‘The word of God is living and effective’

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THAT’S a verse from the Letter to the Hebrews (cfr. 4,12) that aptly captures what God’s word is all about. The complete verse goes: “Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to the dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

Then it continues by saying: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (4,13)

We have to realize that we need to be guided by God’s words rather than by our own thoughts, reasoning and estimations of things alone. No matter how brilliant and clever we are, we can only go so far in understanding things in this world, many of which are very mysterious to us.

We have to develop a fondness for the words of God. This we can do as long as we exert due effort and continually ask, with humility, for the grace of God. Without these requirements, we can easily be swept away by the many alluring but deceptive ideologies in the world.

It’s when we listen and live by God’s words that we attain our human and Christian maturity. And as St. Paul would say, we would then be like infants no longer, “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of the people in their deceitful scheming.” (Eph 4,14)

It’s important that we spend time developing a liking and an intimacy with the words of God. We have to read and meditate on them daily, and use them as the spirit behind all events, activities and concerns that we have during the day.

We have to understand that God’s words are not meant to give us the technical solutions to our problems. They are meant to be the soul and the spirit of all our concerns and activities.

Christ himself did not have all the technical solutions to the problems during his stay here on earth. In the end, he had to offer his life since he could not anymore find the solution to the extreme case of injustice inflicted on him. But his death was not actually a defeat. It occasioned the supreme victory over sin and death with his resurrection.

What, then, should our attitude be toward the word of God? I would say that basically it should be the same attitude that we have toward God himself. And the reason is this—since God is absolute simplicity with no division, parts or distinction in his being, his word must be his being, his whole divine substance himself.

We, on our part, make some distinction between God in his being and in his word because that is how we understand things in general. We need to distinguish and analyze things, breaking them into parts, before we can arrive at the whole, integral picture.

In fact, in the Trinitarian nature of God, the Second Person whom we refer as the Son, is described also as the very Word of God, the Divine Word, who is God himself insofar as he perfectly and fully knows himself and all his creation. So, God’s word is God himself!

The word of God which now comes to us with some human and natural instrumentalities through the Gospel or the Sacred Scripture together with Tradition and the Church Magisterium, should be regarded in that light.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com