WEDNESDAY 8th
1 Thessalonians 2:13-16
NIV (v13) – ‘And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.’
ESV (v13) – ‘And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.’
This is such an important verse regarding the preaching of the Word of God, and the first importance is that we recognise and accept it as the Word of God, secondly is the importance that we keep it as the Word of God and not seek to reinterpret it in such a way that it becomes the Word of man. The third point we notice is that the Word of God was at work in the hearts of those who believed it.
It is an opportunity to remind ourselves once again that the Bible we hold in our hands (or read on our electronic devices) is the very words of God to mankind, living and powerful words that can show us the way of salvation and the way in which we should live our lives as God’s children. We are reminded in 2 Timothy 3:16 that the Word of God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, the result being that the man or the woman of God might be complete and equipped for every good work.
This was the Word that Paul had preached and the Thessalonians had received, this was the Word that had given them life, this was the Word that was changing them, this was the Word that was encouraging them. Now we know that when Paul preached to them they didn’t have the actual physical copy of the New Testament Scripture that we have today, but what he was proclaiming was that which we know have as contained in the Scripture, for he was proclaiming the truth concerning Jesus, the truth concerning the things of God, and as he continued his ministry he wrote the letters we have to read which became the Word of God for us to have and hold, to read and absorb, to pay attention to and live according to. The spoken word became The Word and as a result we must respect it as that and always maintain its honour in our preaching of it.