What Are The Different Forms Of The Word Of God?

A. “The Word Of God” as a person: Jesus Christ

Rev 19:13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Among the members of the Trinity, it is especially God the Son who in his person as well as in his words has the role of communicating the character of God to us and of expressing the will of God for us

B. “The Word Of God” as Speech by God

1. God’s Decrees

Sometimes God’s words take the form of powerful decrees that cause events to happen or even cause things to come into being, for example Creation in Genesis 1.

A decree of God is a word of God that causes something to happen.

Psa 33:6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.

2. God’s Words of Personal Address

God sometimes communicates with people on earth by speaking directly to them. These can be called instances of God’s Word of personal address. Examples are found throughout scripture, for example the giving of the Ten Commandments, or at Jesus’ baptism. In these and several other instances where God spoke words of personal address to people it was clear to the hearers they were actual words of God.

3. God’s Words as Speech Through Human Lips

Frequently in Scripture God raises up prophets through whom he speaks.

Jer 1:9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.”

The Old Testament contains warnings for those who claimed to be speaking for the Lord but had not received a revelation from him.

4. God’s Words in Written Form (the Bible)

Scripture lists several instances where God’s words were put in written form. The first of these is found during the giving of the Ten Commandments:

Exo 31:18 And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

Further instances are given in Deut 31:24, Josh 24:26, Isa 30:8 and Jer 30:2 where God’s Words are written down. In 1 Cor 14:37, Paul says that the very words he writes are a “command from the Lord.”

Several benefits come from the writing down of God’s words.

i) Accurate preservation for subsequent generations

ii) Opportunity for repeated inspection of written words permits careful study and discussion, and therefore better understanding and more complete obedience.

iii) Greater accessibility to many more people than when preserved through memory and oral repetition

Key Verse

Psa 1:1-2 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.