I hear many Christians claim that the Bible is the indisputable, infallible, incontrovertible Word of God! I dispute this claim, because the Lord has revealed this to me not through dogma but through prayer and reflection. To prove my dispute, let us go to the Bible itself and find the scriptures that show this to be true.

“Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways. In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him,” (Hebrews 1:1-2).

God’s Word, therefore, in the times in which the writer of the Book of Hebrews specifies, was spoken through first the prophets; men who heard the Lord speak directly to them and then spoke these words directly to the people. The prophet was a man who was singularly empowered by the Spirit of the Lord, so this “Word” was a dynamic conversation from the Lord to the prophet through the Spirit. None of the children of God in those days was imbued with the Spirit of the Lord, other than the prophets.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,” (John 1:14).

In this time, when the Lord had come to dwell among his children, the Word of God was Jesus himself. We know that Jesus was a man, the Son of man is how He described himself, yet he was the Creator God as well. We know because John explained this to us in his Gospel message.

“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made,” (John 1:3).

We know that Jesus was also imbued with the Spirit.

“Then John (the Baptist) gave this testimony: ‘I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him,’” (John1:32).

But Jesus was God and He was also the Spirit.

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit,” (2nd Corinthians 3:18).

Jesus is the Creator God, as well as the Spirit, our God is one. The Word comes from Him and through Him. Now, the Bible even says that Jesus is the Word. In the Gospel of John he uses the Greek term that we translate into “word,” logos, to describe Jesus, the Creator God who came to dwell among us.

“In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word (Logos) was with God, and the Word (Logos) was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made,” (John 1:1-3).

There’s a definite reason that John describes Jesus as the Word as well as a very definite reason that he so eloquently used the Grecian term logos to describe him. In the time that Jesus had come, the Israelites were not the only ones trying to understand why we are here in this world, and what’s really going on. In the Greek language used in scripture, the Greek language had two terms that we translate into “word.” One is rhema, which literally means an “utterance” or “thing said.” The other term is logos, which meant the same, an “utterance” or “thing said” but also what is still in the mind, the logic behind an argument.

Now the Greek philosophers in that time were arguing about the nature of reality–trying to discover what was the prime cause of reality? They had taken this term logos to describe the force or principle that caused reality, “the rational principle that governs all things.” So the clever Apostle John also took this term logos to describe Jesus, the Creator God, in order to get the attention of these great minds. Jesus, therefore, was at the time the Word of God, and as there was no Bible as we know it at the time, therefore no one disputed this claim. I do however dispute this claim today. Again, the Apostle John also explains the word we have now, today.

“But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, you will never write about me and you will never compile a book of written words calling it the Bible, the Holy Word of God for men to read and obey…” No? You don’t recognize this passage from the Bible? Well, that’s because Jesus never said this or anything like it! Jesus offered another alternative to obeying written code or law.

“But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

Not a book, not a bible, but the Advocate, the Counselor, the Friend – the Paraclete in the original Greek tongue; “one who is called to your side.” So what does this mean, “one who is called to your side?” John quotes Jesus who explains the meaning of what we have been given freely, by the lord’s grace.

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you,” (John 16:12-15).

So, there we have the new Word of God, the Spirit–who guides us into all truth and the Spirit is God and Jesus Christ. What Jesus offers is in no way simply a book or a bible. The Bible is merely words written by man, and it is good, but it lacks the prime ingredient, which is the Spirit of Truth who guides us into all truth. The Spirit is the Word of God for us today, here and now.

“Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God,” (Ephesians 6:17).

The Apostle Paul explains this eloquently and quite specifically in the Book of Romans chapter seven verse six:

“But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code,” (Romans 7:6).

How clear is this direct message to you? What do you not understand by the phrase, “Not by the old way of the written code?”

I’m sorry to tell all of you Bible aficionados, but any written words can and will be interpreted differently by a number of people. You cannot write anything that will not be misinterpreted by someone. Therefore you must truly ask yourself, “Can scripture be misinterpreted?” The answer, of course, is yes! If this is not a valid statement, then it would be true that one man’s interpretation of scripture would be exactly the same as another, and it would be inarguable, would it not?

And you know that you have had disagreements with others involving scripture. Therefore, even the various translations and versions of our Bible that disagree prove that divine scriptural inerrancy is a myth. And it is a myth because the Bible was never intended to become the indisputable, infallible, and incontrovertible Word of God. God wants relation to his children, direct and personal relationship. This is what the Spirit of the Lord is all about.

The work of our contributing writers are not neccesarily the views shared by Ghion Journal yet we stand by our writer’s insistance on questioning dogma and starting dialogues that lead to a broader discussion. Dirk is a new contributing writer to the Ghion Journal, welcome him aboard, you can check out his profile and Facebook page below in the author box.

Tags: Bible, Dirk Ruff, Genesis, Ghion Cast, Ghion Journal, Jesus, New Testament, Old Testament, Word of God