Scripture

I love the Bible. I have read all of it multiple times. Some passages hundreds of times. I engage with it daily in some form or another. I have memorized parts of it (though forgotten much of what I have memorized). I would say that I’m pretty much addicted to reading and thinking about the Bible. Its language resonates in my consciousness. It informs my conversation when praying.

I have multiple copies and versions scattered throughout the house, and at least a couple on my smartphone. My understanding of the Bible has evolved a lot over many years through a continuous dialog with the content between its covers. It has been an indispensable part of my life for more than four decades.

Over those many years I have heard the terms “Bible,” “Scripture,” and “Word of God” used pretty much interchangeably to refer to the 66 books comprising what are commonly called the Old and New Testaments.

Having uncritically interchanged those terms myself for decades since my decision to follow Jesus, including three years as a full-time minister, I have now come to question equating these three terms as identical things. More than just an intellectual exercise, disambiguating the terms Bible, Scripture, and Word of God can positively affect how one understands relationship to God and with other people, especially within the Christian community. The articles here are the result of the effort to make sense of the differences and overlapping meanings of Bible, Scripture, and Word of God.