Benjamin Keach's Catechism, Q4: The Word of God

Q. 4. What is the Word of God?

A. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, being given by divine inspiration, are the Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice. (2 Peter 1:21; 2 Timothy 3:16,17; Isaiah 8:20)

Scripture Proofs

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Pet. 1:21)

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16, 17)

To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. (Isa. 8:20)

If you know anything about me, you know I looked forward to the questions about the Bible. This answer is the kind of thing I want my children to grow up learning: "The Word of God [is] the only infallible rule of faith and practice." I think that is one of the most important truths one can know and live by.

This question does not give the reasons we can know the Bible is God's Word; that's the next question. Rather, this question and the Scripture proofs given establish what we can expect from God's Word.

First, God's Word is not man-made. Yes, God used men to write the Bible, and yes, the men's individual personalities do come through in the text. But the Bible is ultimately authored by God. "For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Pet. 1:21). God willed the writing of the Bible. In addition, "All Scripture is breathed out by God" (2 Tim. 3:16). God breathed out the very words of Scripture. Again, this doesn't contradict the fact that men wrote it with their own individual styles; rather, God ordained the very words they would write, and they wrote them. At least that's how I understand it.

But that's not all we can take away from the answer. God's Word is also "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). I think the important word here, at least for our purposes, is "complete." God's Word gives us everything we need to be "equipped for every good work." We don't need other revelation from God to do his work. In fact, if we really want "a word from the Lord" (which is a common idea nowadays), we ought to go to our Bibles. The Bible is the word from the Lord.

We can also know it is all we need not only because it says so, but because it is from God. God implores us to go "to the teaching and the testimony" and that those who "will not speak according to this word [the Word of God] . . . will have no dawn" (Isa. 8:20). That is, they who deny God's Word will find only "distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish" and, ultimately, "they will be thrust into thick darkness" (Isa. 8:22). In contrast, in the words of the Psalmist to God, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Ps. 119:105).

This is what we can expect of the Word of God. If the Bible is the Word of God, then by implication we can expect these things of it. The next question will address how we can know the Bible is God's Word.

To read the full catechism, click here.