The God who Speaks (3)
“Since Jesus is both perfect God and perfect man, he is both the most authoritative speaker and the most faithful hearer of the word of God.”
Jesus in the Temple, Heinrich Hofmann (1881)
Lately I’ve been thinking (with a lot of help from John Frame) about the living word of God as the foundation for movements that multiply disciples and churches everywhere.
The God of the Bible is a God who speaks, and when he speaks things happen. He speaks to us personally in ways we can understand. He speaks with authority as our Creator and King.
Faith is hearing the word of God and doing it.
Jesus was both perfect God and perfect man. He was the Word of God speaking the very words of God with authority. He is the Son of God submitted totally to the Father’s will.
Jesus speaks what his Father teaches him (John 8:28; 10:18; 12:49–50; 14:10; 15:15). His words are God’s words. As a man he lived in surrender to the Father’s will. He obeyed the Father’s word (John 5:36; 8:42). He did nothing on his own authority. He only spoke what the Father gave him.
Jesus obeyed what the Father told him directly and he obeyed the written words of God in the OT. He acted and spoke in a way that fulfilled Scripture (Matt. 4:14; 5:17; 8:17; 12:17; 13:35; 26:54).
He broke with some Jewish traditions and interpretations of the OT, but Jesus treated the OT as the authoritative words of God. The whole of the OT bears witness to him.
Obedience to his word is the criteria for discipleship. Those who hear his words and obey are like the wise man who builds his house on the rock. His mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it (Luke 8:21). True disciples are not ashamed of his words (Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26).
Our love for Christ is shown by our obedience to his commands (John 14:15, 21, 23; 15:7, 10, 14; 17:6, 17).
More to come on how this relates to movements of multiplying disciples and churches.
