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The Word and Other Words

by Randall Vinson

Right outside my office door are shelves containing about 900 books, all concerned with Biblical and Christian studies and related interests. When I am very busy, stacks of them may end up on and around my desk like a Great Wall of Publications. This is our reference library. At least two-thirds of the volumes are quietly collecting dust, awaiting their turn to provide a quote or citation in a book or article. The rest cover a range from occasionally useful to wonderfully helpful and inspiring. We are thankful for all of them, some much more than others; however, at moving time they all weigh the same and make us wish for smaller boxes and more help in heaving them around.

Solomon wisely wrote, “Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh” (Ecc. 12:11-12). True to his words, bookstores are always full, and these authors represent years of very hard study and work. Many are highly recognized in their chosen fields, and they should be. Sometimes we wonder what they were like in person, or what they really had in mind, or what their churches and classrooms were like. We cannot question their sincerity or judge their intentions, but good or bad, the proof is in the outcome of their printed words: Do they help us understand God’s Word and therefore find answers to life’s real questions? Do they spread light, life and love? Do they build us up or put us to sleep? With high hopes, then, we obtain books based on their potential, but often discover that many of them are ‘wearisome to the flesh,’ so we set them aside for some other day.

You ought to read Solomon’s preface to the verse above: “The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd” (Ecc. 12:11). He was telling us that when an author is on the right track, his words are constructive and deliver the truth and take us in a good direction. They might even meet a special need in our lives. Sometimes there may be pages of information to wade through, but buried in the sand are gems of hard-won truth gained outside of the classroom, in communion with God and in the battlefield of life.

What is the difference between “all that information” and the words that really speak to us? The Apostle Paul touched on this when he wrote, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. . . . And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:1,4-5). The power is the difference. Paul was able to debate and argue with the finest rhetorical skill of his day, but he was not relying on that. He only wanted the people’s faith to stand in what God was saying directly to them “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” Where did that come from? It came from his fellowship with God and his relationship to the Word of God. The Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd (John 10:11,14; Heb. 13:20) mentioned by Solomon, is the Living Word or Logos of God (John 1:1,14). It is He who lends His quality to human writers so that their words can strike home like ‘well-driven nails.’ We can use the facts and information, but we are looking for what God is saying to us.

We must be fair with all the information out there that does not specifically contain Scripture or speak about God. All of life is sacred, so we should not trick ourselves into thinking that everything in the Christian bookstore is great and all else should be thrown away. What about history, the arts and the sciences, for example? Briefly, everything we can interact with using any of our senses is a form of information, whether understandable or not, even in our dreams and thoughts. It is unavoidable in life. We have to ask similar questions of the ones above to filter what comes to us constantly. Does it contribute in any way to a peaceful, productive, healthy life in harmony with our calling and destiny in Christ? Is it destructive or negative? Does it lead to the truth, or away from it? Is it a corruption of divine order? Thus every source of information, whether a writer, a philosopher, a scientist, an artist, a lawyer, a teacher, an engineer or the person down the street (this certainly does not cover them all, and these are only the human sources), is accountable for the story they tell.

Every author, teacher, preacher and, yes, every Christian will answer for how they handled the Word of God, whether idly (Matt. 12:36; 2 Tim. 2:16), deceitfully (2 Cor. 4:2), or faithfully (Acts 20:26,27; 2 Tim. 2:15). This includes not only how they dispensed the truth, but also how they responded to it. Indeed, it is vital that we all respond to the truth in honesty, humility and faith before we start speaking or setting pen to paper in hopes of spreading the truth.

The divinely inspired Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16) are the gold standard of God’s words to us; they are His unique revelation, and we can neither add to nor take away from their message without violating them. The Holy Spirit of God will never take us where the Word of God will not support us. All other revelation from God that may appear in any other book will have the Holy Scriptures as its foundation and never go outside the extents of His Word. Yet here is a mystery: How can people spend their lives reading the Bible and memorizing it, yet never come to grips with the truth that God is trying to say to them through it? They can tell you where to find any given verse, but they don’t know how to take their place in service to God or others according to its instructions. They know the facts of the Bible, but they are clueless when it comes to loving what God loves. They memorize the words of life, but do not know how to live. They can even preach up a storm, but they are miserable to be with. Paul described them as “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7). Again, it all comes down to how they receive the truth and respond to it. Where is the repentance, honesty and personal accountability? Did the truth ever move from the head to the heart?

During His temptation in the wilderness, Jesus answered the devil’s first challenge by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’” (Matt. 4:4). Jesus later said to His disciples, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). He also cried out, “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). In John 1:1,14, mentioned earlier, Jesus is the Living Logos, and this parallels beautifully with the first two verses of the epistle to the Hebrews, which tell us that God “has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.” Jesus also said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). In other words, God speaking to us is the only way to the Father.

God is always trying to speak to us. Because of who He is, it must be so. In all the Scriptures above (and there are many more), the voice of God is the divine qualifier for every one of them. Whatever your calling or vocation, I hope you are perfectly enthusiastic about the knowledge you need to prosper and live happily. As vital as information and knowledge are to every one of us for our lives and our jobs, however, we have to choose what or whom we will serve: data or Deity; information or the God who is Light, Life and Love; facts or the Holy Spirit of truth. Do you want to dance with the truth or dance around it?