34;   “Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”‘?

But let me explain what Jesus really meant:

Jesus was in dialogue with the Jews of His day and quoting from the Old Testament Psalms, saying:  “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”‘?  The Jews wanted to stone Jesus for calling God His Father and making Himself equal with God.  So Jesus quotes Pslam 82 to them to show the distinction between himself and those in Pslam 82 who were called ‘gods’.

Pslam 82 was written AGAINST certain unjust rulers in Israel’s history.  Men of high distinction (Judges/Rulers) were almost seen as gods because of the power they wielded over the nation.  The problem is these men were UNJUST.  Verse 82:2  says:  “How long will you judge unjustly, And show partiality to the wicked? and verses 6-7 say,  6 “I said, “You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High.”  7 But you shall die like men,  And fall like one of the princes.”  So these rulers are not gods, they were given this name by mere men, but were they still children of God?  Yes.  But they will die like everyone else.  So the point Jesus was making was that if unjust rulers can be called gods (by men), how can the Jews who wanted to stone Him object to Him saying that he was the Son of God?

Can you see how easily scripture gets twisted and the next minute you have men and women running around teaching New Age teachings under the banner of Christianity.

BEWARE of ANYONE who tells you that you can be a God or Christ.  When you become a born again Christian you grow to become more Christ-like, you DO NOT become like Christ or a Christ or anything Divine for that matter.  However in Charismatic churches you do; you become a little god – ‘Faith’ becomes an actual force that you wield at your command as you speak things into existence.  This is totally and utterly occult.  The New Age religion believes in something similar, that each person is a god/goddess, they just have not realised it yet – a god trapped in a human body part of a huge cosmos – trying to turn the world into one spiritual tower of Babel.

THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD:

1. Deuteronomy 4:35,39 – Unto thee it was shown, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. (39) Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

2. Deuteronomy 6:4 – Hear, O Israel: The LORD thy God is one LORD. [Note in Mark 12:28-34 how Jesus and a Jewish scribe he encountered understood this text.]

3. Deuteronomy32:39 – See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

4. 2 Samuel 7:22 – Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God; for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

5. 1 Kings 8:60 – That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else.

6. 2 KINGS 5:15 – And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel; now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.

7. 2 Kings 19:15 – And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

8. 1 Chronicles 17:20 – O LORD, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

9. Nehemiah 9:6 – Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou has made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.

10. Psalm 18:31 – For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?

11. Psalm 86:10 – For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.

12. Isaiah 37:16,20 – O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou has made heaven and earth. (20) Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only.

13. Isaiah43:10,11 – Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior.

14. Isaiah44:6,8 – Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. Fear ye not, neither be afraid; have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.

15. Isaiah 45:21 – Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time: who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me.

16. Isaiah 46:9 – For I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me.

17. Hosea 13:4 – Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me; for there is no savior beside me.

18. Joel 2:27 – And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

19. Zechariah 14:9 – And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.

20. Mark 12:29-34 -And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

21. John 17:3 – And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

22. Romans 3:30 – Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

23. 1 Corinthians 8:4-6 – As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

24. Galatians 3:20 – Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

25. Ephesians 4:6 – One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

26. 1 Timothy 1:17 – Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

27. 1 Timothy 2:5 – For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

28. James 2:19 – Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

Is Jesus or the Bible the Word of God and Does It Matter? by Austin Fischer

“Saying the Bible isn’t the Word of God because Jesus is makes as much sense as saying humans aren’t the image of God because Jesus is.”—Derek Rishmawy

Derek Rishmawy tweeted that last week, and I take his point. After a brief Twitter interaction between us, he linked a blog he had written on it a ways back, so I read and agreed with much of what he said (read it here).

In essence, it has become standard hat in many circles to point out that “the Bible isn’t the word of God because Jesus is the word of God”, and to do so in a way that seeks to denigrate Scripture by pitting Jesus against Scripture. And I agree with Derek—this is often done and it’s often done sloppily. For example, I often see arguments for homosexuality[1] that run something like this:

-Jesus was loving, kind, and compassionate.

