THE LIMITED POWER OF THE WRITTEN WORD
Generations of deeply religious people have stumbled into the snare and trap of The Law As A Stumbling Block. Lacking understanding that God really wants them to listen to and obey his spiritual voice, they erred by making doctrine out of the literal words they found written in the Bible. In their ignorance they believed that they would be right with God of they could obey all, or at least some, of what the Bible said. And they made matters worse by believing that they would be right with God if they let human mediators interpret the Bible and report to them what it says and means.
But God is not looking for self-taught prophets to speak for him. No one chooses to be a prophet –except false prophets who want to create their own kingdoms. God chooses his true prophets. They are disciples who listen to his voice and report what they hear to others.
Generations of false prophets have made the following serious doctrinal errors that lead people astray:
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New Covenant disciples have no trouble understanding why people fail to distinguish between God’s written word and his voice. They have all made that same mistake because they all are escapees from religion. They, like others, were confused by Biblical references to the book of the law and the book of the covenant. They assumed that references to “books” mean written books, both Torah scrolls and Bibles.
These doctrines preach well in religious environments even though they ignore the fact that Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and other heroes of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11 had only God’s spoken word to guide them. They did not have God’s written word. What they did have, however, is faith to believe in God’s word spoken directly to their hearts. That is the kind of faith that God expects his people to have.
Getting to where God wants us to be is not easy. We are handicapped by our conditioning in the world. The permanence, power and authority that we commonly assign to any written law, including the Bible, is reinforced in common English usage where the law is associated with words written in books of wordy legislation adopted by elected officials who speak and act with authority. Thus we have a cultural predisposition to accept anything written by an authority figure as being lawful and worthy of our thoughtful consideration, and, hopefully, of our full obedience.
This respect for the written law is reinforced in Christianity and Judaism where Bibles and Torah scrolls are held up by religious leaders who exhort people to read the Bible/Torah with claims that it is God’s pure word, that has authority in heaven, and will not return void. The clear inference in such statements is that people will attain godliness just by reading their Bibles and memorizing select parts of it. They wrongly assume that memorization of Bible verses is the equivalent of hiding God’s word in their hearts.
These beliefs are gross misrepresentations of what the Bible says of itself. People wrongly think that memorization and familiarity of the written word is the same thing as having the law written, or hidden in their hearts. The reality is that memorization is a function of mental ability — not spiritual activity. Memorization, even memorization of the Bible through the active use of the mind, is a work of the flesh — not of the spirit — if the law is not also written on the heart. Even a parrot can be taught to repeat words in a sequence. Even people who do not believe in God can quote Bible verses, but it cannot be said of them that God’s word is hidden in their hearts.
Indeed the Bible does say that there is life in the word. But the error is in the belief that the “word” the Bible is talking about is the written word. The truth is that, with only a few exceptions, the Bible always talks about the spoken word of God. When it does talk about the written word in the Old Testament, it uses the word “cepher” which is most often translated as book or letter. It is worth noting that in the Old Testament, cepher is often used in conjunction with the law in scriptures about the book of the law and the letter of the law.
It is worth repeating that only the spoken word is pure, life-giving and eternal. The written word does not have that kind of spiritual power. Thus people who read the written word expecting to find the way to eternal life from it will only find the way to religion.
This point is punctuated sharply in the following scripture:
Jeremiah 8:1-9:“At that time, says the LORD, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their tombs; 2 and they shall be spread before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have gone after, and which they have sought and worshiped; and they shall not be gathered or buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. 3 Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family in all the places where I have driven them, says the LORD of hosts.4 “You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: When men fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return?5 Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return.6 I have given heed and listened, but they have not spoken aright; no man repents of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Every one turns to his own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle. 7 Even the stork in the heavens knows her times; and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming; but my people know not the ordinance of the LORD. 8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us’? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. 9 The wise men shall be put to shame, they shall be dismayed and taken; lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD, and what wisdom is in them?
In verse 8 we find that what the scribes have interpreted and reported in writing and speech about the law (i.e. word) is a lie/deception/falsehood. We must interpret this to apply to all who function as scribes (i.e. those who write and speak about God) in all ages — not just in Biblical times. That means modern day writers/teacher/preachers also wrongly interpret God’s word. The result of this deception is found in verse 9 where we see that the wise men will be put to shame because they rejected God’s spoken word while thinking they were finding truth in the lies of the scribes. They have wisdom and knowledge but it is not Godly wisdom based on God’s spoken word.
What we see is that God’s speech is pure and that God’s speech, his spoken word, is alive and will not return void. On the other hand, the words written and spoken by religious scribes (e.g. preachers, teachers, authors, musicians, etc.) are lies written out of their own worldly understanding of God. Therefore, the conventional interpretation that every version of Bible is pure and powerful in its written form is totally wrong. Only God’s spoken word has spiritual power to save.
The written word is not without value, of course, but it is not, as most people believe, the one and only thing that people need for salvation. The written law that leads people to Christ (i.e. New Covenant), is not the spiritual equivalent of God’s word spoken to the hearts of men. In other words, salvation does not exist in the written law or the written Bible. It does have value to lead people to salvation, but, it is not salvation, nor does its intellectual content equal salvation. Salvation comes through the spoken word of God.
STUDY TIP: See Death, Resurrection, New Life, Salvation, Heaven, Forgiveness and Eternal Life for understanding of salvation.
