The Word Of God

The things I learned from Systematic Theology, Chapter 2 – The Word of God.

1) The Word of God refers to the person of Jesus Christ (e.g. as mentioned by the apostle John).

2) The Word of God also means speech by God. There are 4 kinds:

a) God’s decree is a word of God that causes something to happen (e.g. creation).
b) God’s words of personal address are the words that God uses to communicate with people on earth by speaking directly to them (e.g. to Adam and Eve, at Jesus’ baptism).
c) God’s words as speech through human lips are words that God speaks through the mouths of prophets (e.g. Moses, Jeremiah).
d) God’s words in written form are God’s words put in writing (e.g. the two tablets of the Ten Commandments, the New Testament epistles).

My questions to pick at your brain:

i) Do God’s words still come to us by personal address today?
ii) If one day, God speaks to us through a personal address, how should we respond to it?
iii) How can we be sure that we are hearing “God’s voice”? What does it sound like?
iv) Does God use us as His mouthpiece to communicate to people today? How do we know if God is “using” us to communicate His words through human lips?
v) If we find a copy of a New Testament epistle in our backyard today, and it can be proven that it was written by an apostle, should we treat that document as God’s words in written form?

“Even if we did hear some words of personal address from God to ourselves today, we would not have certainty that our understanding of it, our memory of it, and our subsequent report of it was wholly accurate. Nor would we be readily able to convey to others the certainty that the communication was from God, even if it was.”

vi) How come the people from ancient times could do it, but we can’t?

I’m sure these questions can be answered in Chapters 3, 7 and 53. But I’m just ear-marking these thoughts.

My responses to the questions for personal application:

I do not think I would pay more attention if God spoke to me from heaven or through the voice of a living prophet than if he spoke to me from the written words of Scripture. It takes faith to hear, believe, and obey the Words of God, in whatever form it comes in.

God may yell at me from my bedroom window. But if I want to mark it off as the voice of a drunk man that just came home, or a hallucination, or just a dream, then it will be of no use to me.

God has given His Words to me in written form in the Bible. If I do not believe that those words are true, or if I do not want to read and obey them, it will be of no use to me as well.

Hearing God’s words takes faith. And faith is useful when it is coupled with action.

I will give Scripture equal weightage with “special revelations” of the sort mentioned above, if given that the special revelations are authentic beyond a shadow of a doubt. Therefore, special revelations have a burden of proof. Hypothetically speaking, if both forms of communication are authentically from God, then I will do well to believe and obey them both.

In the absence of authentic testing (or the possibility of authentic testing) of special revelations, I will pay more attention to the written Word of God. The written words of God do not have a burden of proof. Its burden of proof can be more easily dealt with, compared to that of special revelations. (In fact, it is already dealt with, and thus it should be taken away from the heart of every believer). The reliability, permanence, and accessibility of the written Word of God make it a trustworthy source for the words of God today.