"The voice of God to every man"
Speaking of the completed Bible, the third-century Christian teacher Origen had this to say: "Even at the present time the words of fulness speak in Holy Scripture to those who have eyes to see the mysteries of heaven and care to hear the voice of God". This reflects the Bible's own rule of approach, based on the condition laid down by Jesus: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Luke 8:8, quoted in Revelation 2:7 and elsewhere). The apostle Paul told the Athenians that God "now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30); but that command is heard in our day through the medium of print and no longer by Spirit- guided prophets and apostles. The Bible is the Word of God made print by miraculous and providential means, and God requires men to listen to His voice in its pages. Yet He does not compel them to do so. "To this man will I look", says God, "even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word" (Isaiah 66:2).

In this age, when the printed Bible, available in a multitude of tongues, is the unique source of revelation about the mind and will of God, the daily prayerful reading of His Word is the only way men can now hear His voice. The rich rewards that flow from such a regular audience with God need to be experienced to be believed; but there are examples enough in Scripture to make it worth trying for ourselves (see for instance, Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:2-3).

"Converting the soul"
God has set His Word in the earth to produce fruit to the glory of His Name (Isaiah 55:10-11), and this is achieved by men and women learning of His thoughts and ways and responding to them. The aim and object of the Bible, therefore, is first to inform, and then to reform mankind. This is what the Psalmist means when he says:

"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple" (Psalm 19:7).

Conversion -- from the natural,sinful ways of man, to the spiritual, righteous ways of God -- is the first essential step on the road to salvation. As Jesus himself said:

"Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3).

The all-important task of the Word of God is to bring men's hearts, through humility, back to God. When that process has begun, a man can be spoken of, in the words of the apostle Peter, as "being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of,God, which liveth and abideth for ever" (1 Peter 1:23).

A Word of Power
It would be a mistake to suppose that the Word of God has somehow suffered a loss of its redemptive power by its reduction to print, and that it is necessary for the Holy Spirit to reveal its meaning directly to us before we can understand the Bible. As another writer has well said, "The Bible is essentially rational, but because of its divine authorship it is instinct with power possessed by no other book, and all parts are profitable". This view is confirmed by Paul's important statement to Timothy, that "the holy scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation" (2 Timothy 3:15), for the words "are able" could be translated "have power", the original Greek word being related to the English word 'dynamic'. The Bible reveals to the enquiring reader "the knowledge of God"; and the truth contained in it is sometimes referred to as the "power of God" or "Spirit", because it came by the Holy Spirit and is itself therefore "quickening", or able to make alive that which was dead (see John 6:63; Ephesians 6:17; 2 Peter 1:3; 1 John 5:7, R.V.). Though we are now required to manage without the direct, personal ministry of apostles like Paul, we are still commended, as the Ephesian elders were, "to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build (us) up, and to give (us) an inheritance among all them which are sanctified" (Acts 20:32). The "lively oracles" of God (Acts 7:38) are in no sense a dead letter. God's Word "has still its ancient power".

A Sense of Purpose
The power of the Bible is enshrined in its Divine origin and is demonstrated in its various effects in the lives of men and women. Prominent amongst such effects is the Bible's ability to bring a sense of purpose into life itself. The Gospel message contained in the Bible is essentially concerned with God's future plans for the earth and for mankind. The Bible is the record of God's continuing activity, centred in the work of His Son Jesus, and leading ultimately to man's redemption. The knowledge and conviction of the "great and precious promises", relayed to us in the Word of God, impart purposefulness into man's otherwise aimless existence. There have been many down the ages who have experienced in their own lives the sense of direction felt by the Psalmist when he wrote:

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105).

And for those who, through their understanding of that Word, come to follow the example of the "Word made flesh", the aim and object of existence becomes, as his was, to do God's will, as it is written "in the volume of the book" (Hebrews 10:7).

A Source of Comfort

"Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope".

So wrote the apostle Paul in Romans 15:4. In such a troubled world as ours, Paul's words have an even more apt significance than the apostle may have known. The Bible not only opens up for us, as it has done down the centuries for generations of its readers, some of the otherwise disturbing mysteries of life and death; it also brings that most necessary commodity in times of distress: peace of mind. That peace which Jesus promised his disciples can be ours to the full through the pages of God's Word (John 14:27). No personal problem is without its solution in the Word of "the God of all comfort" (2 Corinthians 1:3); and beyond all the difficulties and concerns of personal life, the Bible holds out the reassurance of that most certain antidote for all the world's greatest ills: the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 1:11; 3:20-21). When we read of that great promise in the Bible and are convinced of its imminent fulfilment, we can "comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:1 8).

"The words of eternal life"
The Lord Jesus Christ was, as always, giving good advice when he told his contemporaries to "search the scriptures" (John 5:39). The exhortation was not lost on Peter and a few of the other disciples, for they recognised that there was no other source of saving knowledge apart from the words that came from God. "Lord", said Peter as spokesman of the Twelve, "to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (John 6:68). Peter's moving confession of faith in Jesus was thus bound up inextricably with an acceptance of his message as the Word of God -- even though he and the early disciples did not then fully understand everything that Jesus said.

Today, as always, it is possible, like the shallower disciples of Jesus in John 6:67, to "go away" from God by neglecting, ignoring, or rejecting that eternal life which is contained in the Bible, the Word of God in print. Towards the end of his long prayer for his disciples in the Upper Room, recorded in John 17, the Lord Jesus prayed specifically for those who would later come to believe in him through the words of his disciples (v. 20). The Bible is God's answer to that prayer. Will you open your ears to the saving words of God's Book? Or are you going to deny the miracle of the Bible?

"Will ye also go away?"

--REG CARR

"The Bible is more than a historical document to be preserved. And it is more than a classic of English literature to be cherished and admired. It is a record of God's dealing with men, of God's revelation of Himself and His will. It records the life and work of him in whom the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among men. The Bible carries its full message, not to those who regard it simply as a heritage of the past or praise its literary style, but to those who read it that they may discern and understand God's Word to men."

-- From the Preface to the Revised Standard Version