God's Word E-Book

John W. Kleinig

• Herausgeber: Lexham Press
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Christian Essentials
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 180

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

You read it. But do you understand it? While the Bible is the most famous book in history, it can be intimidating. Yet God's word is for us and all people. It is living and active and has the power to save, give life, and heal. Do we read the Bible attuned to the power of God's word? John W. Kleinig opens up the riches found in the Bible. He likens God's word to a lavish meal that nourishes and satisfies our souls. He shows us the centrality of Scripture to Christian faith—the word through which the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit speak with one voice to believers on Earth.

Leseprobe

CHRISTIAN ESSENTIALS

GOD’S WORD

A Guide to Holy Scripture

JOHN W. KLEINIG

God’s Word: A Guide to Holy Scripture

Christian Essentials

Copyright 2022 John W. Kleinig

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

LexhamPress.com

You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at [email protected].

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are the Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (BCP) are from the the New Coverdale Psalter in The Book of Common Prayer (Huntington Beach, CA: Anglican Liturgy Press, 2019), © of the Anglican Church in North America.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are from the King James Version. Public domain.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.

Print ISBN 9781683596431

Digital ISBN 9781683596448

Library of Congress Number 2022937657

Lexham Editorial: Todd Hains, Jeff Reimer, Katie French, Kelsey Matthews, Mandi Newell

Cover Design: Brittany Schrock

To my parents Ben (1901–1985) and Frieda Kleinig (1907–2000)

who nourished me from infancy with the gospel of Christ

at home and in church, and my Lutheran ancestors

on both sides of my family who migrated to

Australia from Prussia to escape

religious discrimination and

persecution for their

faithfulness to

God’s word

CONTENTS

Series Preface

Prayer for Hearing God’s Word

IAn Invitation to a Banquet

IIThe God Who Speaks

IIIWords That Do What They Say

IVHearing Ears

VSpeaking With Authority

VIThe Word of Christ

VIIGod’s Word Saves

VIIIGod’s Word Gives Life

IXGod’s Word Nourishes

XGod’s Word Heals

XIGod’s Word Energizes

XIIThe Ministry of the Word

XIIIGod’s Written Word

XIVGod’s Amazing Word

Scripture Index

SERIES PREFACE

The Christian Essentials series passes down tradition that matters.

The church has often spoken paradoxically about growth in Christian faith: to grow means to stay at the beginning. The great Reformer Martin Luther exemplified this. “Although I’m indeed an old doctor,” he said, “I never move on from the childish doctrine of the Ten Commandments and the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. I still daily learn and pray them with my little Hans and my little Lena.” He had just as much to learn about the Lord as his children.

The ancient church was founded on basic biblical teachings and practices like the Ten Commandments, baptism, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Supper, the Lord’s Prayer, and corporate worship. These basics of the Christian life have sustained and nurtured every generation of the faithful—from the apostles to today. They apply equally to old and young, men and women, pastors and church members. “In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith” (Gal 3:26).

We need the wisdom of the communion of saints. They broaden our perspective beyond our current culture and time. “Every age has its own outlook,” C. S. Lewis wrote. “It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes.” By focusing on what’s current, we rob ourselves of the insights and questions of those who have gone before us. On the other hand, by reading our forebears in faith, we engage ideas that otherwise might never occur to us.

The books in the Christian Essentials series open up the meaning of the foundations of our faith. These basics are unfolded afresh for today in conversation with the great tradition—grounded in and strengthened by Scripture—for the continuing growth of all the children of God.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deut 6:4–9)

PRAYER FOR HEARING GOD’S WORD

This order of prayer invites you to read each chapter in the book as a devotional exercise by yourself. It can also be used by a group—with a leader speaking the plain text and the group speaking the words in bold.

IN GOD’S NAME

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

O Lord, open my lips

and my mouth will declare your praise.

Psalm 51:15

Make haste, O God, to deliver me

make haste to help me, O Lord.

Psalm 70:1

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God

Let your good Spirit lead me on a level path.

Psalm 143:10

Glory be to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

THE PROMISES OF JESUS

Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”

Luke 11:28

Jesus also says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

John 16:13–14

RESPONSIVE PRAYER

Lord, your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light to my path.

Psalm 119:105

Your promises have been thoroughly tested,

and your servant loves them.

v. 140

How sweet are your words to my taste,

sweeter than honey to my mouth!

v. 103

I rise before dawn and cry for help;

I hope in your words.

v. 147

My eyes are awake before each watch of the night,

that I may meditate on your promise.

v. 148

I entreat your favor with all my heart;

be gracious to me according to your promise.

v. 58

Let my plea come before you;

deliver me according to your promise.

v. 170

I am severely afflicted

give me life, O Lord, according to your word!

v. 107

Let your steadfast love comfort me

according to your promise to your servant.

v. 76

Let my cry come before you, O Lord

give me understanding according to your word.

v. 169

Direct my footsteps according to your word,

let no sin rule over me.

v. 133

I rejoice in your word

like one who finds great treasure.

v. 162

Oh, how I love your law!

