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Chafing at the “word” of God

Chicago, IL

By A.B. Dada

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Whether you consider yourself faithful or atheist, I hope this Sunday morning article will give you some ammunition against cultists and faithfulmen without reason.  If you disagree, please leave me a comment below so I can investigate deeper.

After an incredibly tiring night of churning out print jobs for my church print ministry, I fell asleep with a TV on.  I awoke slowly, in fits and starts, with the darling Pentecostal Creflo Dollar puking his typical inanities to his hungry congregation.  Creflo Dollar, like many pentecostals, promotes the Prosperity Doctrine, the idea that God wants people wealthy.  Not just in dollars, but in all aspects.  I do not adhere to this doctrine, but it is not that doctrine that frustrated me as Creflo’s sermon flowed into my conscious yet sleeping mind.

Creflo, like many Christian ministers, was using a term over and over that makes me cringe.  That term, a common term in Christianity, is the word of God.  Whenever Creflo and many Christian ministers use this term, they’ll hold up the Bible while using that descriptive.

It’s a common error, and one that quickly becomes fact and truth to the listener.  This is why I am not a fan of simple sermons that attempt to create truth in the minds of the listeners.  God’s truths come from personal discernment and thinking, not from the mouth of another.  If one wants to understand the Bible, or any book of scripture from any faith, it is important to not just read, but inquire as to what any story or rite means from the context of the overall portion of that part of the scripture.

For the Judeochristians, the word of God is simpler than most people understand.  The Word of God is not the Bible, it is not Scripture, it is not the Ten Commandments or Jesus’ Two Commandments.  In its most pure form, the definition of the Word of God is Jesus.

In the Book of John 1:1, we see this simple definition brought to light:

(ASV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

(BBE) From the first he was the Word, and the Word was in relation with God and was God.

(ISV) In the beginning, the Word existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

(LITV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

I included 4 translations to show that there is fallibility in receiving direct understanding from just one version of Scripture.  Many Christians attempt to settle the idea of calling Scripture infallible because they confuse the infallibility of the Word of God (Jesus) with the infallibility of Scripture.  This is a big mistake, since it is NOT Scripture that produces truth and all things, but the Word of God (Jesus), as we see in John 1:3:

(ASV) All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.

(BBE) All things came into existence through him, and without him nothing was.

(ISV) Through him all things were made, and apart from him nothing was made that has been made.

(LITV) All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.

Who is this “him” that the Scripture is speaking of?  Looking at John 1:1-2, that “him” is the Word of God.  It is not Scripture that makes all things, but God, and the Word of God (Jesus).  So why do ministers and simple Christians and Christian cultists use the phrase to mean Scripture?  I have no idea, but it creates a terrible dilemma in working to refute bad translations of Scripture.

What is the Scriptural proof that the Word of God is specifically Jesus?  Look in John 1:14:

(ASV) And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.

(BBE) And so the Word became flesh and took a place among us for a time; and we saw his glory–such glory as is given to an only son by his father–saw it to be true and full of grace.

(ISV) The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We gazed on his glory, the kind of glory that belongs to the Father’s unique Son, full of grace and truth.

(LITV) And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, glory as of an only begotten from the Father, full of grace and of truth.

Here we see specifically what, or actually who, the Word of God is.  For Christians, it is obvious that the Word of God is Jesus, not Scripture/the Bible.

Of course there are places in the Scriptures where the word “word” or “words” are used to speak of Scripture and all of God’s prominent communications with men in the ancient past.  Mark 13:31 is one such area, but it is not refering to the Word of God, but His words.  It is important to discern between these two separate words (Word of God and words), which use two different Greek/Hebrew terms (logov/logoi).  Again, this only comes through study and discernment, not through teaching, as many legitimate ministers and illegitimate cult leaders misuse Scripture by jumping around from Book to Book and Testament to Testament, trying to bring clarity by avoiding context.  The context of the Word of God is always Jesus, a second part of the Godhead.

So if you’re a regular watcher of TV ministries, or an attender of congregational services and sermons, and you hear the use of the term Word of God to mean Scripture, be aware that what more is coming from the person misrepresenting this term may be taking you down a path separate from what God wants of man.  It is a common mistake, but a mistake that many sermons and preachings are based on.  If the basis for such a sermon is this misuse of the most important term of the Scripture, then how can the rest of that message be infallible?

I understand that many Christians refuse to accept this theory of mine.  I am not an ordained minister or teacher, just someone who likes to prove what I hear.  In all my studies of Scripture, I have not once been able to find a use of the Word of God that means Scripture.  Since the Word of God is infallible, it is Jesus who is never wrong.  This is why one can refute the idea of every translation of Scripture being infallible: the Bible is not the Word of God, but the story of the Word of God.