Is the “Word of God,” Jesus or is the “Word of God,” the Scriptures? Both!
The Letter to the Hebrews announces: “The Word of God is living” (Heb 4:12). In his
encyclical on “The Word of the Lord” (Verbum Domini), Pope Benedict XVI explained
that the “Word of God” means both Jesus Himself as well as the Scriptures: “When we
consider the basic meaning of the written word of God as a reference to the eternal
Word of God made flesh, the one Saviour and mediator between God and humanity,
and we listen to this word, we are led by the biblical revelation to see that it is the
foundation of all reality.” 1
According to Pope Benedict, the “basic meaning” of the “Word of God” is “the eternal
Word of God made flesh.” The Scriptures are the “Word of God” because they manifest
the Word Himself
The “Word of God,” as is found in this Sunday’s passage in Hebrews (Heb 4:12-13) may
refer to the Scriptures. However, Thomas Aquinas considers the “Word” to be primarily
the Son of God: “The Word of God is living, i.e., the living Word (Verbum) of God. For
the Word of God conceived from all eternity in the intellect of the Father is the primordial
Word …’ (Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, 217)
Reading the New Testament, we recognize three agents who do divine things. Jesus
continually refers His mission and His whole being to the Father’s kingdom. Jesus does
what only God can do, healing and forgiving. The Spirit animates and transforms
people.
Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospel begin with Jesus’ birth, Mark begins with John the Baptist
but John’s Gospel begins “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God
and the Word was God” (Jn 1:1).
How is Jesus a Word? He is God’s Word. A word expresses something. What is God
expressing? God expresses through the Word from the beginning.
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, God knows and He loves. God’s knowing is the
source of the Son. In loving the Son, the Father and the Son bring forth the Holy Spirit.
St. Thomas describes these ways of coming forth from the Father as “processions,”
meaning the Son proceeds from the Father.
The Son’s processing from the Father is called “generation” since the Father doesn’t
make or create the Son but the Son comes directly from the Father Himself: “The
procession of the Word in God is called “generation”; and the Word himself proceeding
is called the Son” (1a, 27, 2). A word is not created but comes forth from the one who
speaks, resembling the speaker.
The Son and the Spirit have the same nature as the Father. St. Thomas explains: “The
Word was in the beginning with God, namely, the Father; not as divided from Him or
opposed but having the identity of nature with Him and a harmony of will. This union
1 Benedict XVI, Verbum Domini, 8.
comes about by the sharing of the divine nature in the three persons, and by the bond
of natural love of the Father and the Son” (Commentary on John, 60).
The Son is the Word through whom all things are created. John tells us: “All things were
created through Him and without Him there was nothing. What was made in Him was
life” (Jn 1:3).
St. Thomas says, “Because God by one act understands Himself and all things, His only
Word is expressive not only of the Father, but of all creatures” (1a. 34, 3).
All creatures reflect the Word because they come from Him: “The Word of God, who is
His eternal concept is the exemplar likeness of all creatures … He has a particular
agreement with human nature, since the Word is a concept of the eternal Wisdom from
whom all man’s wisdom is derived” (3a. 4, 8).
Because all things were created through the Word, the Son, they come back to God
through the Word: “The first creation of things was made by the power of God the
Father through the Word; hence the second creation [redemption] ought to have been
brought about through the Word, by the power of God the Father, in order that the
restoration should correspond to creation, according to 2 Cor. 5:19, ‘For God was in
Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (3a. 8, 8, ad 2).
Jesus’ Incarnation brings us back to God in the best way possible because we know
God in our human way. Thomas Aquinas asserts that the Incarnation strengthens our
faith: “greater assurance is guaranteed when the belief rests on God Himself speaking”
(3a. 1, 2).
We are instructed how to live, not only by words but also by example. Thomas recalls
Augustine’s words that humans are not to be followed but God is to be followed. Yet
God cannot be seen: “So then, that we might be shown one who would be both seen
and followed, God became man” (Augustine, Sermo CCCLXXI, 2: PL 39, 1660.)
Jesus teaches us by words but He communicates God to us through His presence with
us, what He says and what He does and who He is and what He does, most especially
in His Passion and death. Thomas Aquinas teaches that love for God “is most greatly
enkindled by the Incarnation” when we see God’s love for us (3a. 1, 2).
Thomas speaks of the Incarnation as “the coming of mercy,” which was needed by all
(3a, 1, 6, ad 3).
