The Word of God and the God of the Word

The Christian must know two things: the Word of God and the God of the Word.

The Word of God is the Scripture. The God of the Word is the Person who gave us the Scripture.

God is a Spirit (John 4:24), but He is not an impersonal force. He is a Person. He speaks. He thinks. He acts. He has a will. He relates with people. This is why human beings could be created in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26).

God wants us to know His Word, but He also wants us to know Him.

The apostle Peter explains why this is important:

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

-- 2 Peter 1:3–4 (NKJV)

We want to live godly lives. We want to represent God well. We want our lives to please Him.

Peter tells us that God has already given us everything we need for this. But there is something we must have: the knowledge of Him who called us.

In other words, knowing God is important to living a godly life.

Knowing God

The Bible uses the word know to describe more than knowing facts about someone. It can describe a close and personal relationship.

For example, Genesis 4:1 says:

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, ‘I have acquired a man from the Lord.

-- Genesis 4:1 (NKJV)

The word knew describes the intimate relationship between a husband and wife.

This helps us understand what it means to know God. Knowing God is more than knowing facts about Him. It is having a personal relationship with Him.

We can know many things about a person without actually knowing that person. In the same way, someone can know many things about God without having a close relationship with Him.

But God wants us to know Him.

Peter says that as we know God, we become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). This means that His character begins to show in our lives.

We begin to love as He loves. We become more patient, kind, faithful and self-controlled.

Paul calls these qualities the fruit of the Spirit:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

-- Galatians 5:22–23 (NKJV)

Knowing God should therefore produce something in us. The evidence that we are growing in our relationship with Him should be seen in the way we live.

Knowing the Word of God

If we are going to know God, we must know His Word.

Peter continues:

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue, to virtue knowledge.

-- 2 Peter 1:5 (NKJV)

The Christian must grow in knowledge.

We need to read the Bible. We need to study it. We need to listen to it being taught. We need to learn what God has said about Himself, what He desires, what pleases Him, what displeases Him and how He wants us to live.

We cannot know God's ways if we do not know His Word.

The Psalmist understood this:

Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.

-- Psalm 119:11 (NKJV)

God's Word helps us to know what is right and gives us direction for how to live.

Paul also wrote:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

-- Colossians 3:16 (NKJV)

The Word should not simply pass through our minds. It should dwell in us richly. We should know it well enough for it to influence the way we think, speak and act.

We see this in the life of Jesus.

When Jesus was twelve years old, He was in the temple listening to the teachers and asking them questions (Luke 2:41–52). He was learning.

Later, when Satan tempted Him in the wilderness, Jesus answered him with the Scriptures. Again and again, He said, It is written (Matthew 4:1–11).

Jesus knew the Word of God, and He knew how to use it.

This is important for us too. When we know God's Word, we know what God has said. We know what is right. We know what He desires. And when we face temptation, we have the truth with which to respond.

The Word Helps Us Know God

Peter gives us another reason why growing in knowledge matters:

For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

-- 2 Peter 1:8 (NKJV)

The goal is not simply to know more Bible verses. The goal is to know Jesus Christ.

This is where we must understand the connection between the Word of God and the God of the Word.

The Bible tells us who God is. It tells us what He has done, what He desires and how He wants us to live. As we learn the Word, we learn about Him.

So, knowing the Word of God helps us to know the God of the Word.

But knowing what God has said is not the same as having a relationship with Him.

That brings us to the second part.

Knowing the God of the Word

We know God through fellowship with Him.

A relationship grows through spending time together and communicating. Our relationship with God is no different.

This is why prayer is so important.

Prayer is how we speak with God. We bring our needs to Him. We thank Him. We worship Him. We confess our sins. We ask for His help. We seek His direction. We spend time in His presence.

Without prayer, we can know the Word of God without developing a close relationship with the God of the Word.

The early Church understood the importance of both. The apostles said:

But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

-- Acts 6:4 (NKJV)

They gave themselves to prayer and the Word.

We need both. Through the Word, we learn about God. Through prayer, we fellowship with God. Through both, we grow in our relationship with Him.

The apostle Paul expressed his desire for this kind of growth when he wrote:

My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.

-- Galatians 4:19 (NKJV)

Paul wanted Christ to be formed in them. He wanted their knowledge of Christ to become visible in their lives.

That should be our desire too.

We should not be satisfied with knowing what the Bible says. We should want the God revealed in the Bible to become real in our daily lives.

We read His Word so that we can know about Him. We pray so that we can know Him. We fellowship with Him so that our lives can become more like Him.

This is why the Christian must know the Word of God and the God of the Word.

We need the Word because it reveals God to us.

We need fellowship with God because Christianity is not simply about knowing information. It is about knowing a Person.

Know the Word of God. Know the God of the Word. And let knowing Him change the way you live.