What is the Word of God?

[albertus_magnus]

When talking to Protestants, I often find them referring to the Bible as ‘the word of God’. However, the more I think about it, the less likely I think it is that when the phrase ‘Word of God’ is used, it refers to the Bible.

What do you think?

 

[HillbillyHermit]

I think it depends on the context of the conversation. Although, in most conversations I’ve had with Protestants, “the Word of God” usually means the Bible. As for me, it can either mean that or Jesus.

 

[patrick457]

When talking to Protestants, I often find them referring to the Bible as ‘the word of God’. However, the more I think about it, the less likely I think it is that when the phrase ‘Word of God’ is used, it refers to the Bible.

What do you think?

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

 

[Vouthon]

Jesus is the Word of God, a living, active and creative person, not a dead letter. Sacred Scripture stands as a witness to the life and teachings (and every prior inspiration of the Word speaking through the prophets) of the Word of God, is inspired by the Holy Spirit and to that extent it can be called the “written Word of God”.

Read:

The Word of God, in Catholic understanding, is not primarily the Bible (the written text), but is Jesus Christ (the incarnate Word). The most important part of the Christian faith is not the Bible, but Jesus himself. Jesus came before the Bible (before the NT books were written, and before the complete scriptures were canonized).

The Catechism makes it clear that Catholicism is not a “religion of the book”, any book the Holy Bible or otherwise:

“…The Christian faith is not a “religion of the book.” Christianity is the religion of the “Word” of God, a word which is “not a written and mute word, but the Word is incarnate and living”. If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter,the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, “open [our] minds to understand the Scriptures.”…”

 

[kkollwitz]

In John, “word” is the translation for “logos,” which has a much wider range of meaning in Greek than “word” does in English. Here’s a fairly short and accessible piece on the subject I downloaded around 2000 or so:

** Logos (Word) of God**

Logos (Greek: reason, word) In ancient and especially in medieval philosophy and theology, the divine reason that acts as the ordering principle of the universe. The 6th-century BC Greek philosopher Heraclitus was the first to use the term Logos in a metaphysical sense. He asserted that the world is governed by a Logos, a divine force that produces the order and pattern of nature. He believed that this force is similar to human reason and that his own thought partook of the divine Logos.
After the 4th century BC, the Logos was conceived as a rational divine power that orders and directs the universe; it is identified with God, nature, and fate. The Logos is “present everywhere” and seems to be understood as both a divine mind and at least a semiphysical force, acting through space and time. Through the faculty of reason, all human beings (but not any other animals) share in the divine reason.
The 1st-century AD Jewish-Hellenistic philosopher Philo Judaeus employed the term Logos to mean a mediating principle between God and the world and can be understood as God’s Word or the Divine Wisdom, which is immanent in the world.
In the Old Testament, God’s Word was the primary medium of communication with human beings, and what was said had creative power (Gen. 1. 3-9 ,Ps. 33. 6), and by the time of the Prophets, the Word of God was presented as having an almost independent existence (I Sam. 15: 10; Is. 55: 11; Jer. 23: 29).

The Logos (Word) Made Flesh

     In the New Testament, Logos is described as God from eternity, who became incarnate in the man,         Jesus Christ.  This is central to the Gospel of John.                  At the beginning of the Gospel of John, Jesus Christ is identified with the Logos made incarnate,         the Greek word *logos* being translated as "word" in the English Bible: "         In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and         the Word was God. (John 1:1-3, 14). John's conception of Christ was probably         influenced by Old Testament (Jewish) passages as well as by Greek         philosophy, but early Christian theologians developed the         conception of Christ as the Logos in Greek terms. The         Logos, for instance, was identified with the will of God,         or with the Ideas that are in the mind of God. Christ's incarnation was accordingly         understood as the incarnation of these divine attributes. The Word was         made flesh. The two natures of Christ are united in One Person, "without         confusion, change, division, or separation" (as professed by the Council         of Chalcedon of 451).
      In the First Epistle of John, the author cannot seem to find sufficient         words to convey the importance of the fact that the Word was made flesh.         "That which was from the beginning, which we have **heard**, which we         have **seen** with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have         **touched**, of the Word of life." John appeals to all the senses to give         witness to the Incarnate God. We **saw** Him and **heard** Him and **touched** Him,         he insists. God made Himself tangible to human beings.