Thomas Aquinas tells us that the purpose of the Incarnation was that we are given a
“full sharing in divinity, which is true happiness and the purpose of human life. This
comes to us through the humanity of Christ”
Thomas tells us that we are given a “full sharing in divinity, which is true happiness and
the purpose of human life (3a. 1, 2). This comes to us through the humanity of Christ,
for, in Augustine’s phrase, “God was made man that man might be made God”
(Augustine, Sermo CXXVIII PL 39, 1997.)
Saint John in his first letter: “We proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the
Father and which was made manifest to us – that which we have seen and heard we
proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 Jn 1:2-3).
The Word is living, having “its own movement and activity.” The Word has vigor: “For as
a gushing fountain is called living, so, too, that Word has eternal vigor: ‘Forever, O Lord,
your word stands firm in heaven’ (Ps. 118:89); ‘For as the Father has life in himself, so
he has given to the Son also have life in himself’ (Jn. 5:24)” (Commentary on the Letter
to the Hebrews, 217).
he Word shows His vigor: “But the word is said to be effectual because of its supreme
power and the infinite force it has: for all such things were made by it: ‘By the word of
the Lord the heavens were established’ (Ps. 32:6); it is also effectual, because all the
words uttered by God and delivered by angels or man draw their efficacy from it”
(Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, 218).
Isaiah declares: ‘The word which shall go forth shall not return to me void, but it shall do
whatsoever I please, and it shall prosper in the things for which I sent it (Is. 55:11).
“The Word is more piercing than any two-edged sword” (Heb 4:12). The Word pierces
into the depths of a thing, “… it acts on the inmost recesses of a thing: ‘You have
wrought all our works for us’ (Is. 26:12); in another way, … it knows the innermost parts
of a thing: ‘He needed not that any should give testimony of man: for he knew what was
in man (Jn. 2:25); ‘I will penetrate to all the lower parts of the earth’ (Sir. 24:43).
Thomas comments: “God’s action and knowledge reach into the inmost parts of a thing;
hence, he says, than any two-edged sword. For a sword is more penetrating, because it
is sharp; and this is especially true of a two-edged sword, which is sharp at both ends.
And because the word of God is sharp in its action and its knowledge, it is compared to
a two-edged sword: ‘And the sword of the spirit which is the word of God’ (Eph. 6:17)”
(Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, 220).
Thomas adds: “It is called two-edged in regard to its activity, because it is sharp enough
to promote good and destroy evil: ‘From his mouth came out a sharp two-edged sword’
(Rev. 1:16)” (Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, 220).
Thomas asserts that God, as Creator, reaches into our very being: because God is the
first cause, by His action is produced that which is most inward in a thing, namely, its
being (Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, 220).
Hebrews says that the Word penetrates through joints and marrow. Thomas notes that
the joints in the body are enclosed and hidden and the marrow is within the bone: “But
neither of these can impede the word of God. All these are open to the divine gaze;
consequently, there is nothing too difficult for Him to penetrate” (Commentary on the
Letter to the Hebrews, 224).
Hebrews declares that “God judges the reflections and thoughts of the heart” (Heb
4:12). Thomas reflects: “In the heart thoughts are concealed, but the Word of God
knows them: ‘Take away the evil of your devices from my eyes’ (Is. 1:16). Therefore, in
regard to this he is a discerner of thoughts” (Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews,
226).
Thomas comments that some things are unknown because they are invisible, such as
what a person wills and within the will is a person’s intention which is invisible: “What a
man does or thinks is revealed in his work, but the intention for which does it is utterly
uncertain. But not even these are hidden from God; hence, he continues, and ‘intentions
of the heart’” (Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, 226).
Hebrews declares that “nothing is concealed from Him” (Heb 4:13). Even things that are
invisible to us are seen by God. Thomas questions whether God knows everything in a
general way? Hebrews states that everything lies bare and exposed to His eyes. By
“eyes,” Hebrews means God’s cognitive power: “But all things are manifest to God,
which are seen superficially; for there is nothing covering man to impede God’s
knowledge, as clothing might. But he says, “open,” because nothing is so concealed
that it can escape God’s knowledge (Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, 229).
We must render an account to Christ: “It is he who was appointed by God to be judge of
the living and of the dead” (Ac. 10:42); “For we must all be manifested before the
judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the proper things of the body,
according as he has done, whether it be good of evil” (2 Cor. 5:10). Therefore, because
He is so powerful, so knowing and so great, let us hasten to enter into that rest”
Denis Vincent Wiseman, O.P.