Just think of it, “The Bible,” the greatest book, if it may be called a book, as it is in truth, “The Word of God!” Just to say it is a book, may put it in the same class of all the other “books” that have been printed around the globe we live on! It is not! As Peter put it as he addressed that, if we are a child of God, then we have been “born again” and he continued: “not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Pet. 1:2.3). The Greek word translated “not,” is as Strong put it: “the absolutely negative.” There is no other writing like it and there is “absolutely” nothing about it that is “corruptible!” Men may, and have through the years attacked it, they have burnt it, but it still stands! It still does what it did in the first century; it is able to give life; it is able to see us through death and take us to the resurrection at the return of Christ and deliver us into eternal life with God the Father in heaven!
So, take another look at that Bible on the “coffee table” (I put the words “coffee table” in quotes, as I am not sure those words are still used!), but wherever your Bible maybe, pick it up and read it. In your hand is a “book” that is the “word of life!” Not just here and now, but eternal life that awaits those who have been “born (the Greek word “anagennao” “beget) again.” We have all been “begat” by an earthly father but this ends in death, while those who have been “begat” by the “incorruptible word (seed) of God,” have the promise of everlasting life in heaven; if life on this earth is lived in faithfulness to God. One more thought just here, “faithfulness” to the word of God is so often over looked and people think, if they just give “lip” services to whatever they think is “right,” it is the same as being faithful to the living word of God. Friends, it is not! Only the “incorruptible” word gives real life! Soul be careful what you hear and what you read!
Now, let us go back and read the text again: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Pet. 1:23-25). This is what we call “the Bible,” and it is what we have been writing about through sixteen articles! Did you notice these words: “this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you?” So, what is my point? Peter says, by the Holy Spirit, “this is the word,” but what “word?” The “word of the Lord” which “endureth for ever;” and then he wrote: “which by the gospel is preached unto you.” Have you ever heard someone ask: “What is the gospel?” Sure, you have! Well, what did Peter say, he said, when referring back to the words he had just wrote: “the word of the Lord which by the gospel is preached unto you.” Is it possible to preach “the gospel” and not preach “the word of the Lord?” Did you put your “thinking cap” on?
We sometimes say, that is remarkable, this is amazing, but “the word of the Lord” is none of these; it is the inspired living word of God! No! By the use of the word “living,” does not mean what some have used when referring to “The Constitution of these United States!’” These folks mean, that it is every changing and never means the same thing to the next generation; but neither is this true of the “Constitution” nor the “Word of God! It is impossible to say, that the gospel is the “incorruptible word (seed) of God,” then, claim that it is ever changing! When something “changes,” it is no longer what it was before the changes were made!
Before ending this long series of articles, I would like to conclude with the words Paul wrote to Timothy: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Not one word more, not one word less; but “all scripture is given by inspiration of God!” The word “inspiration of God” comes from one compound word, “theopneustos,” which means: “divinely breathed in” (Strong). This is true of no other “book,” of no other words!
Friends, when you hold the Bible in your hand, you are holding the treasure of life! So, what will you do with it?
Frank R. Williams