Is the Word of God always the Word of God? Many of us are fundamentalists in the sense that we take all of scripture to be divinely inspired. And in this sense, I concur, we must be fundamentalists in order to apprehend in full the biblical revelation.
But when we hear something like, the Bible says ... therefore I must ... , here I would caution, be careful. Untold mischief has arisen because of zealots on crusades for the reason that ‘God told me so’ – because of ordinary individuals of goodwill, trying to perform a spiritual service without appropriate spiritual charter. Paul, in Ephesians 1:9, refers to the will of God as a mystery. A mystery ...
Here I think of my own spiritual mentor, William Marrion Branham, who posited five conditions that must be met for the Word of God to be ... the Word of God. I cannot locate the original right now, so I will try to reconstruct the essentials of this message. The five conditions are these:
1. It must come by Gods designated messenger.
2. It must come to the person which God intended.
3. It must be in accord with scripture.
4. It must be the Word in season.
5. It must be vindicated.
Let us look at these more closely.
1. It must come by Gods designated messenger.
Clearly, not everyone who prophesies or quotes scripture speaks for God. There are the misguided and outright deceivers – the false anointed and, as WMB put it in his Demonology series, deceiving spirits ‘versing’ the Word of God. The prophecy, in other words, must come by the Holy Spirit, and the anointed messenger chosen of God.
2. It must come to the person which God intended.
Firstly, the Word of God is not for everyone. Not everyone can receive these truths. More specifically, there is specialisation within the spiritual body – not every member individually manifests the whole of scripture. To each is appointed a measure of the Spirit and a portion of the Word to fulfil. The exception here, of course is Christ himself, who embodies the whole, as well a certain great redemptive truths which pertain to the body entire. But concerning the specifics of ministry, of gifts and personal calling, these are unique to the individual, as well as the historic age of spiritual unfolding.
3. It must be in accord with scripture.
Among evangelicals this would seem a commonplace, but it is a principle that is violated all to frequently. It is violated on the basis of false teaching, as on the basis of impressions, of sensation and religious emotion. A powerful anointing, a spiritual manifestation – those are often taken as divine sanction, even when there is no scriptural basis for the phenomenon in question. In Amos 3:7 we read in this connection, Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he reveals his secret unto his servants, the prophets. Stated another way, if it is of God, it is in the scriptures. Indeed, where a major doctrine is in question, the relevant truth must be seen to resonate throughout the entirety of scripture. We cannot build a doctrinal case on a few isolated verses, specifically selected to serve our end.
4. The Word must be the Word in season.
This, to some extent, follows from (1) and (2), but it involves the greater truth that the Word God has divinely appointed seasons for its fulfilment. It must not be premature, nor should it lag behind – just as the seasons of the year relate to natural cycles of growth. As the Word God is the spiritual seed, it likewise has its appointed seasons. The Law of Moses was the Word God to Israel in the wilderness, but when that same Word, in the person of Jesus, stood before the Pharisees, the Word of Moses was superseded. Similarly, on a finer scale, we may consider the seven gentile church ages and the portion of the Word fulfilled in each. As in Israel’s wilderness journey, the spiritual manna needed to be gathered afresh every morning – with each new age of spiritual unfolding. Whereas the reformers Martin Luther and John Wesley brought such manna to their respective ages, the church of this age cannot thrive, let alone progress, on the doctrine of the Reformation Fathers. For this is another spiritual age, with a further portion of the Word revealed.
5. It must be vindicated.
This is my personal favourite – the one which seems to me the most profound. Sure, the first four are significant, but essentially in line with what most biblical Christians would expect. Here learn we a deeper truth. God vindicates his Word by bringing it to pass – thereby showing that it is indeed his Word. In other words, it is not for mortals to interpret the scriptures – well, it says this ... I suppose it must mean ... – that kind of thinking is all wrong. The Word is simply believed by faith – in its entirety, without reservation – and God, by his Spirit, quickens the Word to make it manifest – specifically that portion of the Word to be fulfilled in the applicable season. God interprets his own Word by bringing it to pass – that is the interpretation thereof. So if something is claimed the Word of God, and it’s not happening – if it’s contrived, perfunctory and an all-round drag – that, of a surety, is not the Word of God. The Word of God is the Word in action. It is spirit and life. It is God himself.