The Word of God

by Jim Gordon

The Word of God is important to us today, just as the Word of God has always been important. The question is what actually is the Word of God?

Growing up in church, I was always taught that the bible was the perfect, inerrant word of God. People would tell me if the bible was not perfect, then how could we believe anything about God? To me, that seems to put a lot of emphasis and importance on the bible rather than on God. Remember, it is not the Father, Son and Holy Bible.

Just because a book written by many men over many, many years is not inerrant does not mean God does not exist or cannot be trusted. God is much bigger and more powerful than to be controlled by a book.

The bible was written by men who were inspired but not controlled by God. It was writings of their views, opinions and experiences learning about God, and trying to relate to and follow God. They were not over powered and used as God’s hands to write the words of the bible.

The bible, even according to the bible itself, is not the word of God. We are told in John 1:1 that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. It later says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The bible is not the word of God but it leads us to the Word of God (Jesus/God) and to our own experiences with God.

The bible is certainly worth reading, especially since it does say in 2 Timothy that all scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness. Inspired and directly written are two different things. I may be inspired by someone to write an article or a book, but what I write will be from my experiences, opinion and knowledge.

The bible comes to life when the Spirit illuminates what God has for us. Apart from the leading of the Holy Spirit, the bible is only man’s views and experiences with God. It is the Spirit that lives within us that teaches and brings to life the words that were written. It is the Spirit that leads us to a life with God that has purpose and meaning. And it is the Spirit that gives us strength to show the love of God to other people as we live our lives daily for him.

Read the bible, ask the Spirit to speak to you while doing so, but do not elevate the bible to a position it does not even ask for. The Word of God is alive, powerful and inerrant, but the Word of God we are talking about is Jesus, by his Spirit, living in you.

Jim Gordon and his wife left the institutional church after spending over fifty years within the system. Jim wanted a way to express his thoughts and concerns about the religious system and why he and his wife decided to leave the institution but not their faith in God. Jim can be contacted by email at: jimgordon731@gmail.com

Is the Bible the Word of God?

by Jim Gordon

When we talk about the Word of God we usually think of the Bible. If someone says the Bible is just a book we get all offended and ready to fight. We have been taught that the Bible is the inerrant word of God and he speaks to us from his word.

Actually, I disagree with that thought. Based on John 1:1 the Word of God is Jesus. He is the true, living Word of God. Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us. He is the perfect, inerrant and living Word. It is he who speaks to us by the Holy Spirit. It can be through the Bible, but it can be a number of other ways as well.

So often we Christians focus so much on the Bible that we forget we have the living Word of God inside us. The Holy Spirit, who is God in spirit form just as Jesus was God in human form, lives within us. This is a fact that is very seldom emphasized in churches today. We acknowledge that the Spirit is within us, but we would rather focus on a tangible bible and what the pastor tells us it says rather than put total dependency on the Spirit.

There is certainly nothing wrong with reading the Bible. It is God inspired yet not written by God or dictated by God. Through it we can learn from the past, we see the story of redemption throughout, we come to know about the unconditional love of God. In it we find what God is really like through the life of Christ. We learn what pleases God and we come to know that it is by grace that we have fellowship with him.

The Bible teaches us the Law and how we humans are completely unable to live a life pleasing to God through the law. The law was our tutor to show us that we need God’s grace through Christ.

The Bible teaches us of the freedom we now have in Christ. It teaches of the unconditional love God has for each of us. I personally do not believe God gave men the exact words to write, but he did inspire them. Just as someone may inspire me to write a book, it would still be my words and my experiences.

The books that make up the Bible are writings by men and women who wrote about their idea of God, their experiences with God and their love and fear of God. It can be used for instruction, inspiration, guidance, teaching and correction. Yet without the guidance and leading of the Holy Spirit from within us the Bible is just a book of thoughts and ideas of humans about God.

Another issue with the written word is how we like to fight and argue over which version of the Bible is the true word of God. We need to remember that all versions of the Bible are only man-made interpretations of the words people wrote about God many years ago.

I feel sometimes we have made the Bible out to be part of the Godhead. It is not Father, Son and Holy Bible. We need to focus on Jesus. He said you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, it is these that testify about Me.

Only Jesus is the true and living Word of God. When we look to Jesus and listen for the voice and leading of the Holy Spirit within us, we will then come to understand truth from the living Word of God.