Word of God

The Word of God is God’s own self-communication — the God of Scripture is a speaking God who makes himself and his will known. The phrase carries several related senses that cohere in one divine testimony: the creative word, the prophetic word, the incarnate Word, and the written and proclaimed word.

The creative word. God speaks the universe into being — "And God said, ‘Let there be light’" (Genesis 1:3); "by the word of the LORD the heavens were made" (Psalms 33:6; Hebrews 11:3). His word never fails of its purpose: it "shall not return to me empty, but shall accomplish that which I purpose" (Isaiah 55:11).

The prophetic word. Repeatedly "the word of the LORD came" to the prophets as a powerful external address that compelled proclamation — God touched Jeremiah’s mouth and put his words there (Jeremiah 1:9); it burned like a fire he could not hold in (Jeremiah 20:9), "like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces" (Jeremiah 23:29; Amos 3:8).

The incarnate Word. Supremely, God’s Word is a person: the eternal Logos "was God… and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:1, 14), named "The Word of God" (Revelation 19:13). After speaking long ago through the prophets, God "in these last days has spoken to us by his Son" (Hebrews 1:1–2) — his full and final self-revelation.

The written and proclaimed word. This divine address is inscripturated — "All Scripture is breathed out by God" (2 Timothy 3:16) — and preached, received by believers "not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God" (1 Thessalonians 2:13), through which the Spirit works faith (Romans 10:17). In every form it is "living and active" (Hebrews 4:12) and it endures forever (Isaiah 40:8; 1 Peter 1:23–25). To receive God’s word is to receive God himself; see also Psalms 119:105.