People have asked me, “Where does the Word of God come from?”
Often, those asking this question want to know where the Bible came from, but today, I’m focusing on the Word of God. When we understand the Word of God, then the Bible’s origin becomes obvious.
The Apostle John writes …
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1, ESV).
The Word of God is eternal. The Word of God is Jesus.
The Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament, are “from,” and in a sense, “of” Jesus.
As the Apostle Peter says …
For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21).
What does the Word of God teach in the Old and New Testaments? N.T. Wright (my favorite Bible scholar) writes in his book Scripture and the Authority of God: How to Read the Bible Today …
Through the “word”: the story of Israel now told as reaching its climax in Jesus, God’s call to Israel now transmuted into God’s call to his renewed people. And it was this “word” which came, through the work of the early writers, to be expressed in writing in the New Testament as we know it.
I sat down with a cup of coffee to read this paragraph, and I had to read it over and over and over (as I do with many of N.T. Wright’s paragraphs). And while reading, I came up with my Old Guy Version (OGV) of N.T. Wright’s paragraph ….
The Word [Jesus] wrote the story of Israel in the Old Testament that concluded in Jesus. Now the Word [Jesus] is calling all people to know Jesus through the New Testament (OGV).
If the Bible, in its entirety, sends a message to us about forgiveness and salvation, then we realize …
How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will (Hebrews 2:3-4, ESV).
Let’s remember the original question in this blog, “Where does the Word of God come from.?”
The answer: Jesus is the Word, and He wrote the Bible!
Let’s get back to my buddy N.T Wright, in his book previously mentioned …
Paul expressed what the apostles all discovered: that this retelling of the ancient story, climaxing now in Jesus, carried power—power to change minds, hearts, and lives. “The gospel is God’s power to salvation.” (Romans 1:16)
We don’t need an extra cup of coffee to understand this N.T. Wright paragraph. It’s clear that the Word of God and only the Word of God brings salvation.
Amen.