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The Word Of God “Is”
by Micky Galloway
The purpose of our study is to demonstrate how the book of Hebrews stresses the importance of the word of God. God has spoken His word in His Son. This theme is woven throughout the text (Hebrews 1:1-3; 2:1-4). We are warned against neglect of that word. He concludes by admonishing not to refuse the speaker of His words (Hebrews 12:25). Encouragement is given to these Christians to, “give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard” (2:1); to keep them from “departing from the living God” (3:12). These brethren had “tasted the good word of God” (6:5) when they had “received the knowledge of the truth” (10:26), but they were drifting away from it (2:1). To accomplish this purpose, the writer constantly refers to God's word and the importance of heeding its message. God's word cannot be rejected with impunity.
“FOR THE WORD OF GOD IS QUICK.” It is living. God's word is not just a collection of religious writings of an ancient past, which once given disappeared or are no longer valid. The Bible is not just a human record in some human book. Its promises and warnings are forever new. It, as it continues to speak to people through the ages, demands a response. It is always relevant and applicable. The point of Hebrews 3-4 is that one must heed God's word to enter into God's rest. The emphasis is on TODAY! “To-day, oh that ye would hear his voice!” (cf. Psalms 95:7-11). These words were originally spoken about Israel in the wilderness (cf. Hebrews 3:7-8). Then applied to Israel by David (500 years after the wilderness wanderings, Hebrews 4:7). Now they are applied (Hebrews 3:12-13) to these Hebrews (mid 60's A.D.). Are these words not just as applicable TODAY? God's message is timeless. The call of God's word to heed its message is always TODAY, never tomorrow! Truly, the word “liveth and abideth for ever” (I Peter 1:23).
“FOR THE WORD OF GOD IS ACTIVE.” The word not only has life, but also is active, it is effective and powerful. It has POWER TO CREATE (cf. Hebrews 11:3). “And God said...” (Genesis 1). The Psalmist stated, “For he spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Psalms 33:9). It has POWER TO SUSTAIN (cf. Hebrews 1:3). Jesus upholds all things by the “word of his power.” He maintains the order of the universe and its existence by His word! “In him all things consist” (Co1ossians 1:17). It also has POWER TO PROVE. The written word of God is used by the author argumentatively to prove God's will. Interestingly, the Hebrew author never quotes Jesus or the apostles to establish his arguments. Rather he uses 29 quotations and 53 allusions from the Old Testament to do so (Note to whom he is writing). The author, and hopefully his readers, viewed the Old Testament as sufficient to prove his point and authoritative enough to be accepted. The reason for this is the divine origin of Scripture. Indeed, “God…hath…spoken…” (Hebrews 1:1-2). The author continues in Hebrews 2:1 to speak about the necessity to heed what has been heard. The word of God was a message that “first began to be spoken by the Lord” and was “confirmed unto us by them that heard him.” It was verified by God. He bore witness through the miracles performed (2:3-4). In Chapters 3-4, the author attributes Psalms 95 both to the Holy Spirit (3:7) and to David (4:7), meaning that this is God's message, given through David, by means of the Holy Spirit. Many today deny the inspiration of the Scriptures; but it is the word of God that proves God's will. It is active to prove what is true. It also has POWER TO SAVE. These Hebrews had “tasted the good word of God” (6:5), but were drifting away from it (2:1), either through neglect (2:4), which was turning into willful sin (10:26), or through outright refusal (12:25). Thus, the readers were being admonished to heed the commands of God and not to harden their hearts. God's word is powerful and active to save us if we heed it or to condemn us if we reject it. It is necessary to be steadfast (Note the concept of “how much more” of Hebrews 2:2-4. and 12:25). We may be able to get people to “come to our church” by our charisma, charm, friendliness, etc., but we will never truly convert them to the Lord without the word of God.
“FOR THE WORD OF GOD IS PIERCING.” “Piercing” carries the idea of penetrating. God's word is like the surgeon's scalpel. It can cut through every part of man so as to lay him bare, fully open to inspection. Nothing remains untouched by scripture, for it addresses every aspect of man's life.
“FOR THE WORD OF GOD IS DISCERNING.” To discern is to judge. In this case, the word is a judge of the sincerity of our motives, i.e., “the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The writer makes a transition from God's word to God Himself in verse 13. As the word judges the heart, so God knows all about man and thus is able to judge us. As God and his word are able to discern good and evil within us, His word teaches us to be a discerner of the same (Hebrews 5:11-14).
“THE WORD OF GOD IS” - A Statement That Applies To Us. The Hebrew writer characteristically makes his point, then applies it to the readers, normally with a “let us” expression. We need to make an application. Too often we take the word of God, study it, use it to “proof-text” our beliefs, and sometimes even argue it with others. But many times it never means more to us than just cold words on a page. We often study God's word and then walk away unchanged. Remember, those who hated Jesus most were Biblical scholars and had scriptures over their door posts, strapped to their bodies, and quoted chapters of it when their narrow-minded interpretation supported their warped views. The living, active word should transform our lives. “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed” (Romans 12:2). The word of God is to transform us into a different person as we live out its precepts in our everyday lives. The Hebrew writer wanted his readers to mix the hearing of the gospel with faith. That means more than just knowing its contents. We are to “walk by faith” (II Corinthians 5:7). Faith comes by hearing God's word (Romans 10:17). To walk by faith means to live by our faith, to obey. Too many Christians wear their religion like a veneer; it is shallow and superficial; it means nothing. Their “religion” consists of putting on their Sunday suit and going to church, where they practice their “faith”. When they come home, they take off their Sunday suit and their “religion” with it, and then they live like the devil the rest of the week!
