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Joined: 2006/9/16
Posts: 2753


 Re: The living word of God

Question: "What is the living Word? What does it mean that the Bible is the living Word of God?"

Answer: According to Hebrews 4:12, “the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” The “word of God” here is the written or spoken Word, not the Logos of John 1. The ESV says that the Bible is “living” and active.

The description of the Bible as “living” means that it has a vital power inherent to itself. The written Word of God accomplishes God’s purposes (Isaiah 55:11); the preaching of the Holy Scriptures brings about God’s desired effects. The Bible is unlike other books, whatever emotional or social effects they may produce, in that it brings about lasting, supernatural change within a person. “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17).

Jesus likened the Word of God to seed in His parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1–23). Seed, like the Bible, is not dead, but living, and it has the ability to bring forth more life abundantly. Seeds produce a crop (verse 23).

The Bible, as the living Word of God, is not inert or powerless, as seen in the actions attributed to the Word in the rest of Hebrews 4:12: the Bible “penetrates” deep within us and “judges” our hearts and motivations. It is “active,” not passive. The Bible is resisted or ignored to our own peril (Hebrews 2:1–3).

We see the living Word of God in action in the pages of the Bible. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached the Word of God, and his audience “were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” (Acts 2:37). Three thousand people were saved that day (verse 41). Later, as the apostles continued to preach, the number in the church grew to five thousand, because “many of those who had heard the word believed” (Acts 4:4, ESV). God’s Word, living and active, does not return to Him void.

The Bible is the living Word of God because it is the message given to us from the “living God” (Hebrews 3:12). The God who is alive works in this world through His living Word in conjunction with the Holy Spirit (see Ephesians 6:17). Jesus spoke of the life-giving property of His words: “The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life” (John 6:63). The word of our Lord is efficacious for our salvation and sanctification (Acts 13:48; John 17:17).

Other indications that the Word of God is alive include the facts that it sustains man (Luke 4:4), it brings faith (Romans 10:17), it has freedom to accomplish God’s will (2 Timothy 2:9), it can be maligned (Titus 2:5), it gives spiritual birth (1 Peter 1:23), and it abides within believers (1 John 2:14).

We see the living Word of God in action every time a sinner repents and turns to Christ for eternal life. The believer’s changed life bears testimony to the living, active power of the Bible. Commentator Matthew Henry wrote of the Bible that it “convinces powerfully, converts powerfully, and comforts powerfully. It makes a soul that has long been proud, to be humble; and a perverse spirit, to be meek and obedient. Sinful habits, that are become as it were natural to the soul, and rooted deeply in it, are separated and cut off by this sword. It will discover to men their thoughts and purposes, the vileness of many, the bad principles they are moved by, the sinful ends they act to” (Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible, Hebrews 4:11–16).

The living Word is active in the lives of those who receive it. According to the psalmist, the person who meditates on and delights in the Word will be “like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither” (Psalm 1:2–3). The Scriptures today are often downplayed in favor of manmade philosophies, personal experiences, or a “new” word from God. But the Bible cannot be ignored as if it were dead or obsolete. The Word of God is still powerful and very much alive. “We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19).


_________________
David Winter

 2017/4/8 10:53Profile
Elibeth
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Joined: 2011/8/14
Posts: 1148


 Re:

Bro.David,
What a blessed, good word....
I agree !

As I read His Word,desiring Him to teach me,...we can just feel The Spirit of / in, his Words.

His Words,they are Spirit,and they are Life,....
( IF,...we do not throw them to the ground,...and use our word.)

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elizabeth

 2017/4/8 14:29Profile









 Re:

Revelation 19:13

He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God.

John 1:1-2

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

The living word of God is a Person. And His name is Jesus.

Bro Blaine

 2017/4/8 15:43
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Joined: 2006/9/16
Posts: 2753


 Re: Jesus and His writtren word

And the written word of Jesus is every bit a living word as He is.


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David Winter

 2017/4/8 16:23Profile









 Re: David

...And the written word of Jesus ie every bit as living as He is...

