What is the Word of God? pt. 1: The Problem
This post is the first in a series on the Word of God.
Okay, so first off... you guys are so awesome. I've had so much fun participating in the discussion both here and on the christianity community about this topic. Probably every single one of you who posted had some influence in what I'm going to say.
The big thing I've taken away from this is how utterly incompetent I am to write about this at all. My theological training comprises three undergraduate classes and stealing peeks at my dad's books. Every answer I come up with raises seven more in my mind. I have a lot to learn before I can write anything worth anything about the subject of God's Word. Truly the subject is too wonderful for me. But I said I was going to write a post about, so I'm going to make my Yea Yea and go through with it.
So... what is the Word of God? Why do we ask the question at all? "The Word of God," taken literally, just means, "That which is said by God," or even more generally, "God's self-expression." Pretty simple, right?
But there's a problem. Christians customarily speak of "the Word of God" as a singular thing. Admittedly, we do sometimes we do speak of "words from God," though I've never heard a Christian speak of "the Words of God" a la "the Provinces of Canada." But "the Word" in Scripture doesn't always refer to the same thing:
-Christians customarily use "the Word of God" to mean "the Bible." But John 1 calls Jesus "the Word."
-Christians typically (I said typically! re: catholics and liberals) view the Bible as the full, complete revelation of God. But Christians also typically (I said typically! re: cessationists and conservative Lutherans) experience God speaking to them personally. If everything God has to say is contained in the Bible, how can he speak new words to us?
-Us traditional Protestants, following Augustine, like to call the sacraments "visible words." What's with that?
-Hebrew has one word for "word" (dabar), while Greek has two (logos and rhema). What's with that?
Over the next week or two I want to unpack this problem and see what comes out. I'm not going to lay down a definition or a solution to any of the problems (I don't feel qualified to do that), but I'm going to give some suggestions for how we can understand "the Word of God."
To God be the glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord, in the Holy Spirit and in the Church forever and ever. Amen.
Okay, so first off... you guys are so awesome. I've had so much fun participating in the discussion both here and on the christianity community about this topic. Probably every single one of you who posted had some influence in what I'm going to say.
The big thing I've taken away from this is how utterly incompetent I am to write about this at all. My theological training comprises three undergraduate classes and stealing peeks at my dad's books. Every answer I come up with raises seven more in my mind. I have a lot to learn before I can write anything worth anything about the subject of God's Word. Truly the subject is too wonderful for me. But I said I was going to write a post about, so I'm going to make my Yea Yea and go through with it.
So... what is the Word of God? Why do we ask the question at all? "The Word of God," taken literally, just means, "That which is said by God," or even more generally, "God's self-expression." Pretty simple, right?
But there's a problem. Christians customarily speak of "the Word of God" as a singular thing. Admittedly, we do sometimes we do speak of "words from God," though I've never heard a Christian speak of "the Words of God" a la "the Provinces of Canada." But "the Word" in Scripture doesn't always refer to the same thing:
-Christians customarily use "the Word of God" to mean "the Bible." But John 1 calls Jesus "the Word."
-Christians typically (I said typically! re: catholics and liberals) view the Bible as the full, complete revelation of God. But Christians also typically (I said typically! re: cessationists and conservative Lutherans) experience God speaking to them personally. If everything God has to say is contained in the Bible, how can he speak new words to us?
-Us traditional Protestants, following Augustine, like to call the sacraments "visible words." What's with that?
-Hebrew has one word for "word" (dabar), while Greek has two (logos and rhema). What's with that?
Over the next week or two I want to unpack this problem and see what comes out. I'm not going to lay down a definition or a solution to any of the problems (I don't feel qualified to do that), but I'm going to give some suggestions for how we can understand "the Word of God."
To God be the glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord, in the Holy Spirit and in the Church forever and ever. Amen.