A little boy once asked his dad what a Christian was. The father replied that a Christian was a person who loved and obeyed God. He loved his friends and neighbors and expressed his appreciation for other Christians. He even loved his enemies and prayed for them. The father explained that a Christian is kind and considerate, gentle and courteous in his speech and in his selfless attitude. He lives a life that is pure and holy and is a Christian through and through. The little boy thought for a moment and then asked, “Daddy, have I ever seen one?”
We often hear the expressions… “Music is his life,” “Sports are his life,” “He lives for his work.” What these phrases mean is that such a one finds life in all of its importance, meaning, and fulfillment in those areas. Paul wrote of the Christian in this regard, “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, WHO IS OUR LIFE shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory” (Colossians 3:3-4). Let Christ be your life as you daily live out the precepts of God's word. The word is alive and active and penetrates throughout my whole being to discern the thoughts of my heart! Let us “give the more earnest heed to the things which were heard, lest we haply drift away from them.”
How Much Does One Need To Know In Order To Be Baptized?
by Chris Simmons
How much does one need to know in order to be baptized and become a Christian? This is a question that warrants our attention and our study in light of God’s word.
Before one can become a Christian, there are some things that a person needs to believe. Hebrews 11:6 teaches us that it is “impossible” to please God without faith.
In order to be a Christian, one must believe that “God is” (Hebrews 11:6) and that He is the Creator and source of all. One must believe that God did indeed create the heavens and the earth in “the beginning” (Genesis 1:1). One must recognize His “eternal power and divine nature” through what He made (Romans 1:20). It is essential that we believe that God simply spoke the world and all things (including man) into existence (Hebrews 11:3; II Peter 3:5).
In order to be a Christian, one must believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God. We must believe that scripture came not from the mind of men, but “men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (II Peter 1:20-21). We must believe that we can only know the mind of God because God chose to reveal “All that God has prepared for those who love Him” through the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 2:9-13). None of the apostles ever claimed themselves to be the source of what they preached or taught, but rather that we can understand only what God made known to them through revelation (Ephesians 3:3-5). We also must then believe that scripture that came by inspiration is able to teach us, train us, correct us, and reprove us so that we might be “thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (II Timothy 3:16-17).
In order to be a Christian, we must also believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He came in the flesh to teach and to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus said, “I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins” (John 8:24). We must believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the promised One of the Old Testament prophets. We must believe that He came in the flesh as John wrote, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). We must have faith in Him who left His place with God and came to earth as a servant and humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8).
We must also believe that we will all be judged and that we will spend eternity in either heaven or hell. The scriptures repeatedly teach that we will all individually be judged one day on the basis of the deeds we have done in the flesh (cf. Romans 2:4-10; 14:12; Revelation 22:12; II Timothy 4:1; Acts 17:30-31; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). We must believe in the eternal reward for the saved (I Peter 1:3-4; I Thessalonians 4:16-18; Revelation 21:1-4; Luke 16:19-26) as well as in the eternal punishment for those who do not obey the gospel (II Thessalonians 1:6-9; II Peter 2:4; Matthew 10:28).
In addition to faith, in order to be saved, we must also understand what sin is and understand the consequences of our own transgressions. Simply put, sin is lawlessness (I John 3:4) and the consequence of sin is that it separates man from God (Isaiah 59:1-2). Every man has the problem of sin to deal with because all men sin (Romans 3:23). We need to understand that we sin when we commit such acts as the Corinthians committed (I Corinthians 6:9-12). We also sin when we fail to do that which we know to be right (James 4:17). To be saved, one must realize his lost and “undone” condition (cf. Isaiah 6:5; Luke 19:10).
One who wishes to be baptized into Christ, must also know what it means to repent. On the day of Pentecost, Peter declared that to be saved, one needs to “Repent, and … be baptized” (Acts 2:38). Repentance must precede one’s baptism. We need to understand that repentance is more than feeling sorry and expressing remorse, but rather that it involves “vindication … indignation … fear … longing … zeal … avenging of wrong” and a demonstration of our change (II Corinthians 7:10-11); a demonstration that brings forth the “fruit” of our repentance (Matthew 3:8; Acts 26:20).
One who is to be baptized must also be willing to confess their conviction that Jesus Christ is the Son of God even as the Ethiopian eunuch did in Acts 8:31ff. Even when there are severe consequences, we must have such courage if we wish to be saved (Matthew 10:32-33; John 9:22; Romans 10:9).
If one wishes then to be baptized, they must do so because they believe (Acts 8:12). They must understand that baptism is in order to be saved rather than as a demonstration of a prior salvation (I Peter 3:21; Mark 16:16). It must be understood that baptism is what brings about the remission, or forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16). It must be understood that one is baptized into the Lord’s church, and not some denomination (Acts 2:41, 47). It must be understood that baptism begins one’s spiritual life anew, where we rise to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4; John 3:3-5).
If one wishes to be baptized, it must be understood that one’s spiritual journey to heaven only begins with baptism. It must be understood that after being baptized, there are several things we must be continually devoted to, including growing in “the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). After being baptized, one must continue steadfastly in the work of the Lord (I Corinthians 15:58) and continue to mature in our knowledge (Ephesians 4:13-15). We must understand that following baptism, we are “babes” in Christ and as such continual growth is necessary, as we are continually fed on the word of God (I Peter 2:2; II Peter 3:17-18; Hebrews 5:12-14). And as we continually look into the “perfect law … of liberty” (James 1:25), we must continually examine ourselves to ensure that we remain “in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5).
There is a lifetime of learning within the word of God. But these are some of the fundamental truths that one needs to know in order to be baptized into Christ, enjoying the salvation from his sins.