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The Living Word
It is our natural inclination as humans to strive for life. We labor to understand it, obsess over its meaning, struggle to maintain it, and push the limits of our skill, resources and knowledge in an effort to extend it. Life is everything to us, but as creatures tied to a finite physical universe we are ultimately unable to keep it. It is a hard truth
established ages ago, yet the God who is life has provided a way for our lives to reach true fulfillment and continue forever in a glorified existence. He has disclosed that way to us through His word.
When Christians use the term “living” to describe the Bible, it is not meant the same way as with other written documents where adaptiveness or subjectivity is being indicated. By its own self-testimony, God’s word is unchanging and eternal. The term “living” speaks instead to the Bible's inherent ability to impart spiritual life to those who receive it.
How does that happen? The Bible on your shelf does not magically grant self-sustaining energy to your body. What it does do is lay out, authoritatively, the redemptive truth according to God. Knowing and being convicted by that truth is what opens the door to heaven and God's eternal blessing.
So what is this truth? What does the Bible actually say? Briefly, it explains who God is, who we are, that sin has separated us from Him, and that the just penalty of sin is death. It reveals that God, in an act of mercy, made atonement for the sin of mankind through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God's very manifestation upon the earth. By this divine act and gift of faith, all who repent of their personal sin and trust in the person and sacrifice of Jesus for their redemption will be reconciled to their Creator, experiencing abundant life and fellowship in His presence for all of eternity.
This is the gospel message, and whether we have heard it proclaimed or read it ourselves, God’s written word - the 66-book Christian Bible providentially written, canonized and preserved by His hand - is the definitive source. Receiving and being convicted by the gospel triggers faith, making it possible for an individual to respond to God's
effectual call to spiritual life.
It is through the work of the Holy Spirit that the transforming power of God’s living word is fully realized. In our natural state we are unable to grasp the things of God, but those called to salvation receive the indwelling presence of His Spirit who teaches them truth, enabling them to understand and apply it.
God’s word is always its own best witness. The psalmist describes its power to sustain and strengthen the believer:
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers. — Psalm 1:2-3
The writer of Hebrews emphasizes the active nature of God’s word and power to convict by its perfect standard:
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. — Hebrews 4:12
James speaks of the innate power of the word to save:
Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. — James 1:21
God’s sovereign will is accomplished through His word:
“So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” — Isaiah 55:11
The word of God continuously works in the life of believers:
For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. — 1 Thessalonians 2:13
God’s word is what ultimately sustains our physical lives:
He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. — Deuteronomy 8:3
God’s word is synonymous with spiritual life:
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” — John 6:63
For the Christian, life continues beyond this world. We are all intended for eternity, and it is through the living word that heaven and the eternal blessing of God is attainable for those whom He has called. In our day and age, it is not possible to know the living word of God apart from the written word of God. It is by His grace alone that the path to redemption and everlasting life in Christ has been provided, and by His providence that it is revealed to us today through the pages of the Christian Bible.
Scripture Alone • Faith Alone • Grace Alone • Christ Alone • To the Glory of God Alone
Most scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB)
