Why Word of God Cannot Be Scriptures Alone

During one Theology class with our college freshmen, I asked one student what the Bible is. Without hesitating, he answered: “The Word of God.” Turning to another, I asked: “But what is the Word of God?” This one looked at me and said: “The Bible.” ¹

To say that the Bible is the Word of God is valid especially in the light of the conviction that the Church regards Scriptures not as a human word, but as what it really is, the Word of God (CCC 104, cf. DV 24 quoting 1 Thessalonians 2:13). But to say “Word of God is Scriptures/Bible” becomes problematic especially in the light of the following texts:

John 1:1-5.10-18. This is the opening hymn of the Gospel of John and contains this Gospel’s basic conviction about the Word of God. It should be easy to point out that here Word of God cannot be identified with the Sacred Scriptures since the hymn sings of the “Word of God” that “became flesh and made his dwelling among us…” (John 1:14). The Word of God is the true light “which enlightens every man that is born” (John 1:9) about which John the Baptist testified (John 1:7.15) and who reveals the God whom no one has ever seen before (John 1:18), manifesting Himself with the glory of the Only Son of God (vv. 14.18). The Word of God is more than a collection of writings. The statement “Word of God = Sacred Scriptures” robs the Word of God of its true identity.

Acts 8:14-17. This is a short passage that actually introduces in transition the story of Simon Magus and his desire to buy the power of the laying of the hands (vv. 18-25). In this introduction, we are told what the apostles did when they heard that Samaria has received the Word of God (logon tou theou v. 14). Here, the phrase “Word of God” unmistakably refers to the proclamation of Philip (8:6.12) which was confirmed by the apostles in the laying on of the hands (v.17). Here, “Word of God” is the “gospel about the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.” (v.12) which Philip preached and later confirmed by the apostles. What is important to note is the connection between the Word of God and the apostles, and not with what these wrote, but what they preached and proclaimed.

1 Thessalonians 2:13. This is the same passage which the Catholic Catechism quotes when explaining that the Bible is the Word of God (above). It contains one of the reasons why Paul thanks God continuously because of the Thessalonian community of faith:

We thank God because, receiving the word of God you heard from us(logon akoes par hemon tou theou), you accepted (it) not as the word of men but what it truly is: the word of God (logon tou theou).

In Paul, “Word of God” is frequently “the Gospel” (1 Thess. 1:.6.8; 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 3:1. See also 1 Corinthians 14:36; 2 Corinthians 2:17; 6:7; Galatians 6:6; Ephesians 1:13; Phl 14; Colossians 1:5 among others.), not the written one (since the first written Gospel will be finished some twenty years after the first letter to the Thessalonians), but the contents of his proclamation about the Christ, a proclamation which he is at pains to defend as an extension of the one gospel preached by the apostles (cf. Galatians 1:11; 1 Corinthians 15:1 in contrast to those place where he talks of “my/our gospel”: 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 2 Thessalonians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 15:1; 2 Corinthians 4:3 among others.)

What all this means is that while one can say, and rightly too, that the Bible/Sacred Scriptures is the Word of God, one cannot reverse the statement to say “The Word of God is Scriptures” without emptying “Word of God” of its true meaning. By examining three biblical texts, we have shown that “Word of God” means also the Second Person of the Trinity and the contents of the apostolic proclamation about Him. This observation is confirmed in the way the Catholic Catechism employs the phrase “Word of God”. Out of eighty-four (84) instances, only about 24 instances allow its identification with Sacred Scriptures (nn. 104, 119, 123, 124, 131, 140, 371, 819, 1096, 1100, 1101, 1102, 1133, 1153, 1177 [bis], 1346, 1349, 1480, 2061, 2119, 2205, 2587, 2654, 2686, 2688). Other instances of the phrase either refer to the Second Person of the Trinity, or to the Apostolic Tradition and its Transmission in the liturgy, in preaching and teaching, and the administration of the sacraments.