What do we mean by, “The Word of God?”
Entire libraries are written about this. For our purposes, it might be more realistic, in the confines of a newsletter article, to specifically name what Lutherans mean when we refer to God’s Word. It might even be a better focus to share what the North American Lutheran Church says about the concept of God’s Word:
Under “Our Confession of Faith (https://thenalc.org/confession-of-faith/), we read:
The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith and life, “according to which all doctrines should and must be judged.” (Formula of Concord, Epitome, Part I).
The Formula of Concord, Epitome, Part 1, is a reference to part of the Book of Concord (see: http://bookofconcord.org/), This is the book that contains the bass for what makes Lutherans, well, LUTHERAN.
In other words, we go the Bible to find the most accurate account of what God ever intended to say to His people; what is true of God, what is true of us, and what it means to life this life as we follow Jesus daily. This Book we call The Bible, contains a written account of the life of God and His people. It is intended, among other things, to norm,that is, to show us what normal for a Christian looks like. This is why when we read the Bible, we start with the four accounts of Jesus’ ministry, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
From there, take your pick. You can go backwards into the Old Testament and begin building up your faith about whom Jesus is by reading about all the ways those ancient writings, inspired by God, and written down by many men, pointed to and foresaw the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In fact one of the many places where we get this idea from, of reading the Old Testament through this interpretive lens, is from Jesus himself:
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me…”
~John 5:39
You could, however, also go in the other direction and continue after reading the four Gospel accounts, and continue on through the New Testament looking for how the early church faced its own challenges and trials. We use that portion of the Bible to compare to our own times and, like a compass, use the Bible to determine our own course for our day. No matter which direction you choose, we turn to the Bible first to find out if an idea is true, or a belief is accurate. It is the norm and rule of our faith and life.
If you really want to get into some meatier writing, please check out the work of one of our own NALC theologians on the subject: https://thenalc.org/nalc-statements/
Blessings on your journey!
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