I don't think so. There is no power on the words of the Bible. There is no power in the Bible. The printed word is simply that. The printed word. The Bible is simply words on paper. It is simply a book like any other book.

UNLESS. UNLESS. Those words are quickened by the Holy Spirit to one's heart. Jesus says in John 6:63,

... It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh. profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

Paul flesshes this thought out in 2 Corinthians 2:2-3,

You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.

In Hebrews 8 in the new covenant we are told that God writes his laws upon our minds and hearts. This is done by the Holy Spirit, testifying of those laws into our hearts and minds. Or rather writing those laws into our hearts and minds.

We often quote Hebrews 4:12 regarding the word of God being living and active and sharper than any 2 edged sword as meaning the book or the Bible. The printed book if you will. But the early readers would not have understood this passage as referring to a book. They would have understood the word of God as referring to a person.

For Hebrews, 4:13 says,

... And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do...

The passage above has reference to the Lord Jesus Christ as the word of God. The early Hebrew believers would have understood the Word of God who had power to be the Lord Jesus Christ.

In and of itself, the Bible has no power. In and of itself, the Bible is simply a book like any other book. It is only when one meets the Author of the book and has a personal relationship with Him. Then the book becomes meaningful.

It is not the words in the book that give life. It is the Spirit who gives life. Only by the Spirit breathing in the word of God into our hearts. Do His words become spirit and life.

Simply my thoughts.

Bro Blaine

 2017/4/8 17:35









 Re:

Brothers and sisters.

The Triune Godhead is not Holy Father, Holy Son and Holy Bible.

But the Triune Godhead is Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy Spirit.

Bro Blaine

 2017/4/8 17:39
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Joined: 2006/9/16
Posts: 2753


 Re:

Why don't you give us a break bear?

/The Triune Godhead is not Holy Father, Holy Son and Holy Bible./

Whoever came close to saying that? If you aren't going to exercise a little more mental astuteness than this why don't you just let it be.


_________________
David Winter

 2017/4/8 18:04Profile
savannah
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Joined: 2008/10/30
Posts: 2265


 Re: it is written



The wife who loves her husband, who has gone on a long, long journey, far, far away, loves the letters she receives from him each and every week.

Even though the letters are not him, they're as though they are. She may not be be able to hold him and hug him physically, but nevertheless, she feels his presence strongly as she reads his letters, to the point of being brought to tears.

He tells her all that's on his heart, and she is drawn so close to him as she reads, and is so comforted by his words.

She longs to see him face to face, but for now, this is how their love is kept strong.

"It is written...!"

 2017/4/8 18:48Profile
Elibeth
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Joined: 2011/8/14
Posts: 1148


 Re:

Bro.Bear,
Yes, ' In the begining was The Word,The Word was with God,and The Word was God.'

God,is Spirit / Word,..He is invisible,..the Word says.
We know, that God,this Voice, this Breath, this Wisdom,,spoke,and brought the world into existence. He did the same speaking,and brought His Word / Seed, into the womb of Mary,..that produced His only begotten Son.
The Son,Jesus Christ,..We know,that He, Jesus only spoke The Words of His Father,God, showed \ gave Him.

We know that we cannot believe in a Jesus / or have a Jesus, without The Word,...or else we would have / believe in,...'another Jesus' ,...and not The Jesus of the Bible.

It is such a blessing,to us all that we have His Words wrote down for us to read,...

2 Tim 3:16,
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God,and is profitable for doctrine,for reproof,for correction,for instruction in righteousness: vs.(17) That the man of God might be thoughly furnished unto all good works."


A great mystery here.....we confirm it through the written word.

Always,
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elizabeth

 2017/4/8 19:08Profile
Elibeth
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Joined: 2011/8/14
Posts: 1148


 Re: His Name / The Word

We know that God,The Father's Name is 'The Word'
and ,..concerning the scripture you gave Bear,..

Rev.19:13,
"And He was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood:and His Name is called The Word of God."

God' Name is the whole Word of God,...all His righteous judgements in all maters,..that is His Name.

Jesus' Name is the whole Word of God,..

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elizabeth

 2017/4/8 19:29Profile





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