I have made the above statement numerous times in class at the risk of being called a heretic. I follow it up by saying that, “Jesus is the Word of God.” See John 1:1. I do not believe we should make statements about the Bible that the Bible does not claim for itself. Indeed, we could say that it is idolatry to claim that the Bible is the Word of God. We worship God, not the Bible. The Bible contains or proclaims the Word of God.
The reason I thought of this today is that I was looking at some 16th century documents in preparation for teaching an Anabaptist seminar and came across the following quote by Hans Denck.
“I value the Holy Scipture above all human treasures but not as high as the Word of God, which is living, powerful and eternal, and which is free and unencumbered by all the elements of this world. For insofar as it is God himself it is spirit and not letter, written without pen and paper that it may never be expunged.”
gareth brandt 
Reblogged this on Faith and Frustration and commented:
Gareth is one of my favorite professors, and I love this.
Don’t misread this – he is not saying that scripture is not important, or inspired. He is saying that there is only one Word of God, and scriptures tell us that He is a person, and not a book.
Though I appreciate the importance of emphasizing the Son of God as the Word of God and distinguishing Jesus and the Bible, it is incredibly unhelpful and untrue to say that one of these things is the Word of God and one of these things is not. The truth is that both the Son and the Bible are the Word of God. The Bible is the Word of God because every word of it is “breathed-out by God” (2 Tim 3:16) and the Holy Spirit inspired its writing (1 Pet 2:21). This is most certainly a claim that the Bible makes about itself and it is unavoidable and unmistakable. Jesus himself (the living Word) believed in the authority of the Scripture (the written word) when he opposed Satan saying “It is Written” (Matt 4:4). The argument you are using presents a very unhelpful false dichotomy. I would further add that it is a denial of MB and Mennonite Church Canada’s statements of faith (not to mention virtually every other evangelical statement of faith).
I understand the insidious danger of reading the scriptures and missing Jesus (John 5:39). If our reading of scripture doesn’t cause us to love and know Jesus better, there is something wrong with how we are reading this Bible. Maybe this is what you meant to communicate in your post. But I think it is another thing entirely to assert that the Bible is not the Word of God. This is a statement we must not make, especially as teachers of the Word (James 3:1).
I believe in the inspiration and authority of the Bible. In fact that is why I do not want to make claims that the Bible does not make about itself. I understand how our confessions use the term and it is acceptable but sometimes we have to state things provocatively to make a point. My point is that we make an idol out of the Bible and some of our doctrines about the Bible.
Yes, all those things the Bible says about itself that you mention, I affirm with enthusiasm, but one of the things it does not say about itself is that it is the Word of God. It may be mere semantics, but it seems to me an important distinction. I also sometimes use “word of God” to refer to the Bible in my every-day language but in my statement I’m trying to be more “biblical” than our every-day language to remind us of something important in our worship.
Hello there.. I’ve made a post in reply (or as a compliment) to this one. Thank you for opening my eyes to this. Here is the result of my research on this topic after reading your post: http://mysterytopursue.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/is-the-bible-the-word-of-god-38/
I checked out your blog. Well done! You articulated some of the things i was trying to get at.
thank you! it produced some discussions. haha (:
Hey Gareth,
I read this quick piece and it reminded me of your blog. http://thegoodbookblog.com/2012/may/15/seven-brief-thoughts-on-the-doctrine-of-scripture/
Have a great long weekend!