Before we confirm the bible as the Word of God, we must first know the meaning of the phrase “The Word of God”. What exactly is the Word of God? There are several different meanings taken by this phrase in the Bible. It is dire that we distinguish the different meanings before we proceed with this section.
The Word of God as a Person: Jesus Christ.
The Bible refers to the Son of God as the “Word of God”. In Rev 19:13, John sees the risen Lord Jesus in Heaven and says, “The name by which he is called is the Word of God”. Similarly in the beginning of John’s gospel, Jesus is referred to as the Word of God. Among the persons of the Trinity is God the Son who in His person has the role of communicating the character of God to us and expressing the will of God to us. This is revealed in Heb 1:1-2.
Heb 1:1-2; Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe.
https://www.youtube.com/live/urjJUsPsop0?si=tLmKoGnYCCeSS9k6
The Word of God as speech by God
God’s words often take the form of powerful decrees that cause events to happen or even cause things to come into being. For instance, a decree uttered by God is revealed in Gen 1:3. This is also affirmed by the Psalmist in Psalm 33:6. Creation is kept by these powerful decrees as affirmed in Heb 1:3.
Gen 1:3; “Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”
Ps 33:6; “The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.”
Heb 1:3; “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.
God’s Words of personal address
God sometimes communicates with people on earth by speaking to them directly. When God spoke to these individual people, they understood it as God speaking directly to them and not through a medium or agent. They heard His voice and it was clear to them that it was the actual words of God.
God’s Words as Speech through human lips
Frequently in scriptures, God spoke through his prophets. Even though they were spoken by humans and were human words, the authority and truthfulness of these words is no way reduced. They are still the Words of God Himself. Deut 18:18-20 affirms this. Other verses that reveal and confirm this include Jer 1:9; Jer 1:7; Ex 4:12; Num 22: 38; 1 Sam 15:3/18/23; 1 Kings 20:36; 2 Chron 20:20; 25:15-16; Isa 30:12-14; Jer 6:10-12; 36:29-31.
Jeremiah 1:9; “Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said, ‘Look, I have put my words in your mouth!’”
Exodus 4:12 “Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”
Numbers 22:38 “But Balaam replied, ‘I will speak only the message that God puts in my mouth.’”
Jeremiah 6:10–12 “To whom can I give warning? Who will listen when I speak? Their ears are closed, and they cannot hear. They scorn the word of the Lord. They don’t want to listen at all. So now I am filled with the Lord’s fury. Yes, I am tired of holding it in! ‘I will pour out my fury on children playing in the streets and on gatherings of young men, on husbands and wives and on those who are old and gray. Their homes will be turned over to others—together with their fields and wives. For I will raise my powerful fist against the people of this land,’ says the Lord.”
Jeremiah 36:29–31 “He must say to the king, ‘This is what the Lord says: You burned the scroll because it said the king of Babylon would destroy this land and empty it of people and animals. Now this is what the Lord says about King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no heirs to sit on David’s throne. His dead body will be thrown out to lie unburied—exposed to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. I will punish him and his family and his attendants for their sins. I will pour out on them and on the people of Jerusalem and Judah all the disasters I promised, for they would not listen to my warnings.’”
These words spoken through human lips were just as authoritative and just as true as God’s Word of personal address. Disobeying these words will be disobeying God Himself.
God’s Words in Written form (The Bible)
In the scriptures, we find several instances where the Words of God were written down. The first of these is found in the narrative of the giving of the two tablets of stone on which were written the Ten Commandments. This is revealed in the following verses: Exo 31:18; Exo 32:16; 34:1, 28, Deut 31:24-26; Josh 24:26; Jer 30:2; Jer 36:2-4, 27-31; 51:60.
Exodus 31:18 “When the Lord finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, written by the finger of God.”
Exodus 32:16 “These tablets were God’s work; the words on them were written by God himself.”
Exodus 34:1 “Then the Lord told Moses, ‘Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones. I will write on them the same words that were on the tablets you smashed.’”
Exodus 34:28 “Moses remained there on the mountain with the Lord forty days and forty nights. In all that time he ate no bread and drank no water. And the Lord wrote the terms of the covenant—the Ten Commandments—on the stone tablets.”
Deuteronomy 31:24–26 “When Moses had finished writing this entire body of instruction in a book, he gave this command to the Levites who carried the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant: ‘Take this Book of Instruction and place it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, so it may remain there as a witness against the people of Israel.’”
Joshua 24:26 “Joshua recorded these things in the Book of God’s Instructions. As a reminder of their agreement, he took a huge stone and rolled it beneath the oak tree beside the Tabernacle of the Lord.”
Jeremiah 30:2 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Write down for the record everything I have said to you, Jeremiah.’”
Jeremiah 36:2–4 “Take a scroll and write down all my messages against Israel, Judah, and the other nations. Begin with the messages I gave you back in the days of Josiah, and write down every message, right up to the present time. Perhaps the people of Judah will repent when they hear again all the terrible things I have planned for them. Then I will be able to forgive their sins and wrongdoings.” So Jeremiah sent for Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated all the prophecies that the Lord had given him, Baruch wrote them on a scroll.”
Jeremiah 36:27–31 “After the king had burned the scroll on which Baruch had written Jeremiah’s words, the Lord gave Jeremiah another message. He said, ‘Get another scroll, and write everything again just as you did on the scroll King Jehoiakim burned. Then say to the king, “This is what the Lord says: You burned the scroll because it said the king of Babylon would destroy this land and empty it of people and animals. Now this is what the Lord says about King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no heirs to sit on David’s throne. His dead body will be thrown out to lie unburied—exposed to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. I will punish him and his family and his attendants for their sins. I will pour out on them and on the people of Jerusalem and Judah all the disasters I promised, for they would not listen to my warnings.”’”
Jeremiah 51:60 “So Jeremiah wrote down on a scroll all the terrible disasters that would soon come upon Babylon—all the words recorded concerning Babylon.”
Paul says the same when he says the words written to the Gentile church in Corinth were the commands of God. (1 Cor 14:37; 2 Pet 3:2). It must be noted that these words are still considered to be God’s own Word even though they are written down mostly buy human beings and always in human language. They are authoritative and true. To disobey the written words of God is to disobey God Himself.