-Telling homosexuals that acting on their desires is sinful is not loving, kind or compassionate.

-The Bible might condemn homosexuality but Jesus, not the Bible, is the word of God, so he overrides the Bible’s teaching and teaches homosexuality is ok because he is loving, kind, and compassionate.

To be clear, there are much stronger arguments for homosexuality, but, at the popular level, I frequently see a variation of this argument. And to say the least, it’s quite non sequitur and wrongly pits Jesus against the Bible in the sense Derek is pointing out.

That said, is there something “serious” here in the distinction between Jesus and the Bible as the word of God—something to be probed and explored—or is it, as Derek says, “a rhetorical sleight of hand, passing itself off as serious theology”?[2] While agreeing it is often a mere rhetorical sleight of hand, I do think there is something serious here. A few thoughts on why…

At the risk of simplification (because it could probably be further divided), there is at least a clear, 3-fold sense in which Scripture uses the phrase “the word of God.” First off, the Bible speaks of Jesus as the word of God (John 1:1-3, 14-18). It is important to note that when the NT writers speak of Jesus as the word of God, they are picking up a Hebrew idea, because throughout the OT we see “the word of God” coming to people (1 Kings 12:22, 1 Chronicles 17:3, Jeremiah 23:29, Ezekiel 16:1, Isaiah 55:10-11, etc.).

Clearly, this word of God is not a written scripture—it’s more alive than that. As N.T. Wright says, “Throughout the Old Testament, we find the elusive but powerful idea of ‘God’s word,’ not as a synonym for the written scriptures, but as a strange personal presence, creating, judging, healing, recreating…the word of God is like an enormous reservoir, full of creative divine wisdom and power, that the prophets and other writers tap into by God’s call and grace.”[3] We get to John and it would seem the claim being made (at least in part) is that this word of God that creates, judges, heals, and recreates is, in fact, Jesus the Messiah.

Hebrews 1:1-3, though not using the phrase, “word of God,” certainly seems to be saying this and implies a certain superiority of God’s “speaking” through Jesus in relation to his speaking through “the fathers in the prophets.” What is this superiority and what does it mean and what does it mean for how we read both the OT and NT? These are very important questions.

Second, the Bible speaks of the gospel as the word of God. I’ll list these verses so the point will not be missed.

• Acts 6:2,7- So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables”…The word of God kept spreading and the number of disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem.
• Acts 8:4-5,14 – Therefore those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them…Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John.
• Colossians 1:3-5- We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel…
• 1 Thessalonians 1:6, 2:9,13- You have also become imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit…For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working day and night so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God…For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which performs its work in you who believe.

Although this sense is often lost on people, the “word of God” referenced in the NT is usually the gospel, meaning the story of Jesus—his death and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15). Wright is again helpful:  “Before there was any New Testament, there was a clear understanding in early Christianity that the word of God…was the story of Jesus, particularly his death and resurrection.”[4] 

So at this point we have clearly distinguished two senses in which the Bible talks about the word of God, neither of which is the Bible.

Third, the Bible, and more importantly, Jesus himself, does speak of Scripture as the word of God: “Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I SAID, YOU ARE GOD’? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came…” (John 10:34-35). Examples could be multiplied. And surely related to this is 2 Timothy 3:16 and its teaching that all Scripture is theoneustos, puffed out by God, inspired by God.

How do we put all of this together so that we can think more clearly about what we mean when we say “the word of God”? Here’s a simple categorization I’ve found helpful, borrowing a bit from Barth.

The Word of God, capital W, refers, first and foremost to Jesus. One step removed from that, the word of God refers to the gospel, which is the story of Jesus, the Word of God. And one step removed from that, the word of God refers to the Bible because the Bible tells us the story of Jesus (= gospel), who is himself the Word of God. Visually then:

Word of God = Jesus

word of God = gospel

word of God = Scripture

So I agree with Derek: we have good reason to call the Bible the word of God. Without it, it’s certainly fair to wonder if the gospel of the Word of God would have ever come to us. We should affirm and cherish the word of God in all three senses.

