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Preach the Word! -- II Timothy 4:2
If the local church is to be grounded in the Word of God, if it is to be what directs our lives as well as the body of Christ, then exactly what was the Word of God? And what is the Word of God today? We should know what it is if we are going to apply it in faith, life, and practice.
Here is the answer to our first question. The inerrant, infallible Word of God was the original message, oracles, or burden, given to the prophets and men of God. God chose to reveal His mind, will, and purpose to men through the inspired Word of God, often called the Scripture. II Peter 1:21 says, "but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."
This is an important part to remember; men didn't simply write down various ideas and thoughts that came into their heads. They were directed and guided by the Spirit of God to write words of truth that were in accordance with the mind and will of God.
In Jude 1:4, it talks about "the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." Most people believe this is referring to the gospel, or the truth of the gospel, which is taught from Genesis to Revelation. God can use many different things to guide and direct us; but He has not chosen to add to the canon of Scripture at this time; it was given once. Here are two points we should remember so far.
The Bible or Word of God was not the mere words or thoughts of men. It was the inspired Word of God given to men through the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit.
The inerrant, infallible, Word of God was only given once to the prophets and men of God.
So how do we know the true Word of God today; and how do we know what applies to us in this generation? We do not have any of the original manuscripts at this time. We have copies of the original ones. It would seem that the closer we could get to the original writings, the more accurate our version of the Bible should be. Today, most of us use translations and revised versions of the Bible. The Geneva Bible was a translation that was printed in 1560, in Geneva, Switzerland. This was 51 years before the King James Version was produced in 1611.
King James I, who had been the king of Scotland for 37 years, had a purpose and an agenda when he had a new translation (version) of the English Bible produced. He got rid of most of the marginal notes and comments on various texts of Scripture. He also influenced the new version by limiting word usage when being translated.
He did not like the Calvinistic notes in the Geneva Bible which caused people to think and brought about diversity of thought. Reference, The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary.
What about us as a church, do we allow the freedom to think and have diversity of thought? We should, our unity as a body of believers is to be in Christ. The purpose of Scripture is to glorify the Eternal God, by pointing us to the Author of the Bible, and the One who came to redeem us. Have we gotten our eyes off of Christ? Contact the author at: (thoughtsonword@gmail.com) if you have any comments or questions.
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Lyndon Stimeling, of Richfield, has been writing about faith and family for many years. He has self-published three books, Common Thoughts on The Word in 2016 and Eye of a Needle in 2017 and Common Thoughts on The Word II in 2019. He has also had articles published in The Coming Home Journal and local newspapers and has written a children's book.