My understanding of the bible is that the word of God is simply everything that Jesus said and did. These words were spoken and carried out by God Himself through His life as Jesus Christ. These same words were also given to men in the beginning of creation when God laid the foundations of the world. They are a vital necessity to all life here on Earth. Unfortunately, through the course of time, sin took it’s toll and the words were lost. One of the main reasons that God came was to restore the word back to what was originally said in the beginning.
Welcome to the forum LLC,
I think you’re onto something. Jesus=Word of God. What do you think of the Bible then?
It is written, Man cannot live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God… Today if you hear His voice…Let the one who has ears to hear, hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches…Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God…In the beginning was the Word, and the word was God, and the Word was with God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, as of the only begotten of the Father…
Hebrews 1:1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.
Probably LLC will answer this question.
Meanwhile I have another question. Many Christians believe the Bible to be the Word of God. If so, how can they be sure that the Bible contains the correct set of books to qualify as the Word of God? Some of the early Christians rejected or at least disputed 2 and 3 John, 2 Peter, Jude, and Revelation. Some early Christians also read in their churches Clement’s letter to the Corinthians along with the other scriptures. Clement was probably Paul’s fellow labourer, whom Paul mentions in Philippians 4:3. The letter was written shortly after the death of Paul and Peter. By what authority can one asservate that Clement’s letter should not be included in the inspired writings?
Catholics and Orthodox include the deuterocanonical books in their Bibles, whereas Protestants do not. By what authority can one aver whether or not these books are the Word of God?
Great question. For me I don’t know for sure. I wasn’t always honest with myself and when I was younger I would hold my translation in the air and repeat “This is the word of God” (I’m not saying the people who do this are wrong, but for me I didn’t know that faith in my English translation wasn’t a condition of salvation, just faith in Christ.)
I’m probably employing some type of logical fallacy when I say “Well, the common 66 book English translation has been a global best seller… so it’s probably the one God would want us to read”
but honestly, that’s where I am as far as scripture is concerned. I trust my translations to inspire me as Holy Spirit leads me. I’m thankful they’re readily available and I know they have helped me.
The testimony that God gave of Himself reveals the truth of all things, including everything else that is written of Him. So I hold everything up to the light of these words.
Hooray! Me too! 
When I began to see things that were “apparent contradictions” in my beloved KJV, (I was a student of middle ages literature in college and always loved the language of that era), I began to investigate translation issues. I found, in my research, the answers to my dilemmas. I recognized the authority of all the plain verses we recognize as clear UR prooftexts since they were presented to me in the late 70s, but the seeming contradictions were all resolved through those studies in Greek and Hebrew authorities. I still love the KJV, for the language, the poetry, and in some cases, even the translations- but I sure am glad it never reached the level of absolute authority in my estimation of it.
Common sense told me that the minds of the speakers are best revealed in the languages they spoke in, and the mind-sets of translators, who cannot help but be, at times, interpreters, would leak into their work.
As I mentioned in my first post, when the authors of the bible speak of the Word of God, I take it to mean they are simply referring to everything that God revealed to us while here on Earth. They use other terms for this as well.
1.The seed- Luke 8:11 "Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God.
Genesis 2:8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed
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The light- Genesis 3:3 Then God said "Let there be light.
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The breath of life- Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
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Bread from heaven-Nehemiah 9:15 You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought them water out of the rock for their thirst.
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Foundation/cornerstone- Psalm 11:3 If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?
These along with many other verses indicate that the same things God revealed to us through His life as Jesus, were all made known to man in the beginning of creation. So from my understanding , there was never any need for sacrificial rituals or a sacrifice required by God(as in penal substitution). This is stated throughout the bible.
Psalm 51:16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it.
Psalm 40:6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Matthew 12:7 But if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless.
Psalm 50:7-23
Isaiah 66:1-4
Jeremiah 7:22-23
What is required of us today is that we have God’s spirit in our hearts, minds and souls, that we love Him and follow His word. When we go astray we must seek forgiveness with a humble heart and return to Him. This is all that was ever required from the beginning. The whole bible testifies to this.
I used to get bogged down on one translation as well. The church I am a member of believes that a particular English translation is the only authentic translation and therefore only it can be considered the Word of God (The claim is that the family of Hebrew and Greek manuscripts from which that particular English translation is derived are pure, unlike the other translations which were translated from “corrupt” family of manuscripts).
But I will tell you this, I don’t believe any translations are absolutely correct, though I might argue that the “original autographs” were inerrant, but of course we no longer have those. We just have copies of copies of copies.
Aside from a few questionable passages, which most modern translations footnote as not being in the earliest existing manuscripts, I really don’t find a whole lot of difference between the “Authorized Version” and the major modern English translations. There may be differences in style and word order and word selection, but the English language is diverse. Arguments can be made that this version left this out or that version added something, but overall, I believe the basic message has been left intact. I believe the bible is the Word of God because I believe the message is still intact, though there may be some errors or mistranslations here and there due to human intervention. The good thing is that there is enough manuscript evidence that we can compare our English versions and can arrive as close enough to the original that we need to. I don’t think we need to be dogmatic about what version we use. In fact, sometimes it’s helpful to compare passages with different versions which can help clarify meaning. But I don’t believe that there are any significant differences between the versions that is going to affect major doctrines (although there are a few versions I will avoid because attempts have been made to change certain passages in those versions to comply with a particular group’s set of doctrines. They wag the dog.)
Yes, Jesus is the Word of God. I believe God authored the bible, but I also accept that the hand of man has introduced the human element in its transmission. I believe God can work around that. And for those that try to be dogmatic about it, I simply point to Jesus, who didn’t seem to mind quoting the OT from the scriptures available to Him, even though it didn’t always exactly match with the OT that “Authorized Version” proponents believe is the correct one. (Compare Matthew 21:16 with Psalm 8:2 in the “Authorized Version” and you’ll see what I mean). Why should I get bogged down with bible versions when Jesus didn’t? 