Is the Bible the Word of God?

Is the Bible the Word of God? What does that question mean? Let's move back. If that means that the overall message of the Bible (God is holy; man is sinful; the way back is through blood sacrifice) has God's authority, then the answer is yes. And if the question means, is the Bible inspired by the Holy Spirit, then again the answer is yes. But if the question means - is every word and phrase the living Word of God to mankind, then I personally hesitate. For a number of reasons. Take Paul's telling Timothy not to forget his parchments. There's plenty we can learn from that, but is this the living Word of God for all people today? Or take Paul's comments about the people of Crete...that they are all liars, vicious brutes, and lazy gluttons...no doubt in a larger context this could become the texture of a helpful message. But is that verse, Titus 1:12 the Word of God, i.e. a message from heaven we must surrender to. I am not so sure. But I am very sure that if a preacher came across a group of people who had no idea what the message of the Bible was and he was given a choice between using John 3:16 or Titus 1:12, he would go for John 3:16. And with great passion he would declare that this is the Word of God for those people. I am sure we can all think of thousands of verses that are a blessing, that we can learn from - but in our minds they are not as important as John 3:16, or Isaiah 53:6 - We all like sheep have gone astray...and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

So when we say, the Bible is the Word of God, we are not saying that every verse is 'the Word of God' for us today. What we mean is
that the message of the Bible, is the Word of God. And to be more specific we mean the message of the Bible about the cross of Jesus Christ. This is the Word of God relevant, dynamic and authoratative for everyone today. Other parts of the Bible will most certainly be 'the Word of God' at different times for different people - for example someone wanders into a church and hears 'You shall not be mismated with an unbeliever' and this hits their heart and they move out of a relationship with a pagan. That verse was the 'Word of God' for them. But for an old married couple, it was true, but it was not the Word of God for them in the sense they had to do something about it. However, the message of the cross, for believer and unbeliever, is always the Word of God. Indeed this is what Peter says in 1 Peter 1:25. Look how he defines the Word of God. It is 'the good news that was announced to you', i.e. the Gospel, i.e. the message of the cross.

So I don't think it is that helpful to keep on talking of the Bible as 'The Word of God' as if every line of it is what God wants to say to people, that every verse is of equal value. I greatly admire those who give their lives to studying the Bible and unearthing the exact meaning of the Hebrew or the Greek, but I don't think God's Word depends on these studies. We have the overall meaning, that's what's important.

And theologically to call the Bible the Word of God can be dangerous language. The Bible is not the Word of God. Jesus Christ is the Word of God. The bible is a fantastic telescope to look at Jesus Christ with, but it is just a telescope. And we have to remember that for much of church history, most people did not have the Bible in their language. If we think solely in terms of the Bible being the Word of God we run into problems. It makes it look as if God could not talk till the printing press came along in the 15th C. Surely God has other telescopes. He does. One is most certainly the sacrament of Holy Communion. Here the Christian is invited to come and see Christ's wounds..i.e. experience the message of the cross. Another is preaching. When the cross is preached, there's the telescope, and people 'see' Jesus Christ. There is simple witness - as Moody said, for every one person who reads a bible, there are ninety nine who read a Christian.

Seeing the Bible as one of a number of telescopes helps unwrap that old chestnut about those civilizations that earlier had no contact with Christianity. No the Chinese for many years did not have a Bible. Does that mean God had no Word for them, just because the Bible wasn't in their language? That is unlikely. Surely God was speaking to them, inviting them to consider His signs, showing them the way of salvation. We don't know how this was happening, we don't know about the telescopes He was using. But why do we have to make it look like God only speaks when a Bible turns up? Where does it say that in the Bible itself? In fact in the OT the Bible talks about how God was dealing with other civilizations.

Is the Bible inspired by the Holy Spirit. Most certainly. Does the Bible have authority. Most certainly - it is surely one of the best telescopes for the humble heart to see Jesus Christ.
But is the Bible the Word of God. No. Jesus Christ is the Word of God.