The "Word of God" as Used in the Old Testament

When exploring the word of God in the Old Testament (OT), it is important to locate the texts into a social and historical context. It is in this context that the word of God is mediated by human expression. To deny the human expression is effectively to place a barrier between the word of God and it’s invitation to revelation. The OT can be seen as a “record of people’s experience of God’s self-revelation” (Rohr & Martos, 2011, p. 22). Thus the theology underpinning the OT meaning and understanding of the “word” is deep and rooted in “a Semitic conviction of the power of the spoken word” (Gimpel, 2011, p. 21). The OT is based upon oral tradition. In oral traditions, the reliability of a story, message or tale rested solely upon the authority of the person who uttered the words. As such, in the OT, the phrase Word of God conveys that the words shared by the authors and “sacred writers” is drawing upon the ultimate authority.

It is this context that many fundamentalist readers of the Old Testament fail to recognise. In considering the OT meaning of “the Word of God”, it is important to recognise that the voice of God found in the canon of scriptures known as the Old Testament still speaks strongly to us thousands of years after it was recorded due to deep truths embedded within them that transcend a time and place while definitively set within a distant social and historical context. These truths are revealed in a timeless and familiar human experience and calls the reader to a spiritual exchange with God. Revelation through the word of God in the OT is an invitation to humanity to enter into a relationship with God (Harrington, 2011). Rohr and Martos further point out that if the Word of God is not heard by us, “we have not yet entered into dialogue” with the Lord.

It was this “revelationary” relationship with God that was experienced by the authors of the OT as writers of sacred texts. “Somehow they were a people who learned how to listen to and hear the

Bibliography: Gimpel, P. (2011). Introduction to the Word. In I. o. Education, Diploma of Christian Ministry and Theology (Module 2) (p. 21). Brisbane: Faith and Life. Harrington, W. J. (2011). What is the Bible? In P. Gimpel, Module 2 - Foundations 2: An Open Learning Course from IFE (p. 32). Brisbane: Faith and Life. Reid, A. (2004). Understanding the Catholic Liturgy since Vatican II. (Umbria Associates Pty Ltd ) Retrieved November 8, 2011, from AD2000: http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2003/sep2003p10_1433.html Rohr, R., & Martos, J. (2011). The Call - Introduction to the Word. In P. Gimpel, Diploma of Christian Ministry and Theology (Module 2) (pp. 22-31). Brisbane: Faith and Life. ----------------------- [1] Such power is revealed in the New Testament also, most notably in the “magnificent prologue of John’s Gospel” (Gimpel, 2011, p. 21). [2] The term “sacred writers” is repeatedly used in the papal encyclical Dogmatic Constitution On Divine Revelation -Dei Verbum promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1965. It does not imply that the writers themselves are sacred but rather that their writings are sacred. (Vatican Archive, 1965)