Missing God’s WORD while Teaching God’s Words
“PREACH THE WORD”: This was the motto at the school where I received ministry training. It was known for its commitment to biblical exegesis and literal interpretation. So, semester after semester, I learned what the actual words on the Bible’s pages meant, and how to explain that meaning to others. I was young in my faith and just learning to know and love the Bible during those years. But looking back, I think I learned to preach the Bible’s words, but not actually preach the Word. And there’s a difference.
The Bible has two primary meanings of the word word as it relates to God’s revelation: the Bible speaks of God’s spoken word and it speaks of God’s incarnate Word, Jesus. First, throughout history, God reveals His will and ways through spoken words (like sayings, decrees, prophecies, His spoken message). Logos and rhéma are the Greek words in the New Testament for this vital and common definition of “the word of the Lord” (e.g., Matt. 7:24 and John 14:10, respectively). Second, Jesus is God’s Word made flesh; He is the culmination of God’s revelation. The Bible uses logos when referring to Jesus as God’s Word (e.g., John 1:1; Col. 1:19).
Logos is the most common Greek word for word in the New Testament, and is the term used in Paul’s exhortation to Timothy to “preach the word.” Today logos is often interpreted as referring to the Bible: “Preach God’s written word,” we might think. But perhaps shockingly, logos is never used in the Bible to refer to the words of the Bible! While God indeed inspired the words of the Bible, and while the whole message of the Bible is God’s revealed word (His logos), if we interpret Paul’s charge to his protégé Timothy as “teach people to understand the literal words on the page,” we might not actually preach the Word, as Paul actually instructed!
PREACHING THE WORD FROM THE WORDS
“Preach the word,” in general, means “preach the whole message of God” (as Paul did in Ephesus: “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God,” Acts 20:27). Let us teach the breadth and depth of the good news of God’s story; let’s share the redemptive work that spans from Genesis to Revelation. But more than that, from whatever passage, theme, verse, command, or story, let us preach God’s truest “Word.” Because “preach the word” means, specifically and in context, “preach Jesus”!
Paul’s charge follows Jesus’ claim that started this book: if true, eternal life is not found in the Scriptures themselves, but in Jesus (John 5:39–40). It’s not enough for leaders to exposit a given biblical text and explain its face-value meaning. Rather, we must preach the good news of Jesus—the one biblical message— from every text. Jesus is the culmination of the meaning of every verse, command, and story’s meaning. In other words, Paul calls us to preach not just the words of Scripture, but the one true Word revealed by the words. (How’s that for a confusing sentence?)
Paul is more explicit in another passage: he tells the Ephesians that Jesus’ followers “grow up in every way” into maturity by “speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15). He doesn’t mean for us to throw verses at each other or belabor each other with the “shoulds” of God’s commands. While the Bible is true, we must go beyond “speaking the Bible” to each other. Paul defines the “truth” we must speak a few verses later: “the truth is in Jesus” (Eph. 4:21). It’s by knowing Jesus more—His life, death, resurrection, and reign—and by realizing how the good news of His gospel applies to more and more facets of life, that His followers grow in maturity. Jesus is God’s truth; Jesus is God’s true Word. It’s Jesus we must preach, to truly “preach the word.”
SEEING THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD
Someone has said that the Bible is simply a windshield. Our goal is to look through it to see God clearly. If we become obsessed by the windshield, we miss what really matters. As Jesus charged leaders to see Scripture through a new lens, the fact that God’s Word is the good news of Jesus—not the words of the Bible— changes our focus. We must teach the gospel (the view), and help people see how Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and reign accomplish in us what the Bible itself (the windshield) can’t. Here are two examples of how this changes our message: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth,” Jesus prays (John 17:17). While Scripture is true and helpful, only Jesus sanctifies us. This happens as we increasingly rely on Him, as His Spirit leads us to apply the “truth” of His good news to all of life. “The word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double- edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart,” says Hebrews 4:12 (niv). This verse is often understood to be about the Bible itself, the written revelation of God. But Hebrews 4 as a whole is explaining how God’s people enter God’s rest: the Bible doesn’t continue to work so we can rest. God does. The next verses clearly show our reliance on Jesus in our weakness: He is our high priest; in Him alone we have confidence (Heb. 4:13–16). Only because of Jesus can we rest in God’s grace, now and forever.
Consider other terms in Hebrews 4:12. While the Bible shows the standard by which God will judge us, Jesus—God’s incarnate Word—is our only “judge.” The Bible can’t know our “heart”; it is Jesus who does. “Jesus is alive!” is the resurrection cry of His followers. By His Spirit, Jesus is the “active” presence of God in the world today! Our faith in Jesus as Messiah is humanity’s dividing line (“double-edged sword”). This verse is about Jesus and the good news of the gospel, not about Scripture.
We could go on and on, unlearning and relearning what the Bible teaches us about the beauty, vitality, breadth, and depth of God’s gospel. How often have we taught people to think word (logos or rhéma) means “Scripture,” when in reality, it more often means God’s revelation generally—and specifically, “Jesus”? As we saw in chapter 1 of this book, increased engagement with the Bible is vitally important; it’s a desperate need for Jesus’ followers! But as we recover the Bible’s true meaning, we must also point people through the windshield of the Bible’s words, to the far better view of God’s Word, for their questions, needs, struggles, and brokenness.
To explore this concept more in depth, register for Ben Connelly’s Learning Community, “Teaching the Bible, Missing the Gospel,” starting Feb 2023.
Adapted from “Afterword: For Church Leaders,” Ben Connelly, Reading the Bible, Missing the Gospel (Moody Publishers, 2022)