Today the Catholic encounters God just as tangibly in the Sacraments which Christ established. Indeed Christ, as a physical manifestation of God, the Word made flesh, can Himself be understood to have been the first Sacrament. So Catholics kneeling before the raised Host at Mass worship the God whom they see through the eye of faith, the God whom they touch and taste under the appearances of Bread and Wine. The Catholic kneeling in the confessional hears Jesus say, “I absolve you of your sins,” through the lips of the priest. Through the eye of faith, Saint Peter was able to look on his friend and teacher, a carpenter from Nazareth whose family Peter knew, and declare, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Likewise, the Catholic looks upon the elevated Host at Mass with the eyes of faith and declares, “My Lord and my God!” The Catholic venerates the Host because he venerates Christ.
Catholics worship the Sacred Humanity of Christ that has redeemed them. This worship of Christ’s Humanity reflects the most profound commitment to the truths revealed in Scripture about the nature and work of Jesus. The Word was made flesh. This man Jesus is God. As Tertullian said in the second century, “The flesh is the hinge of salvation.” We can certainly understand that truth when we meditate on the Incarnation. But Tertullian is speaking also of the effects of the sacraments to bring us to our bodily resurrection in Christ.

 

[Fidelis]

Does the “Word of God” Always Mean the Bible?

by Patrick Madrd

It never fails. In conversations about biblical authority with Evangelical and Fundamentalist Protestants, this argument always comes up. The mistake here is in imagining that every time the phrase “Word of God” appears in Scripture, it refers to the Bible.
The fact is, when attention is paid to the context of the passage, we see that most of the time the phrase “Word of God” does not refer to Scripture but to something else, such as Christ, the Law, God’s creative utterances, and apostolic and prophetic preaching. Here are some verses that prove this:

Isaiah 55:10-11 — “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” This demonstrates that “the Word of God” is not Scripture but, rather, God’s creative word.

Luke 3:2-3 — “[T]he word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness; and he went into all the region about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance…”

This refers to the inspiration that St. John the Baptist received, as he was sent forth to preach the gospel of repentance and preparation for Christ.

Luke 4:44-5:1 — “[Jesus] was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. While the people pressed upon Him to hear the word of God…”

Luke 8:11-15 — “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; …the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away… And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.”

Notice that the emphasis in this last verse is on hearing the word of God; an obvious reference both to Christ’s own preaching as well as to apostolic preaching (cf. 1 Thes 2:13), as well as the continual preaching of the gospel by the Catholic Church to all creatures in all ages (c.f. Mt 28:19-20; Rom 10:14-15).

John 1:1, 14 — “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

This passage, of course, refers to the Incarnate Christ.

Acts 4:31 — “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.”

1 Thessalonians 2:13 — “[W]hen you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”

Here Paul is specifically pointing to oral Tradition, not to Scripture. This was his first epistle to the Thessalonians. Notice that he doesn’t enjoin them to go solely by what is found in Scripture, but he reminds them to adhere to the oral teachings he had handed on to them.

Hebrews 4:12-13 — “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before Him no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

This last passage is frequently quoted out of context by Protestants, as if it meant Scripture. But notice that it speaks of the Word of God as a “Him,” not an “it,” and that it is before “Him [Christ]” that the secrets of our hearts are laid bare and judged. The next time a Protestant quotes this verse out of context, ask him to explain how it is that the Bible can “discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Then ask him if it isn’t nonsensical to think of this as Scripture, and conversely, ask him if it’s not eminently reasonable, even demanded by the context, to see the “Word of God” here to be in reference to Christ.

Hebrews 11:3 — “By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear.”

This passage in Hebrews only reinforces the conclusion we draw from Hebrews 4:12-13 that the Word being spoken of there is not the Bible. Clearly, no Protestant will posit that “the world was created” by the Bible. If he does, head for the door, quickly!​

(Copyright 2004, Patrick Madrid, all rights reserved. Patrick Madrid is an author, public speaker, and the publisher of Envoy Magazine. Visit his website at www.surprisedbytruth.com).

7/21/04
www.catholicexchange.com

 

[Jeanne_S]

When talking to Protestants, I often find them referring to the Bible as ‘the word of God’. However, the more I think about it, the less likely I think it is that when the phrase ‘Word of God’ is used, it refers to the Bible.

What do you think?

Jesue Christ IS the word.!

 

[aragonjohn1]

“the word was made flesh and dwelt amoung us”

Shalom
God bless