The Living Word

The sum of your word is truth. —Psalm 119:160

Even more important than what men think of the Word of God is what God says about His own Word.

According to the Bible, the Word of the Lord is true (Psalm 33:4); it is pure (Psalm 12:6); it is righteous and fully trustworthy (Psalm 119:138). It is eternal (Psalm 119:89) and is divinely inspired and profitable for our lives (2 Tim. 3:16). It is perfect (Psalm 19:7) and is of greater value than any amount of gold or silver (Psalm 119:72).

The power and authority of God’s Word surpasses that of any other book. As a young seminary professor, Martin Luther experienced the supernatural, transforming power of the Word that led him to write, “The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold on me.”⁵

When we pick up the Bible, do we realize what we’re holding in our hands? Do we ever stop to think that this is actually the Word of God? As Augustine reminds us, “When the Bible speaks, God speaks!”

_{5 Martin Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to The Galatians, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1549/1549-h/1549-h.htm.}