WORD OF GOD.
Use of the Term (§ 1). The Gospel (§ 2). Word and Spirit (§ 5). Preaching (§ 3). Law and Gospel (§ 6).
The term word of God refers, in the immediate sense, not to the Bible, but to the word in general, in so far as it is a means of grace or of religious influence. The Christian religion is the spiritual communion of man and God or the personal intercourse
of God and man. Words are the sole
1. Use of means for transmitting ideas or im-
the Term. pulses of will from person to person.
Inasmuch as sensuous beings can communicate only through a sense medium, the audible, articulate word may lend itself also to the soul life in communication with other spirits. The soul may also employ the medium of visions, and transmit its effects by symbols and illustrations; but these rather represent moods and feelings and require words for their definite formulation, like the sacraments. Likewise an intercourse between God and man presupposes a word of God employed in some
Inspiration (§ 4).
Word of God
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Sumas RIAU NUNES UE
way by him. In the Old Testament the lawgiver reports the word of God and the prophet imparts what the word of Yahweh has revealed. Christ commissions his disciples to preach the word, guided by the Holy Spirit (Matt. x. 7, 20, xxviii. 20; John vi. 63); the increase of Christianity is a growth of the word (Acts vi. 7, xii. 24, xix. 20). Christ’s word must dwell richly among Christians (Col. iii. 16); “ faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God ” (Rom. x. 17; ef. Gal. ili. 2 sqq.). In the ancient Church salvation is offered and preserved through the word; but gradually the sacraments, as independent factors of salvation, take their place alongside; and ultimately they become the real means of grace in the Roman Catholic Church for which the word was efficacious only in a preparatory and concomitant sense. The scholastics indulged in elaborate developments of the sacraments as instruments of grace with only incidental references to the significance of the word of God. The Reformation from the first laid its emphasis on the word as the essential medium of the divine operation in man. Hence the chief function of the Church was the preaching of the Gospel, followed by the Scriptural use of the sacraments. By word of God was meant primarily not the language of the Bible, but the orally proclaimed Biblical truth.
The word of God as a means of grace is, therefore, the published Gospel of Christ, through which the divine revelation enters the human heart. This word begets faith, and reciprocally faith works the word of God, so that the Church is essentially edified and sustained, and the word, as means of grace, becomes the expression of its life. This argues that in every period the word has a particular form and a common content; which applies equally to the periods of historical development and the contemporary life of the Christian community. This assertion is true, however, only of the essence of the Gospel. The traditional generally prevails, yet every successive age impresses its own peculiar interest; for the Gospel must adapt itself in every case to the interpretation of the individual period or person. This extreme adaptability and plasticity, even while involving the danger of misinterpretation, yet renders the teachings of the Gospel available and permanent through all ages and to all men under all conditions. It is indeed possible that misinterpretation may be carried to such a degree that, as among the Gnostics, the word can no longer produce Christian faith, so that it ceases to be the word of God; and it is equally possible that an unbeliever or a hypocrite may preach the word (cf. Phil. i. 18). In the latter case attention and faith may be aroused, so that the preaching of such individuals (who may even momentarily be moved by a certain impulse or excitement in their preaching) is really thinkable as the divine word, unless their true character be perceived, and the efficacy of their preaching be thus impaired. The word of God must not be considered as restricted to formal preaching; it includes all discussion in private intercourse, attesting the divine truth among teachers, pupils, and friends, such as is essential to the Christian life.
2. The Gospel.
That the preaching of the Gospel is the word of God may either be proved empirically and then historically, or its self-attestation by the inherent power of God may be accepted. Christ had taught
his disciples that their preaching was 3. Preach- to be of the Spirit of God (Matt. x. 20), ing. and Paul attributed to the Gospel the divine efficacy which had been lacking in the Law (Rom. i. 16); the word of God is “ the sword of the Spirit * (Eph. vi. 17). Paul’s preaching was ‘in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,”’ so that the faith wrought thereby depended not on the wisdom of men, but the power of God (I Cor. ii. 4-5). The Christian accordingly speaks “as the oracles of God” (I Pet. iv. 11), and the word penetrates into man’s inmost depths (Heb. iv. 12), being the seed whereby God forms man into a new creature (Jas. i. 18; I Pet. i. 23-25). It is evident, therefore, that the Holy Spirit is active with his almighty power in the human word. This was the position assumed by the Reformation. God speaks through preaching and works upon the human heart. The medium of preaching is a complex of ideas, appealing to the practical human reason, which this may either reject or disregard as contrary to the natural sense, but nevertheless they obtain their control not by a perception of their correctness and utility, but by the experience of their overmastering power. The complex of ideas proves to be the expression of the single, personal will of God for the redemption of man. This personal presence is described in Scripture as the Spirit of God. Christ is the Spirit of God (II Cor. ili. 17) in the sense of substituting the single personal will as the object of the joint activity of the Church for the pervading spiritual energy. Spoken to arouse attention and understanding, the word, subject to the personal impression and adaptability of the hearer, is the organ of the activities of the Holy Spirit. .
The Spirit, then, issues from the word to man; but the word, though constant in essence, in form, and substance, is subject to historical limitations. Particular persons delivered it in specially Hebraic
types of thought. These words pro-
4. Inspira- duce spiritual results; hence, they tion. must have originated from the Spirit through their early proclaimers. The
same holds true of the human words of Jesus as well as of his earlier witnesses, and those of the relevant witnesses of Israel. This responsive operation of divine revelation upon the human soul may well be termed Inspiration (q.v.). Whatever be the basis of this inspiration, whether an actual fact, an event in history, a vision, or some experience of the soul, it is always some incitation from without, which man must understand and render intelligible by means of words. In the case of the apostles each gave expression to his experience from his own personal point of view. Consequently, the real subject of inspiration is the understanding issuing from the experience of the revelation together with the competence and the interest to express it intelligibly (I Cor. ii. 12); and, likewise, not the natural science of the historical facts or even of the laws of the natural process is inspired, but only the real-