“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
One thing we know is words have power. The most powerful words ever written or spoken belong to God. The writer of Hebrews gives us a glimpse into the power of God’s word. He informs us that the word of God is living and active. For just a few moments, we will look at what that means and how you can apply this reality to your life.
What Does it Mean That the Word of God Is Living and Active?
The first thing we must do to understand that the word of God is living and active is to determine what is the word of God. There are three aspects of God’s word to consider. There is God’s spoken word. We also have God’s written word. Finally, we have Jesus, the word of God in the flesh—or the Living Word. This verse in Hebrews does not directly refer to Jesus as the word of God, so we will use the idea of living and active for both God’s spoken and written word.
To be living and active means God’s word is life, and it is mighty and effective to accomplish its intended purpose. This should not come as a surprise because God made this declaration about his word.
“So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)
We see from Isaiah that whenever God speaks a word, it has purpose and intention. We know that whatever God speaks will happen. In Hebrews 4, God’s word operates as a surgeon and a judge. God’s word cuts through all the outer defenses people try to put up, getting right to the core. Our motives, attitudes, and intentions are all laid bare when we place them before the word of God.
Since God’s word has power and is effective, let’s look at God’s word in action—both his spoken and written word.
The Spoken Word of God Is Living and Active
Every day we live, we see the results of God’s spoken word. It is called creation. It is hard to fathom, but there was no earth as we know it at one point. There was no sun by day or the moon and stars in the sky at night. However, we know in six days, God said let there be, and there was. Since God has spoken those words, the universe and all creation have followed and obeyed his word. God’s spoken word is so powerful the world has set their lives around God’s spoken word, and many don’t even realize it.
“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” (Genesis 8:22)
God established night and day along with summer and winter, all by his spoken word, and men have lived by that since he established it.
Jesus Demonstrated the Spoken Word of God Is Living and Active
We also see Jesus, the Living Word, exercising the power of the spoken word. In Matthew 8, Jesus met a centurion worried about his sick servant. Jesus offered to come to the centurion’s house, but the centurion acknowledged he was not worthy enough for Jesus to do that. The centurion said that all it would take to heal his servant was for Jesus to speak the word. The centurion understood the power of the spoken word, and, more importantly, he recognized the power of Jesus’ spoken word. As a result, in this case, Jesus’ spoken word healed his servant. The good news is that Jesus still speaks, and if you have a situation, you can ask Jesus to speak into it because the word of God is still living and active.
The Written Word of God Is Living and Active
It is not just the spoken word of God that is living and active. His written word is too. In 2 Kings 22, you find the story of Josiah, the king of Judah. During his reign, they were repairing the temple and found the book of the Law, which is the written word of God.
When they found it, his secretary Shaphan read from the book of the Law to Josiah. His immediate response to hearing the word of God was he wept and tore his clothes. He mourned over his condition and the condition of the people of Judah because they had neglected to do what was written in God’s word.
What’s fascinating in this story is that no one preached to Josiah; all they did was read God’s word, which produced this reaction. This is an example of Hebrews 4:12: God’s living and active word cutting deep into people’s hearts. Here it brought conviction that led to repentance. That is the power of God’s word.
One Way You Can Apply the Power of God’s Word to Your Life
We have many debates in our society—about morality, justice, politics, and many other issues. Many times even Christians sharply disagree over these things. Everyone has an opinion about what should be done. We have missed the power of God’s word in all of this. The answer to the issues is not personal opinions. The answer to the issues is the word of God. His opinion is the only one that matters.
In a sense, the church in America today has become like Judah during the time of King Josiah. We have neglected the word of God. We have conformed the word to fit our beliefs instead of conforming our beliefs to fit the word. Is there any wonder why no conviction appears in people’s hearts, leading to repentance?
Because the word of God is living and active, it has not lost its power. It still cuts and exposes. We all (myself included) need to sit before the word of God and let it do what God intended. Allow it to cut and expose, leading to repentance and transformation in all our hearts. If we do that with sincerity, that will solve many of the problems in the church today.
Our Mandate Regarding the Word of God
Because the word of God has power, I want to leave you with a mandate that the apostle Paul gave to Timothy.
“Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:2-4)
Regardless of whether you recognize it, we are living in this age. People are not putting up with sound doctrine anymore. They surround themselves with those who tell them what they want to hear.
However, pay close attention to Paul’s answer to this reality. Preach the word. Paul can make such a statement because he recognizes that the word of God is living and active. It can still cut through people’s hearts and accomplish what it set out to do.
The best part is our job is to preach the word—and because God’s word is powerful and effective, his word will take care of the rest. Not everyone will respond in repentance, but every person will be without excuse. Today, I challenge you to commit yourself to the word of God. As we preach and share it with patience and careful instruction, we give room for the word of God to do what it has and always will do.
Photo Credit: Unsplash/Ben White
This article is part of our larger resource library of popular Bible verse phrases and quotes. We want to provide easy to read articles that answer your questions about the meaning, origin, and history of specific verses within Scripture's context. It is our hope that these will help you better understand the meaning and purpose of God's Word in relation to your life today.
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