I Praise the Word of God

Some Christians are what I would call “biblical minimalists.” In other words, they take the Bible to be a generally true guide to spiritual truth and life, but they charge evangelical Christians or “fundamentalists” with being bibliolators, of emphasizing and worshipping the Bible and its words, instead of simply worshipping the Triune God. I have always considered this to be a false dichotomy and a bogus smear.

I know of no Christians who “worship” the Bible, and to say that a regard for the Bible as the ultimate and inerrant truth and authority for spiritual life, and a focus on the words in Scripture – in memorizing and applying them – is bibliolatry, runs counter to what God has said.

Psalm 56 makes this point emphatically. Here, King David says: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in You, in God whose word I praise.” (vs. 3-4). Later, David repeats: “In God, whose word I praise; in the LORD, whose word I praise; In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid, what can man do to me?” (vs. 10-11).

Thus, we have David three times saying that he praises God’s word. Of course, David’s trust is in God Himself, and I’ve never heard anyone suggest we should not trust God Himself. But David trusts and praises God’s word because that is where the promises from God are revealed, promises in which David is trusting. David has utter confidence in what God says, and so he praises it as revealed. Indeed, David later on exclaims about God: “You have exalted above all things Your name and your word.” (Psalm 138:2).

If God exalts so exalts His word, we ought to do the same, mainly by listening to it and obeying it. For God’s word is no trifle for us, but it is our very life. (Deut. 32:47).

-D

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