The Word of God is a WHO, NOT a what.
In other words (no pun intended), when we speak of the Word of God, just as St. John the Theologian does in the Gospel that bears his name, we refer specifically to the Theanthropos, the Man-God, Jesus Christ. The Word of God is not a thing, it is not a book. Many Christians today seem unable or unwilling to grasp this necessary distinction. Word does not equal Scriptures.
The Word (Jesus Christ) is the revelation or manifestation of God to the world. The Scriptures are the witness to this revelation and manifestation.
The Word (Jesus Christ) gives life and heals both the body and the soul through the mysteries. The Scriptures nourish the mind.
The Word (Jesus Christ) is the head of the Church. The Scriptures were written and produced by the Church as a witness to her head.
The Word (Jesus Christ) saves. The Scriptures say He does.
This is not to say that the Scriptures are unimportant or secondary or to be taken lightly. God forbid. But if a church's entire ecclesiology and sacramental theology is based strictly off of "what's in the Bible" then it is standing on one inch ice and will soon plunge into the cold waters. How can that which is the witness contain Him who is uncontainable? It cannot. Those who have such an opinion of the Scriptures are misguided.
I could go on and on, but until the Protestants, both Evangelical and mainline, and a good number of Catholics put away this false belief, any talk of reunion should be off of the table. Without acknowledging faithfully and correctly that Christ is the Word, then the Scriptures only become a morality tale with a tincture of theism.
Let us believers praise and worship the WORD, coeternal with the Father and the Spirit born of the Virgin for our salvation. For He (the WORD) took pleasure to ascend the Cross in the flesh to suffer death and to raise the dead by His glorious Resurrection.--Apolytikion of the Resurrection, Plagal first tone
Disclaimer: Sorry for the rant, but I grow tired of being told otherwise.
Hi, Chris. I have been following your blog for a couple of months. Thanks for posting frequently.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the phrase "the word of God" is used equivocally in the New Testament. Obviously, in John 1:1, the Word is a Person equated with God, a person the Gospel reveals to be Jesus Christ. However, in Matt. 15:6 and Mark 7:13, the word of God is a command, specifically the command to honor one's father and mother. In John 10:35, the word of God appears to be strongly identified with the Old Testament Scriptures. In other passages, especially in Acts (e.g, 4:31, 6:7), the word of God seems to refer to the Good News, the Gospel message itself. Further, in Acts 12:24, the word of God may refer to the Church, which "grew and multiplied." There are 40-50 occurrences of "word of God" in the English New Testament, depending on which translation is consulted. I haven't done a thorough study, so there may be still more meanings.
But I understand the rant, having been frustrated by the same narrow interpretation of "Word of God" as (ahem) Scripture alone. However, I think the helpful distinction is not between the Word of God as the Son vs. Word of God as Scripture but rather between God the Word and the word of God as the spoken and written testimony of God the Word.
Ron,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the compliment. I wish I had the inspiration to write more.
With regards to your comment, let me say that I am not simply dismissing out of hand the fact that word, when used even by Christ in the Scriptures can refer to the Old(er) Testament. My main complaint is that there are too many Christians who will equate Word of God with Scripture only and not with the Person Jesus Christ. Those who fail to identify the Word with Christ DO have a faulty ecclesiology and an almost non existent sacramental theology. It's one of many of the inherent logical conclusions of employing sola scriptura.
It would indeed be an interesting study to see how Christ or Paul or any of the other apostles used Word. It would be more interesting to see whether Christ, especially in the Gospel according to St. John, when using "word" is speaking about Himself exclusively. I'll have to give some thought to it.
ONe last thing, now that I think of it, I could have also written that Christ is the prototype and the Scriptures are the icon or image.