And yet, I do think it’s important to spell out these three senses because, in my experience, many people seem to think the Bible exists so they can have a relationship with the Bible. No—the Bible exists so we can have a relationship with Jesus. Handled properly, the Bible points beyond itself to Jesus. As Jesus himself says in John 5:39: “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me!”[5] The Bible is the word of God in a derivative sense and I think this is a serious theological point that needs to be made, not a rhetorical sleight of hand.

Additionally, the derivative nature of the Bible’s being “the word of God” raises other questions. To just run with the analogy Derek offers regarding the image of God…

Yes, Jesus being the image of God doesn’t mean humans can’t also be the image of God. So yes, Jesus being the Word of God doesn’t mean the Bible can’t also be the word of God. But the analogy cuts both ways, because:

Jesus is the image of God in a “fuller” sense than humans are.

Jesus is the word of God in a “fuller” sense than the Bible is.

What are the implications of this for theology and epistemology? Scripture and orthodoxy insist that Jesus fulfills Scripture instead of abolishes it (Matthew 5:17), but it is unclear what all this means. Jesus’ “fulfillment” of Scripture cannot be understood in a straightforward sense in which he is simply elaborating on everything else Scripture has said in smooth, linear fashion, basically living and teaching all the same things, providing a bit of clarification. Far from it! Jagged edges abound—“You’ve heard it said…but I say to you…”

Jesus fulfills Scripture, not so much in the sense that he’s only saying what the rest of Scripture already says, but in the sense that he faithfully fulfills the big story of Scripture (Israel’s story) and in so doing casts a light forward and backward on the whole of Scripture. This light brings certain issues to the surface—for example, divine and human violence in Scripture.

I’ll end with a quotation, cited by Derek, from J.I. Packer:

“But who is this Christ, the Judge of Scripture? Not the Christ of the New Testament and of history. That Christ does not judge Scripture; he obeys it and fulfills it. Certainly, He is the final authority of the whole of it. Certainly, He is the final authority for Christians; that is precisely why Christians are bound to acknowledge the authority of Scripture. Christ teaches them to do so.”[6]

I agree with the general sentiment here in large degree, but the phase “Christ did not judge Scripture” is very ambiguous and if it is meant to mean, “Jesus never stands against, questions, challenges things said in the Hebrew Scriptures; he only obeys them”, then I disagree. Jesus’ relationship with Scripture was more complex and aggressive than that, in ways both implicit and explicit.

One need look no further than the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus’ “revision” (though one might well question whether this term is severe enough) of the lex talionis: “You have heard that it was said ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evil person…” (Matthew 5:38). And of course, the crucifixion reveals the deepest meaning of this teaching, wherein we learn that God doesn’t merely want to limit our degree of retaliation—God wants us to retaliate with love and would rather us die than retaliate violently. That’s what Jesus did.

So is Jesus “judging” Scripture here? I suppose that depends on what we mean by judging. But at minimum, we are forced to concede that Jesus does not simply sign his name beside everything Scripture says and we are left to ponder the implications. Pitting black letters against red letters is an unhelpful way to frame things, but pointing out that the “red letters” clarify the deepest intention of the “black letters” (often in unexpected ways) strikes me as a particularly Christian epistemological habit that is essential for good Christian theology.

So in the end, I agree and disagree with Derek. Sometimes, asserting that Jesus and not the Bible is the Word of God is a rhetorical slight of hand, but sometimes it is a serious theological claim, even if we disagree about where it leads us.

[1] By which I mean arguments that it is ok for Christians to act on homosexual impulses.

[2] From his blog post: “If Jesus is the ‘Word of God’ Can We Call the Bible the Word of God?”

[3] NT Wright, Scripture and the Authority of God, 36.

[4] Ibid., 48.

[5] The Message.

[6] Packer, “Fundamentalism” and the Word of God, 61-62.