The Importance of the Written Word

 

I begin writing this because of a conversation I had last night. It was a short conversation. Actually, it wasn't really a conversation at all; it was more of a suggestion from one of my elders. Well, it was also a rather strong suggestion. Maybe it was an imperative statement. I don't know. It really has me thinking, though.

He had read the last post before this one and seemed as though he really liked it. He said, "You know, you ought a write a book."

For a little while now I've been contemplating writing a book, specifically about how media can be used to help the work of the church. I always hated writing when I was in school. I figured out recently, though, that I didn't like it then because I didn't like what I was being forced to write about. Things change when you are an adult. Writing suddenly becomes interesting for some reason. I think it's mainly because I get to share the thoughts in my head in a more organized way so that people can read, re-read, and understand what I really have to say. So often when I preach, teach class, or converse with people I'm afraid they leave with the wrong impression in their minds. I often don't know whether it is my failure to communicate properly, or whether it is their failure to listen properly that is the culprit. I plead the case that more often than not, it's the latter! I leave open the possibility of the former.

At any rate, the spoken word has a severe shortcoming in that things have a tendency to only be said once. There's no chance for review. If the discussion happens to be more along the lines of an argument and the listener misunderstands the speaker it can lead to the "that's not what you said" cycle of arguing. The spoken word just sometimes creates issues with people.

Now that's not to say that the spoken word does not have its place. At the end of John's second and third epistles, he writes very similar statements. In both cases (2 Jn. 12 and 3 Jn. 13-14) he writes that there were many things that he wanted to write to them, but that he didn't want to write to them with pen and ink. He wanted to speak to them face to face. Notice, though, that in both cases the recipients of the letters are not necessarily the general population. In 2 John, it is the "elect lady and her children" and in 3 John it is "the beloved Gaius". John wanted to see these people he loved in person. Words written in a letter would not be enough to satisfy his desire to communicate with them. This deals directly with John's desire to see these people. Still, the written word aspect of these letters was very important.

God shows how important the written word is to Him in Genesis 32. When Moses comes down off Mount Sinai for the first time with the tablets of stone containing the written law in his hands, look how they are described:

And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. (Exodus 32:15-16 NKJV)

 

Have you ever really stopped to think about that? It was God's writing on the tablets. Oh, to have only had a peek at His handwriting! We read in this same chapter, verse 19, that Moses became angry because of the sin of the children of Israel. In his anger he cast the stone tablets down the side of the mountain, their end being destruction at the mountain's base. If the importance of the writing of God's law wasn't expressed sufficiently to you in his own personal writing of it, it should be in his re-writing of it!

 

And the LORD said to Moses, "Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. (Exodus 34:1 NKJV)

 

If God is concerned with the written version of his Word, shouldn't we be? We don't need direct revelation today. We don't need the Holy Spirit acting on the hearts of people directly in order to convict them of their sin, as the tenants of Calvinism hold. God expressed how important the written word is to Him, and how it has been important to Him from the beginning!

Such is the thrust of passages like Romans 15:4, 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, and Ephesians 4:11-16. The completion of the written form of God's Word signaled the end of the miraculous revelation in the first century. Why? Because it was important to God that we have a form of His laws which we could study, pore over, and commit directly to our own minds. It gives us something that we can always reference when we have a question, which never has the slightest shadow of turning. The "source code" for our religion and way of life is not subject to the way a man feels on a particular day:

"knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:20-21 NKJV)

 

These men wrote the same things that they spoke (Ephesians 3:1-5)! It was the Word of God (1 Thessalonians 4:8)! The written Word is important to God!

 

Let me abruptly change the topic. If you have to desire to keep reading, over the next few weeks I intend to tell you a little more about my childhood. What was it like growing up as the son of a preacher? What kind of experiences did I have? What did I learn? I must admit that it is a rather unique way to grow up in some aspects, but in other ways it was very normal. If the previous sentences don't keep you interested, than let me just say that I have plenty of stories like the one about the barbed wire!

I have hatched a plan in which I will try to write two or three posts each week. Once I have enough of them put together, if my readership is up enough for this than I may actually turn it into a book. Otherwise, I won't waste my time. So, share this with people you know! If you like it, get it out there!