I meditate on it all day long.

v. 97

My tongue will sing of your word,

for all your commandments are right.

v. 172

The Lord is my portion;

I promise to keep your words.

v. 57

Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light to my path.

v. 105

CLOSING PRAYER

Blessed Lord, you have caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that, by patience and comfort of your holy word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

This is my only comfort in my trouble,

for your word has given me life.

Psalm 119:50 BCP

Let us bless the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

I

AN INVITATION TO A BANQUET

Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.

Luke 14:15 NRSV

This is a little book about a big book, not any book, but God’s book. More correctly, it is a book about God’s word, his speech that comes to us in a written, spoken, and embodied form. I do not intend to set out an argument to prove anything about the Bible as God’s written word, let alone explain its divine nature and inspiration. That would be like trying to prove the value of good food. You can only really discover how tasty and nourishing and satisfying food is by eating it. Its value is shown by its effect on you. This book is much more like an extended invitation for you to enjoy a lavish meal with many different dishes by getting you to sample some of it, an unusual banquet in which you can feast on God’s words by listening to them and mulling over them to digest and assimilate them, a heavenly meal in which you are nourished by God’s Holy Spirit.

This meal is the festive banquet that God himself foretold by a prophecy about the coming Messiah in Isaiah 55:1–9. It is a rich banquet that God himself promised to provide, a free meal that would truly satisfy, a supernatural feast that would be enjoyed by “eating” with the ears rather than the mouth. As had been prophesied in Isaiah 25:6–9, that meal celebrates the death of death. In Isaiah 55:1–3 God himself invites people to it with these words:

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;

and he who has no money, come, buy and eat.

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without price.

Why do you spend your money

for that which is not bread,

and your labor for what does not satisfy?

Listen intently to me, and eat what is good,

and delight yourselves with rich food.

Incline your ear, and come to me;

hear that your soul may live.

This banquet is hosted by the Messiah, the royal successor and heir of David. He spreads a heavenly feast for people here on earth. In it guests from all nations benefit from God’s covenant with David together with God’s people. In it they, rather strangely, feast on his life-giving word. Pardoned by God, they share in the status, resources, and mission of God’s royal Son.

What God promised in this prophecy was fulfilled by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was sent by God the Father to host a heavenly meal on earth for people from all nations. That includes you and me. He who alone can teach you heavenly wisdom for your life on earth now issues this invitation to you:

Come, eat of my bread

and drink the wine that I have mixed.

Lay aside immaturity, and live,

and walk in the way of insight. (Prov 9:5–6)

He invites you to participate in that meal and enjoy its inexhaustible spread. If you accept that invitation and listen to him, you will join those guests of Jesus, who “have tasted the heavenly gift, and shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come” (Heb 6:4–5). Even if you have not yet joined that celebration, this invitation is for you too and all people.

Since this book is meant to invite you to participate in the heavenly feast that consists of God’s words to you and all people, I do not want you to merely read what I write about them; I urge you to listen attentively to his words for yourselves, meditate on them, and enjoy the goodness that they offer. Otherwise you will be like people who watch a cooking show on television but do not have the satisfaction and enjoyment that they could have if they cooked and ate the food that was shown to them. Such a virtual meal may help to reduce weight, but it does not provide any nourishment.

Here is the menu of this real, spiritually nourishing meal for you! The Triune God uses his written word in the Bible to feed you with supernatural food, like the gift of manna to the Israelites in the desert. In that book the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—speaks with one voice to deliver heavenly gifts to people on earth. Through authoritative speech that is powerful and performative, God does something great for them and for you. God the Father offers and delivers Jesus as a benefactor to those who listen to him. Through the gospel of Jesus, its hearers receive the Holy Spirit and his spiritual blessings, such as salvation and life, nourishment and healing, deliverance and empowerment. As with a smorgasbord, there are many courses that are part of a lavish meal. There is much more on the menu than can be enjoyed in any single sitting, food enough for a lifetime. Even though it is a communal meal that is best enjoyed communally with other guests in a communal assembly, much of it can also be received devotionally in a family gathering or individually as you read this little book.

So welcome to a heavenly meal, a meal of plain words, a rich feast that alone can satisfy you fully. And listen, intently and wholeheartedly, to what God says to you and receive what God offers you dish by dish as you are ready to enjoy each course of the meal. Join the feast! Check out for yourself the Bible passages that I mention, like the Jews in Berea (Acts 17:11); “taste and see that the LORD is good” (Ps 34:8). Enjoy the meal!

BLESSED LORD,

you have caused all holy Scriptures to be

written for our learning.

Grant that we may so hear them,

read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them

that, by patience and comfort of your holy Word,

we may embrace and ever hold fast the

blessed hope of everlasting life;

through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

AMEN.

