Q. What is the Word of God?

A. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Word of God, the only rule of faith and obedience.

Parents often tell their children to listen: Listen to what I am saying. Are you hearing what I am saying to you? Are you listening?

The Westminster Larger Catechism, as it begins to unfold what we are to believe and do as Christians, makes it clear that the voice to which we are to listen is the voice of God. Question 3 reveals the identity and authority of the Scriptures as the Word of God, the voice to which the church is to listen.

There are mixed messages from various voices today declaring themselves to be the voice of truth. This is not unique to our day. From the days of the serpent’s first lie told to our parents Adam and Eve, there have been flattering lips and tongues that speak proud things against the pure words of the Lord (Ps. 12). The teaching of the Scripture is that, because it is the Word of God, the Bible is the ultimate authority over questions concerning what you are to believe about God and His world and how you are to live and love in His world.

All rational creatures know certain things about God, because He made the world an amphitheater of His glory. We hear of His goodness, wisdom, and power in that amphitheater. But this knowledge of God cannot lead one to salvation, for nature cannot preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, it pleased the Lord, “at various times and in various ways”—in order to reveal His will to save sinners through His Son Jesus Christ—to speak to the fathers by the prophets (Heb. 1:1). In His wisdom and grace, God chose to “commit the same [revelation] wholly unto writing” (see WCF 1:1).

Throughout Genesis we read of God approaching men and women in condescending love to reveal His truth and will so that they could draw near to Him in covenanted faith and love. In faithfulness to the instruction of God, Moses “wrote all the words of the Lord” (Ex. 24:4). Moses handed this task to—among others—his successor, Joshua (Deut. 31:7–13). Essential to his service, Joshua was to be strong and very courageous, to meditate on the Scriptures day and night, so that he “may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” By meditating on and living in God’s Word, Joshua was to experience the certainty that “the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Josh. 1:7–9).

Continuing through the Old Testament, there appears a growing collection of divinely authoritative writings. Simultaneously there is a decreasing outward supernatural approach from God. Eventually God does less and says more in order to reveal Himself. How do we explain this phenomenon? God was bringing His Word to a central place in the faith and obedience of His people. He was training them to hear His voice as He spoke into their hearts by His Word. He would abide with them—and they with Him—through His Word (Ps. 119:11; Prov. 2:1, 5; 22:18).

Are you listening? Do you hear?

The Lord Jesus maintained the same high view of the Scriptures as the mouth of God. He grew in the knowledge of the Scriptures. He walked in obedience to the Scriptures. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus appeals to the authority of the Scriptures, declaring eight times, “it is written.” Five times in John’s Gospel Jesus said He was “to fulfill the Scriptures.” It was His conviction that the Scriptures “testify of” Him (John 5:39) and “beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to [the disciples] the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27). Jesus did not replace the Old Testament Scriptures but united them to the witness of the New Testament. As Thomas Watson, an English Puritan, once said, “The two Testaments are the two lips by which God hath spoken to us.”

The apostolic church also confessed that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Word of God. Paul exhorted Timothy to resist the deception of false teachers by “continuing in…the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:14–15).

The apostles understood that their writings were Scripture, the voice of God, providing further revelation to the church. These writings would compel the church to understand the Old Testament with greater gospel insight (Rom. 16:25–27; Eph. 3:3–6). Therefore, these epistles were received with an oath to be read before the churches (1 Thess. 5:27; Col. 4:16; 1 Tim 4:13). To reject the teaching and instruction in these letters was equivalent to rejecting the faith and required obedience contained in them (1 Cor. 14:37–38, 2 Thess. 3:14). Rejection of the Scriptures was—and is—a rejection of the God of the Bible. Why? Because in them God speaks.

Are you listening? Do you hear?

Question 3 reveals the authority of the Scriptures because they are the Word of God. Because the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Word of God, they are to be received as the only rule of faith and obedience. The word “rule” in this question means “standard or principle.” The Bible is the only standard for faith and life, belief and obedience. Every religious doctrine that is taught must be scrutinized under the authoritative standard of the Scriptures. If doctrines or teachers do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them (Isa. 8:20). The Apostle Paul commends the Bereans because they were honorable in assessing his teaching in light of the Scriptures. If they did so to the teaching of an apostle, then certainly we ought to with all others (Acts 17:11). John instructs us to test the messengers, whether they are from God (1 John 4:1). The liberty that Christ has purchased for believers under the gospel includes freedom of conscience from the doctrines, commandments, and traditions of men (Matt. 15:3, 9). We must stay close to the Scriptures as the Word of God, and we must listen.

And while we may test what men call us to believe and obey, we are to believe and obey the faith and life of the Word of God. By the Scriptures we trust and obey Christ. We must listen to the Word of God—and in the Scriptures He speaks. “Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys the voice of his Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God” (Isa. 50:10).

Listen to what I am saying.

Are you hearing what I am saying to you?

Are you listening?

In the Scriptures, God speaks, because they are His words.

Shawn Anderson is pastor of Sycamore (Kokomo, Ind.) RPC. Nathan Eshelman is pastor of Los Angeles, Calif., RPC.