The Concept of the Word of God in the New Testament

The Concept of the Word of God in the New Testament

By Rudolf Bultmann

For the Old Testament use of “word of”, two points are significant:

· “God’s word” can be equivalent to God’s action or God’s acts.

·  “God’s word” can mean God’s counsel, God’s command.

Both meanings can be traced back to a primitive conception of “word”. The word possesses power; and like the word of a man who holds power, the word of God is effective merely by being spoken. “By the breath of his mouth” God brings all things to life (Ps. 33: 6). And it is said of his word (as is said in Babylonian and Assyrian) that it has immutable force and perpetuity. It is not always clear how far the “word of God” is thought of as audible, as arti­culate divine speech, or how far the “word” does not only mean simply the manifestation of God’s power. In the course of time the idea that God actually uttered words, of course, vani­shes, as is clear from the metaphorical phrases: God “sends” his word; the word “falls”, etc.

What is definitive is that the Word of God is spoken, that it is an event in time – not that it conveys eternal truth. And the Word is certainly a word spoken to … It is direct address, not a logical judgment. And as the Word of God it is a command: “For he spoke and it came to be; He commanded and it stood forth”(Ps 33:9) Now when events in nature and in the world are attributed to the Word of God; God’s Word is his contingent, voluntary act of power. It has no relation to the “Logos” in the sense of the conforming of all events to law. God’s manifestation of power in nature is God’s Word to man, since the might which confronts man in nature ‘says something’ to him and because the man ‘lets something be said’ to him by that Word. But God’s Word is also ‘word’ in the ordinary sense, as a word spoken in human speech, audible and understandable to men, giving authoritative direction to men, as the word of the prophet or priest. Man has been told what is right (Micah 6:8); God’s commands are his ‘words’ (II Chron. 29:15); and the Ten Commandments are often called simply the “ten words”. The connection between the two meanings is obvious; God’s Word is always his sovereign command. The inner relation appears clearly in Ps. 147:15-19. God’s Word designates God as he is present and accessible for men. God’s Word is God in so far as he calls man into being, limits him, and enigmatically encompasses him. God’s Word is God’s act, not because the Word is reasonable but precisely because it is incomprehensible. But God’s Word is God also in so far as he claims men by an understandable command under which man stands. Therefore God’s Word consigns man to darkness, but at the same time in a specific way brings him into the light. The two effects are inter-related. As the Word of God in nature gives life and destroy life, so the word of the law “is no trifle for you, but it is your life and thereby you shall live long”(Deut. 32:47). Man, confronted by God, understands himself as a dependent creature. And God’s word as direction for his life is in fact understandable in its content but unverifiable in its motivations in a philosophical sense. God’s commands can no more be deduced from an ethical concept than his sovereign power can be deduced from natural law. Not be observation, but in hearing, does a man win understanding of himself. God’s Word teaches him on each occasion to understand his now.

The concept of the “Word of God” is understood in the same way when it refers to that for which it generally stands in the New Testament – the Christian kerygma. It is a Word which has power, which acts with power. For this Word it is essential that it be spoken. It is proclaimed and it must be performed, it must be kept. But in distinction to the Old Testament, the New Testament does not speak of the Word of God as a force acting in natural events, except for an occasional mention of creation by the Word. The concept of the Word of God in the New Testament is almost exclusively described as spoken in human speech to men. The speaking which is God’s Word differentiates itself from other human speech by not having its origin in human considerations and human intentions; it comes from God. It has validity therefore as given by God, as inspired, as the work of the Spirit. But this does not mean that the event of the spoken Word is viewed as psychic experience; not is it given as a criterion by which God’s Word can be distinguished from other words.

From the outside there is no way to discover what in human speech is God’s Word. God’s Word is always summons and is understood as God’s Word only when the summons is understood and heard in the real sense of the world. Therefore God’s Word has no authentication; it demands recognition. From a neutral standpoint it cannot be understood as God’s Word; “the unspiritual does not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and they are unable to understand him because they are spiritually discerned.”(1 Cor. 2:14) It is possible to hear God’s Word only where man renounces all ‘boasting’ and accepts the “folly” of the “word of the cross” as God’s Word: where, therefore, a man allows God’s Word to be pure summons, where it is the question before which all a mans own questioning ceases. It is not an oracle which would give me light and direction while I consider the possibilities of my activity in the world. Rather it confronts me with my “salvation” or “destruction”, with “life” or “death”, with “justification” or “condemnation”. But the Word is not instruction explaining these possibilities in general, either as ethical teaching, “a way of life” and “a way of death”, or as a scientific or a mysterious world-view. In the instant of the proclamation and the hearing of it, the way to life and the way to death are opened to me. In other words, the preaching demands faith. But this faith does not mean that the man accepts the Word and then afterwards so directs his living by it that it leads to “life”. It is this faith itself which gives life and rescues from death, according to the word of Jesus: “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life. Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”(John 5:24-5).

The Word is the Word of life because it proclaims as life forgiveness, justification. Throughout the New Testament it is assumed that every man, when he asks about his salvation, must be asking about God. And if he asks about God, he is asking about his Lord to whom he is accountable. And he must recognize himself to be a sinner before God. Therefore the Word of God has the power to show man his sins and at the same time to forgive his sins. This power is what characterizes the Word of God. But the Word can do this only as true summons, by asking the hearer whether he is willing to understand the Word, which confronts him her and now, as God’s Word. This Word is pure summons and carries no authentication; it presents no proof. It is to be understood, not as a theory about the grace of God, but as God’s act of grace, now being performed, whether it brings life or death. It is the Word of life as it is the Word of judgment. Heb. 4:12f sums it up: “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.“

“Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.” According to Hebr 1: 1-4 Jesus Christus can be seen as the final Word which God has spoken and is speaking. According to the Gospel of John, Jesus is not a prophet but the prophet, or better, the Son. He is God himself revealed (1: 1). Through him alone God is accessible (1: 18). Whoever sees him, sees the Father (14: 9; 10: 44-5). The relation to God becomes manifest, through the relation to him; for he who does not know him, does not know God (5: 37f; 8: 19,42,47,54). For God is Word; that is, God is revealed in the creation and in the Christian proclamation. The revelation is one revelation. He who is revealed in the creation is the same who is revealed in the preaching as light and life.

Excerpted from: Rudolf Bultmann, Faith and Understanding.