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the Old Testament the expression “the word of God” (or Lord) is used

almost universally of oral communication. Most of the time the phrase

occurs in instances of God’s communication to man, beginning in

Genesis 15:1, “the word of the LORD came to Abraham in a vision,

saying, ‘Do not fear…,’”42 and continuing throughout the OT. Also

numerous are the occasions where the word of the prophet to his audience

is designated as the “word of the LORD,” beginning at Numbers

36:5, “Then Moses commanded the sons of Israel according to the word

of the LORD, saying, ‘The tribe of the sons…,’” and also continuing

throughout the OT. Because what came orally to God’s spokesmen was

sometimes eventually written down, the phrase came to designate

Scripture as well. For instance, when the copy of the Law was found in

the temple during the reign of Josiah, the king says: “Go, inquire of the

LORD for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning

the words of the book which has been found; for great is the

wrath of the LORD which is poured out on us because our fathers have

not observed the word of the LORD, to do according to all that is written

in this book” (2 Chr 34:21). But this usage is not common in the OT,

with other terms being more frequently used to refer to the written word

(e.g., law, testimonies, statutes, etc.). While the attributes of God’s oral

communication can often be easily transferred to God’s written word, a

one-to-one correspondence is not always possible; so texts that seem to

promise preservation of “the word of God” need to be examined carefully

to determine if such an application is valid.

At the beginning of the New Testament there is a continuation of

the Old Testament usage when “the word of God came to John, the son

of Zacharias, in the wilderness” (Luke 3:2). But once Jesus comes as “the

Word” (John 1:1, 14), there is no further reference of the word of God

coming to anyone. While “the word of God” does occasionally designate

Scripture in the NT, most often “it is used to refer comprehensively to

the body of revealed truths which made up the apostolic gospel.”43 This

is how it is used exclusively in Acts: for example, “they…began to speak

the word of God with boldness” (4:31); “the word of God kept on

spreading” (6:7); “the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be

multiplied” (12:24); and “the word of the Lord was being spread

through the whole region” (13:49). The phrases “the word of God” or

“the word of the Lord” are used twenty-one times in Acts and in every

case the referent is to the apostolic message of Christ, which was delivered

orally. This is the normal usage in Paul’s epistles as well. For instance,

when Paul describes his enemies as those who “corrupt the word

of God” (2 Cor 2:17, KJV), he is not making reference to the Scriptures,

but the gospel message.44 Those in the KJV/TR camp, because they incorrectly

assume Paul’s “word of God” is Scripture, commonly argue erroneously

that here Paul is acknowledging the corrupting of “manuscripts

and translations by false teachers.”45