It seems quite fashionable these days for Christian people to insist that the expression ‘the word of God’ can only be applied to Jesus Christ, and not, say, to Scripture. Steve Chalke, for example, writes: ‘the Bible itself is unambiguous: “The word of God” is a person not a book.’
However, the phrase is used in Scripture itself in several ways:-
(Source unknown)
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Lauren Becker, contributor to Point of Enquiry radio programme and podcast, reflects on her experience of driving by a church billboard which proclaimed the words, “Go by faith, not by sight.” She says that she worried that all the drivers around her would take the message to heart and close their eyes. She quickly prepared herself for extreme defensive driving maneuvres. She calls the slogan ‘dangerously stupid’, and explains that this is one of the reasons ‘we reasonable people’ get so annoyed by people of faith. …
Richard Sibbes pictures conscience as ‘God’s court within’, and an anticipation of the last judgement:-
‘To clear this further concerning the nature of conscience, know that God hat set up in a man a court, and there is in man all that are in a court.
1. There is a register to take notice of what we have done…The conscience keeps diaries. It sets down everything. It is not forgotten, though we think it is…there is a register that writes it down.…
Michael Green (BST) points out that even though Matthew does not offer exhaustive evidence for the resurrection, nevertheless he does ‘give us a handle on six arguments for the truth of the resurrection which were widely deployed in the early church and down the centuries:-
1. The first witnesses. The testimony of women counted for little in both Jewish and Greco-Roman society. They could not bear witness in a court of law. But God chose them to be the first witnesses to the resurrection of his Son!…
1. What does it mean? God’s wrath is his ‘resolute action in punishing sin’. It is the active expression of his hatred toward irreligion and moral evil. ‘The wrath’ (Rom 2:5; 5:9) may refer to the future ‘day of wrath’, or to ‘present providential events and processes in which divine retribution for sin may be discerned’ (such as the action of the law in stirring up latent sin, Rom 5:20; 7:7-13, and the role of the magistrate in sentencing criminals, Rom 13:4f.) …
1. Since God created the world, we have ample demonstration of God’s divinity, Jer 10:11; Acts 17:24. None but God can create. Two books God has written which are sufficient to leave all without excuse: creation, Rom 1:20, and conscience, Rom 2:15. Every star in the sky, every bird that flies, is a witness against unbelief.
2. Since God created the world, we have a mighty assurance for our faith. What cannot our Creator-God do? Ps 124:8.…
The Old Testament has laws about all kinds of things – stealing, retaliations, charging interest, homosexual acts, and so on. How can we tell which of these Jesus intended to apply to his followers?
Various answers are given:-
How can we begin to resolve this?…
