Book Review on The Living Word of God: Rethinking the Theology of the Bible

Ancient scholars, inspired by the holy spirit, but the living word of God in a manner that will not be easy for anyone to challenge. Ben Witherington III, in the book Living Word of God, believe that the ancients never thought words and particularly divine words but rather believed that the word per took of the character and quality of the one who spoke them, especially when talking about God's words and surprising oral literature.

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The Living Word of God tries to justify the true nature of God both in the Old Testament and the New Testament using relevant Biblical scriptures as reference points. The author considers Biblical scriptures as the divine creation in which God uses human language to communicate with human beings. Furthermore, scriptures are a divine inspiration, God's revelation. The scripture, which is a tool for spreading the living word of God, is viewed as exalted human speech inspired to communicate God's divine message (Witherington 5).

Another view on Biblical scripture is that it is meant to deceive, mislead the masses. It is clear that every individual view scripture depending on spiritual manifestation and commitment to seek the eyes of the Lord. The book also critically analyzes the freedom that the Biblical authors had. It emanates from the order of events in the ministry of Jesus. The four gospel books narrate the life of Jesus in an order that varies from one Gospel book to the other, raising the question of whether they were spiritually inspired or whether Jesus existed.

The Bible, which conveys the living word of God, has been misunderstood in the twenty-first century than ever before. The reason being that it does not satisfy the expectations and presumptions that we may be having. The salvation that Jesus Christ brought to revive human is in itself sophisticated and calls for divine intervention to understand and embrace.

The new testament authors like Paul believed that the word of God is an oral proclamation that entails telling the story about Jesus and that word of God is living and active, a justification of its kind. The new testament events are just a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, some of which are recorded in the book of Isaiah 61:1, which tells about the good news. Therefore, all that is recorded in the New Testament are time justification of God's inspired prophesies made in the Old Testament by God himself through his ordained servant (Witherington 13).

In Hebrew 4:12, "For the word of God is living..." This oral proclamation is a piece of time evidence that the word of God is not only written or spread in written form but also in spoken form, which is dominant. The rebirth proclaimed by Jesus through baptism by God himself through Jesus Christ is affirmed in the book of 1 Peter 1:23, which speaks of being born new by the living and abiding word of God (Witherington 25).

God himself is the author of the Bible based on the fact that He inspired the writers, and He, at some point, participated in writing the Bible. What does, therefore, the idea of inspiration imply? The author has critically analyzed this aspect justified by Biblical scriptures, as we are yet to see. Through the wrangle of whether the new Testament should be considered an inspired book by the living word of God has been addressed. Both new and old are considered God's inspired books because all that is proclaimed orally or written in the New Testament are just fulfillment of the old Testament's prophesies.

Second, Timothy 3:16 talks of every scripture being God-breathed. There is no theory of a process of inspiration, but it is assumed that just as Paul makes it that authority text from the laws justify that all other books, both in the old and new Testament, are God's ordained. Prophets did not speak their mind. True prophecy does not originate from the human imagination or will.

Therefore, all that the prophets talked about were God's intention. The phrase "God said" is a true manifestation that God-breathed through prophets who were God's mouthpiece to communicate his divine message for intended people. It is, therefore, with no doubt to claim that Bible is authored by God or God's inspired people and bears the living word of God that is only a truth to believers in Christ in which He dwells.

The idea of whether Bible authors were inspired by God is open for a decision as authors have their points of view and what it means to an individual depend on how close you seek the eyes of the Lord to give a manifestation on the same. From the book of Ezekiel and Revelation, it is evident that the book is dominated by comparison and analogy, which are contrary to the literary approach which the scriptures should take (Witherington 48).

Again, the absence of literal description raises the question of whether the authors of the above books were inspired and, ultimately, the question of whether God authored the Bible. One of the scholars by the name Howard Marshall puts it that "the weakness of liberal view is that it views the Bible too much in terms of human religion, genius and progressive discovery of truth and ignores the aspect of inspiration..."

Conservatives, on the other hand, view the Bible as a book produced directly by the spirit of God, not considering elements of human involvement in the entire process. It is important to acknowledge the role played by both parties in creating such an ordained book. Though theologians have, on various occasions, disagree on issues dealing with the Bible, individuals are free to distinguish between divine Biblical passages from the non-divine. They are entrusted with the authority of judging what is divine and what is not based on spiritual intervention.