This best way to understand how the value of the written word has been misrepresented is to look at the definitions of the Hebrew and Greek words that are translated as “word” in the Old and New Testaments.
| OLD TESTAMENT | NEW TESTAMENT | ||
| Definition of Hebrew word most commonly translated as word, thing, matter, acts, chronicles and saying in KJV | Definition of Hebrew word most commonly translated as voice, noise, proclamation, obey and sound in KJV | Definition of Greek word translated as word and saying in KJV | Greek word translated as voice and sound in KJV |
| dabar (01697) | qowl (06963) | logos (3056) | phone (5456) |
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Definition of Hebrew word most commonly translated as speak, say, talk, promise, tell, commune and pronounce in KJV |
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Definition of Hebrew word most commonly translated as hear, hearken, obey and understand in KJV |
Definition of Hebrew word most commonly translated as word, speech and commandment in KJV |
Greek word most commonly translated as word and saying in KJV | Greek word most commonly translated as hear and hearken in KJV |
| shama (08085) | ‘imrah (0565) | rhema (4487) | akouo (191) |
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AUTHORS’ NOTE: Clicks on highlighted Hebrew and Greek words will take readers to pages with complete word definitions. These pages also include links (look under Verse Count) to scriptures in which the word appears in scriptures. These pages also include complete lists (look under Word Usage) of various words by which the Greek and Hebrew word are translated.
From the table above we can come to the following conclusions:
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There is something about God’s spoken voice that causes hearers to be much more attentive and responsive than when reading the written word. People who have actually heard God’s spoken voice know this to be true. Others who only read the written word find it much easier to ignore or discount what they read because of all the confusing mysteries. They are also misled because they tend to interpret the words they read according to their human language. When God speaks, however, it is hard to ignore his voice and his words are not confused with understandings of human words.
STUDY TIP: See What God’s Voice is Like.
Applying the preferred translation of “speech” or “voice” makes much more grammatical sense and communicates more accurately what God wants his people to understand. After all, what he said was that man does not live by bread (i.e. written word), but by every spoken word that proceeds from his mouth. Life and power is in the spoken word.
Because of the wrong interpretations of the Hebrew and Greek words, scriptures that say “hear my word” and “hear the word of the Lord” are wrongly interpreted in our minds as “read my written word,” instead of “hear my voice.” Similarly, when God says to listen or hearken to the “words of my mouth,” a better translation would have been to listen, or hearken, to the “speech of my mouth.”
The way we see it, this tendency to interpret “word” in the Bible as “written word” instead of God’s “spoken word” is a serious handicap that results from a long-standing stronghold about the law that goes back to the Israelites before the exile to Babylon. We see evidence of this in the following prophecy:
Isaiah 29: Ho Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts run their round. 2 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel. 3 And I will encamp against you round about, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you. 4 Then deep from the earth you shall speak, from low in the dust your words shall come; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust. 5 But the multitude of your foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly, 6 you will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire. 7 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
8 As when a hungry man dreams he is eating and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, or as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.
COMMENTARY: This is poetic language to describe the results of reading the Bible for its literal content only. If only the intellectual mind is engaged and if the spirit of God is not simultaneously speaking to the heart of the reader, Bible study will stimulate the mind but will not edify the spirit.
9 Stupefy yourselves and be in a stupor, blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink! 10 For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets, and covered your heads, the seers. 11 And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”
COMMENTARY: People who read for literal Biblical content and take pride in their ability to quote scripture are blind and drunk. Since they do not allow for symbolic interpretation that is possible when the spirit of God speaks to their hearts, the spoken word of God is not available to them. The true meaning is sealed from their understanding.
13 And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men learned by rote; 14 therefore, behold, I will again do marvelous things with this people, wonderful and marvelous; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hid.”
COMMENTARY: Here God explains why he has denied understanding to people who are outwardly religious but who do not listen for God’s spoken voice in their hearts. Their religion is made up of memorized words from the Bible and spoken by men who use their imaginations to interpret what it says to anyone who will listen to them.
15 Woe to those who hide deep from the LORD their counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?” 16 You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay; that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”? 17 Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest? 18 In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.
COMMENTARY: This prophesies that someday the blind (i.e. those who read for literal content and do not listen for the spoken word of God) shall hear the spoken word of God (i.e. the true content of the Bible). Whereas they once read the Bible in spiritual darkness, when the prophecy is fulfilled, their eyes will be opened so that they can see (i.e. hear God’s spoken word).
The prophecy is fulfilled when God gives them eyes to see and ears to hear. It is fulfilled when a messiah opens their spiritual eyes to see. Then things hidden to the blind will be revealed. Then they will eat the fruit of the Tree of Life.
19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
COMMENTARY: Joy is the response that people experience when they hear God’s spoken voice.
20 For the ruthless shall come to nought and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off, 21 who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right. 22 Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale. 23 For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. 24 And those who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction.”
COMMENTARY: Understanding comes to those who hear God’s spoken voice. Then they will be willing and able to accept instruction from God’s spoken voice.
Considering the word definitions and Isaiah’s prophecy, it is easy to be confused about the way God uses words. It appears he has purposely made it difficult for us to understand. But, instead of blaming God, we should take personal responsibility for choosing to listen to false prophets who emphasize the written word instead of God’s spoken word.
The reality is that this confusion is part of The Law As A Stumbling Block. We see the Biblical antecedents for the confusion between word and voice in what God said in response to the Babylonians attempt to build a tower to reach heaven and make a name for themselves. We must also consider that perhaps God made it difficult to discern between written word and spoken word as a way of testing whose hearts are fully inclined toward him. We can only speculate on God’s reasoning, but we do know for sure that what he wants is that people listen to his spoken voice.