The Written Word of God

Let’s start this third week of our studies in turning first to the words of Christ Himself. He is here speaking to the Jews and is justifying the claim which He has made, and which the Jews had contested, that He is the Son of God. In support of His claim, Christ quotes from the Psalms in the Old Testament, which He designates by the phrase “your law.” Here is what He says:

“Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, ‘You are gods’’? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?’” (John 10:34-36).

In this reply Jesus makes use of the two titles which have ever since been used more than all others by His followers to designate the Bible. The first of these titles is “the Word of God”; the second is “the Scripture.” It will be profitable to consider what each of these two main titles has to tell us about the nature of the Bible.

When Jesus called the Bible “the Word of God,” He indicated that the truths revealed in it do not have their origin with men, but with God. Though many different men have been used in various ways to make the Bible available to the world, they are all merely instruments or channels. In no case did the message or the revelation of the Bible originate with men, but always and only with God Himself.

On the other hand, when Jesus used the second title, “the Scripture,” He indicated a divinely appointed limitation of the Bible. The phrase “the Scripture” means literally “that which is written.” The Bible does not contain the entire knowledge or purpose of almighty God in every aspect or detail. It does not even contain all the divinely inspired messages that God has ever given through human instruments. This is proved by the fact that the Bible itself refers in many places to the utterances of prophets whose words are not recorded in the Bible.

We see, therefore, that the Bible, though completely true and authoritative, is also highly selective. Its message is intended primarily for the human race. It is expressed in words which human beings can understand. Its central theme and purpose are the spiritual welfare of man. It reveals primarily the nature and consequences of sin and the way of deliverance from sin and its consequences through faith in Christ.