II

THE GOD WHO SPEAKS

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Luke 21:33 ESV

We have a God who speaks. God the Father speaks, God the Son speaks, and God the Holy Spirit speaks. God did not just speak long ago and then become silent. As he spoke then, so he still speaks now. Thus the author of Hebrews surprises us by quoting passages from the Old Testament in which the congregation that he addresses hears the Father speaking (Heb 1:5–13; 5:6; 12:26), the Son speaking (2:12–13; 10:5–7), and the Holy Spirit speaking (3:7–11; 10:15–17). Even though they each speak with their own voices, they do not speak separately but together with each other in a coherent, eternal conversation. They all have the same message because they all speak about Jesus. Both the Father and the Spirit bear witness to Jesus, just as he bears witness to himself (John 5:36–38; 8:18; 15:26). Both the prophetic authors of the Old Testament and the apostolic authors of the New Testament also bear witness to Jesus (John 5:39; 15:27; Luke 24:28). All this makes up a single conversation of the Triune God with his people and them with him and each other. Since we have a record of that conversation in the Bible, we can listen in on it and join in with it. There is room in it for us all―both as hearers and speakers.

In a written sermon for his congregation, the author of Hebrews sums up the main features of God’s spoken word simply and yet profoundly: “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (1:1–3 NIV84). What surprises me about this eloquent summary is its assertion that the same God who spoke to our spiritual ancestors first through the prophets and then by his Son also now speaks to us as members of the same community when we gather in worship. There the God who spoke to his people at Mt. Sinai speaks to us now (Heb 12:22–25).

It is obvious to any reader that the Bible contains many words about God. Some of these are marked as words that God speaks; others are the words of the people who report them. So it comes as a surprise to discover that all the many words of God are regarded as a single word, a single speech with a single message by Jesus and the apostles. Take, for example, the book of Acts. There Luke refers summarily to all that the prophets and apostles taught as “the word” (twelve times in all), or “God’s word” (ten times in all), or “the word of the Lord” (nine times in all). Taken together, both the Old Testament and the New Testament speak a single word: the word of salvation (Acts 13:26), the word of grace (Acts 14:3), the word of the gospel (Acts 15:7). So, somewhat audaciously, the Bible is held to report the speech of the one and only God. Just as he is one, so his word is one.

The story of God’s speech in the Bible begins with God’s creation of the universe and the earth as a home for the human family. He calls it into existence and sustains it with his creative speech (Heb 1:3; 11:3). He speaks the world into being by what he decrees and upholds it with the same powerful word that created it (Ps 33:8–9; 148:8–9). Thus if he would no longer say, “Let there be light,” there would no more be any light (Gen 1:3). If he no longer told the earth to produce vegetation and animate creatures, all life would cease to exist on earth (Gen 1:11, 24). God the Father creates the world through his Son (John 1:3, 10; Col 1:16). The Son is both God’s agent in creation and the heir who inherits it from him (Col 1:16).

Just as a play enacts the word of its author and producer, so the story of the world is an enactment of God’s word with God the Father as its author and the Son as its producer. Psalm 33:6 takes this one step further: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth.” Here the word that is translated by “breath” is also the Hebrew word for God’s Spirit. Just as we use our breath to speak words, so God employs his Spirit to speak his word. The Spirit of God that hovered over the chaotic waters (Gen 1:2) is the creative power that is at work in and through God’s word. His Spirit not only creates and upholds the order of the cosmos but also creates and sustains all life on earth (Ps 104:30; Job 33:4). Thus God creates the world by his word and his Holy Spirit.

The first part of the Bible, the Old Testament, records how the same God who spoke the world into being spoke also his word to the people of Israel (Ps 147:19–20). He spoke to them through a long line of prophets beginning with Noah and ending with Malachi. The prophets were his spokesmen who were sent to speak his word to his people. Through them God translates what he wants to say into human language. God puts his words into their mouth and tells them what they should say (Deut 18:18; 1 Kgs 17:24). They speak in his name (Deut 18:19; Jas 5:10). So they usually introduce their message by saying, “Thus says the LORD” or “Hear the word of the LORD” or some such formula.

Inspired as they are by God’s Spirit (Isa 48:16; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:21), they are filled with divine power to speak his word (Mic 3:8). Through them God sends his words to his people by his Holy Spirit (Zech 7:12). As messengers of God, they, like Jeremiah, speak powerful words that shape the history and destiny of Israel and the nations (Jer 1:9–10). They speak many different words that do different things in different circumstances. They speak covenant words by which God commits himself to Noah’s descendants and the patriarchs, to Israel and to David, and claim their commitment to him; they speak words of institution by which God authorizes, establishes, and sanctifies the tabernacle as his dwelling place, the priesthood, the divine service, and Israel as a liturgical community; they speak life-giving ordinances by which his people receive blessings from him in the promised land; they, most commonly, speak prophetic oracles by which God either saves his people from disaster or passes judgment on them for their infidelity. These oracles do not just foretell what God will do, but actually enact his word. Since they accomplish what they say, a mark of a true prophet is that what they say happens (Deut 18:21–22).