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 A THEOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE AS THE WORD OF GOD
By Rhys Lewis, Vicar of Matamata, Diocese of Waikato, New Zealand 
Some preliminaries To begin with, some position statements. Galatians 6:10 and Ephesians 2:19
speak of “the household of faith”. The Bible
is the book of Christ and of thehousehold of Christ. This definition locates the centre of the Bible in Christ; it sees the Old Testament as the book of the household into which Christ is born, and New  Testament as concerned with life in the household of God, awaiting thecoming of the Kingdom of God
1
. The Bible is the word of God
 – 
and if we ask what this word does, we can say that it that is a word of disclosure and command
 – 
what it discloses is theGracious Father - what it commands is life lived before, and in the love andpower of, the God of grace.But we are all aware of the distortions and misunderstandings attendant onconcept of the Bible as the word of God. To unfold an understanding of scripture as the word of God I want to make a comparison with a verse in
 Acts. “Set apart for me
Barnabas
and Paul” – 
these two men are set apart forthe work of God. In the same way scripture is a human word set apart to effect
God‟s work of salvation
 
Scripture on the use of Scripture in effecting salvationRomans 15: 4
 – 
6For what was written in the former days was written for ourinstruction, so that by steadfastness and encouragement we mighthave hope. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that you together with one voice may glorify the God andFather of our Lord Jesus Christ
1
 
“Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ was faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if we hold fast our confidence”
Heb 3:5,6
 
 As Dunn (1988) points out, these words form the conclusion to the pastoralexhortation in Romans Chapter 14, concerning forbearing relationships in thechurch. It thus points us to an important principle - that the scriptures have apastoral purpose or use. The key word
here might appear to be „instruction, teaching‟, but the sentenceconcludes „in order that through patience and through the comfort of thescriptures we might hold fast hope‟. The comfort of 
the scriptures has thepastoral purpose of holding us fast in hope. In the next verse Paul prays thatthe God of comfort should keep us in a unity that issues in true worship. TheGod of comfort gives us the comfort of the scriptures. The instruction of thescriptures is gracious. Why does Paul refer to the scriptures here? Paul introduces this comment
about the „instruction of the scriptures‟ in order to justify or substantiate the
use he has just made in 15:3 of a Septuagint quotation from Psalm 69:9, a verseabout messianic suffering. The thought in verse 3 is that Christ suffered tobring salvation to his enemies, and so, how much more should we beforbearing with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Paul‟s refer
ence to the instruction of the script
ures „provides the largerprinciple which justifies the use just made of the scriptures ….the sense of 
scripture as the living word
of God is strong here‟ (Dunn 839). Paul‟sformulation „written for our instruction, so that we may always have hope‟
indicates two the aspects of the purpose of the word. The word bringsdisclosure and command, is a source of grace and shapes faithful obedience. The Word here is thought of as addressed to the community ( 
we 
 ), with thepastoral purpose of building up ( 
that we 
 
always have hope 
 ) the household of faithin unity.
 A Scripture on the warrant of scripture
 A little later in the chapter, in verse 15, Paul refers to his own motives in writing his own letter
 – 
a letter that is now part of scripture.
On some points I have written to you rather boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given to me by God 
. What does this tell us further about the theology of scripture?Paul is referring to his own great cornerstone of scripture, the letter to theRomans. He says
 – 
 
„I 
 
wrote to you rather bluntly in part as a way of reminding you‟ 
of the issues of Christian faith and life. He writes
„on the basis of the grace given to me 
 
to be apostle to the Gentiles‟ 
. Here he is talking of the warrant or authority of his writing. This authority emerges from his special call from God. This connection of scripture with a special call, or special grace is particularly interesting. It links us to Acts 13:2, where the Holy Spirit told the believers at Antioch
„set apart Barna
bas and Saul to do the work for which I have chosen
them‟. The Greek is
aphoridzo.
Paul uses the same word of his own calling inRomans 1:1
- 
„Paul, a called apostle, set apart (for service) to the Gospel of God 
‟
2
andalso Galatians 1:15,
„even before I was born, God had set me apart‟.
 
It is clearly an important word for Paul. To summarize - Paul has been calledapart as an apostle for the service of the gospel by the Holy Spirit; now he writes to the Romans
„on the basis of the grace given to me to be an apostle 
to the 
Gentiles‟ 
. The authority of his writing goes back to his setting apart for thispastoral service. The grace and the setting apart are two ways of describing thesame thing. There is a difference between referring to the scriptures as the word of God (ina yet to be defined sense) and articulating a theological understanding of thenature of scripture. Sometimes theologians have explained their theologicalunderstanding of scripture by reference to the Incarnation of the Son; theanalogy is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in human language, compared tothe union of divine and human natures in Christ. I would suggest however thatthe setting apart of a human agent (Paul, scripture) by the Holy Spirit for aspecific service of the gospel is a better analogy; and that the connection of 
aphoridzo
as
setting apart 
and Paul
 writing to
the Romans
on the basis of the grace  given to him 
gives us a concrete biblical linkage between these notions.It also connects origin and purpose; an origin in the gracious call of God and apurpose of pastoral comfort and guidance, set in the widest context of thegospel and the Kingdom. It thus links to the scheme of disclosure andcommand, grace and obedience, which are characteristics of the word of God.
 The Authority of Scripture
2
 
 Already in Romans 1:1 Paul has spoken of himself as “ a called apostle, set apart (for service) to the gospel of God” (Kasermann). In 12:3 he has said,‟
in virtue of the grace given me I direct every one among you not to
think of himself more highly than he ought to think‟ (Kasermann); he is appealing to the calling and grace he
has received as an apostle to the Gentiles, and he appeals to this grace again here as the ground of his authority.
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