As much as there are divergent opinions about the Bible and inspiration, God should always be exalted and considered as the custodian of truth. Any other thing in the world is considered a liar and seeking to be truthful. The word of God is living and manifest to individuals at God's own set time. People should, therefore, not limit the word of God according to their understanding or interpretation. The word of God will remain true whether one is cognizant of it or not.

The use of analogy in the Bible, in some instances, raised quite a number of concerns on the validity of the phrase " Bible is God's inspired book." Some scholars hold that there should only be literal description, unlike analogy used in Ezekiel and Revelation. If I narrow down to the book of Hebrew 4:15, that claims that Jesus was like us in many ways. It is so sophisticated to draw the true meaning of the scripture in the context (Witherington 96)

It is dangerous to compare a divine being to humans. In Genesis again, it is recorded that God created man in His likeness. The use of analogy tries to insinuate that there seems to be no difference between man and God, his creator. Generally, Christians or other religions that believe in God and his living word should question what is necessary and seek spiritual intervention and manifestation rather than seeking true meaning based on a personal level of knowledge and ability to interpret Biblical issues.

The author Ben Witherington III is also much concerned about whether the unity in Christ when he proclaims throughout his ministry is the unity in the Bible. Any piece of work is open to critique. He draws the fact that the word of God exists in two forms. The Bible is God's word in written form, while Christ is God's word in human form. The answer is yes. Christ, who proclaim unity, is spoken about by prophets who were God's anointed servants to proclaim is glory and wonders and all that he intended for the human race (Witherington 180).

The fact that Jesus is prophesied in the Old Testament and all the prophesies were later fulfilled is a time confirmation that a great being designed the two parts of the Bible, and that is God. It is also essential to take into account that the Israelites that God delivered, protected from enemies, forgave on various occasions regardless of his unfaithful they were to God are the true followers of Jesus in the New Testament.

The unity in Christ and God is, therefore, in existence, and true believers of God do experience it. In addition, the use of literature in the Old Testament, such as poetry, songs confirm the literature used in the New Testament confirms the existing unity. The same Christ unified the ten Mosaic laws into one law of love and preached love and its importance among believers.

Scriptures are the basic components of the Bible, and the Bible is where the living word of God is embedded. There is, therefore need to establish the truth behind scriptures as evident in some instances. Basically, scripture is the church (Christ-followers) to eat and drink as they pounder what God could be. How scripture is presented or put manifests whether it has some truth in it or not. If, for instance, a scripture record that Jesus died on the cross, it seems to be a claim or rather a historical claim based on no tangible evidence (Witherington 215).

When the same scripture is structured as "Jesus died on the cross for our sin," then due to the fact that the Bible records that those born in Adams lineage are sinful, it is justifiable that when He died, then it was for our sins. Most importantly is the fact that truth can be conveyed both by fiction and historical narratives. Again, one should bear in mind Biblical scholarship is complex, and it is a discipline in which odds are ever trying to get even.

The author advocates for justification by doubt as to the only means of establishing truth. It is a case in which a scholar tries to demonstrate good learning or critical thinking based on how much he knows best. Skepticism, which a faith posture, affects and infects how one reads the Biblical texts. It should be considered and put into account by any historical scholars. Human beings are the agents of transfer of the living word of God from generation to generation (Witherington 265). One should therefore expect a grievous error in any issue revolving around the Bible and scriptures in particular. It is a fact that can never be denied.

The worst of it all that there are determinants to such errors; the good news is that through Almighty manifestation, what is considered an error can be rectified in order to narrow the ridge emanating from divergent opinions on a given issue. The author has tried his best to address the issue, which is of great concern when it comes to the question of whether the word of God is living. With or without Biblical justification, the word of God is living, and its living nature only manifests to the few who humble themselves and seeks his eyes tirelessly (Witherington 280).

To conclude, Ben Witherington III is a piece of work that is well thought and presented in a sampling manner in which any individual, whether guided by the holy spirit or not, can read and acquire basic skills needed in Christ's walk. The book has harmonized issues of great concern both in the old and new Testament, which solemnly causes an individual to believe the two sections of the Bible do not antagonize each other but rather a time manifestation of each other.

It also infuses the aspects of other scholars together with their schools of thought and integrates with his own to provide a solid ground in which a valid conclusion can be drawn. The missing aspect in these pieces of work is that the author rarely diverts the attention of readers to the fact that scripture can only be well understood by people who believe in God and trust him for spiritual manifestation what n understanding His living nature.

Work Cited

Witherington III, Ben. Biblical theology: the convergence of the canon. Cambridge University Press, 2019.