The Surgical Power of the Word of God<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
                                                   Paul Tautges         
 
 
In a day of rapid departure from the Scriptures as the absolute authority for the ministry of discipleship counseling, we need to be reminded of the supernatural power of the Word of God to perform spiritual surgery on our hearts, which then effects transformation of life. Hebrews 4:12 is a key verse to reckon with: "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."
 
This key Scripture begins with the little word, for. "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." For is a connecting word that takes us back to the previous verses where we learn of Jesus, the Living Word, who is our spiritual rest. In other words, by faith in His finished work on <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Calvary we enter our Sabbath where we rest from the works of human achievement.
 
However, like the Israelites in the days of Moses and Joshua, we as believers must guard our hearts from a spirit of unbelief by remaining "diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience" (v. 11). There is an accountability that comes to all who hear the Word of God as they did and it is this powerful Word that the author now reminds his readers to heed.
 
These readers had heard enough of God's Word to know what He required of them, yet they remained on the edge of unbelief. If they failed to appropriate the spiritual rest found only in Christ they would be in danger of becoming immune to the truth and, therefore, untouchable. This was as real a danger then as it is today. Anytime a person is confronted by the truth of God's Word, standing on the edge of belief, and fails to step over in faith, there is a risk of falling away from that place of sensitivity to the Spirit of God. The warning is very real. Thus Hebrews 4:12 presents the solution to this problem: submitting to the authority and transforming power of Scripture. Here we are given five characteristics of the Word of God that further convince us of its sufficiency for the ministry of counseling.

• Divine Book

First, the Bible is "the word of God." It is divine. Its very first words reveal God as One who speaks. He spoke the universe into existence (Gen. 1); He spoke to man in the garden (Gen. 2); He spoke to the fathers of His chosen nation (Gen. 12, 15, 31); and He spoke to His nation through His prophets. Ultimately, He spoke to the world through His Son, the divine speech in human form (Jn. 1:1-14; Heb. 1:2). Finally, He chose to record the revelation of His Son in written form in the text of the Scriptures.
 
While resisting Satan's temptations Jesus said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of god'" (Matt. 4:4). Second Peter 1:19-21 describes the process whereby God's words were recorded by man.
 
And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.  But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
 
As a result of its inspiration, Scripture, "the prophetic word," is inerrant and, therefore, more reliable than even the most enthralling spiritual experience, such as the one Peter had on the Mount of Transfiguration (v.17-18). The Holy Spirit carried the minds of the writers of Scripture along so that what they wrote was "from God." Those who pay attention to what the Scriptures teach "do well." What God thinks He speaks. The Bible is the mind of God in written form and as such it is completely authoritative. Charles Spurgeon wrote,
 
If we doubt God's Word about one thing, we shall have small confidence in it upon another thing. Sincere faith in God must treat all God's Word alike; for the faith which accepts one word of God and rejects another is evidently not faith in God, but faith in our own judgment, faith in our own taste….Let us hold fast, tenaciously, doggedly, with a death grip, to the truth of the inspiration of God's Word…Everything in the railway service depends on the accuracy of the signals: when these are wrong, life will be sacrificed. On the road to heaven we need unerring signals, or the catastrophe will be far more terrible.[i]
 
Because the Bible is a divine book, it speaks with God's absolute authority. Consequently, one of the very first principles the biblical counselor must establish is the authority of the Scriptures over everything that is thought, spoken, and believed by both the counselor and the counselee. Until the counselee believes the Word enough to submit his heart, mind, and will to its authority; nothing of great value can be accomplished. As long as the opinions of the counselee reign supreme the counselor cannot take him anywhere. Worst of all are the instances where the counselee believes he has received a "personal" word from the Lord and uses it to justify himself. The counselor will subsequently find that he cannot lead this person down the road of obedience. As Jonathan Edwards observed, "As long as a person has a notion that he is guided by immediate direction from heaven, it makes him incorrigible and impregnable in all his misconduct."[ii]
 

• Living Book

Second, the Bible is able to change the heart because it is alive. The word living is from the verb zaow, "to live."[iii] It is in the present tense and could be translated, "constantly actively alive." Because it is the voice of Jesus Christ the Living Word, the Bible never rests. It is always working. A.W. Tozer said it well, "It is the present Voice which makes the written Word all-powerful. Otherwise it would lie locked in slumber within the covers of a book."[iv]
 
Being alive, it is also life-giving. It is able to save the soul. "Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls" (Jas. 1:21). Only a living book can give life to others. The prophet Jeremiah recognized this, "Thy words were found and I ate them, and Thy words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart" (15:16). The Psalmist wrote, "this is my comfort in my affliction, that Thy word has revived me" (119:50).
 
Because the Bible is alive, it breathes forth God's power to save and to sanctify. Jesus prayed for His disciples, "Sanctify them in the truth, Thy Word is truth" (Jn. 17:17). The biblical counselor must place his or her confidence in the ability of the Word of God, in the hands of the Spirit of God, to perform the work of God in conforming disciples to the image of Christ. In contrast, the behavioral theories of men are dead and, consequently, powerless to change hearts.
 

• Active Book

Third, the Bible is productive. The word for active is energes, from which we get our word "energy." It means to energize or be productive.[v] While the Bible is constantly actively alive, it is also productive. In other words, Scripture is God's instrument for the production of spiritual results. God promised this to Isaiah:
 
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:9-11)
 
When the spring rains feed the earth, the growth is obvious as buds begin to open and grass turns green. The same is true of the Bible, "so shall My word be." Whenever the Word of God goes forth in the work of discipleship, it is like spiritual rain being poured out upon God's people and the result is growth and fruitfulness. God never sends His word without accomplishing something for His glory.
 
The biblical counselor, therefore, must rest on this promised work since change is not always immediately evident to us. However, this does not mean the Spirit is not working in us or in those we are discipling. Sometimes it takes time for fruit to become visible, but God's Word will change lives. We don't have to "doctor" it up to make it more appealing. We don't have to manipulate it. We just need to speak it in love and let it do its work because God has made an eternal covenant with His Word. He will always bless it with fruit.
 

• Penetrating Book

Fourth, the Bible is a piercing book. The adjective sharper, originates from the primitive root temno meaning, "to cut."[vi] The Word has cutting power. In other words, the Word of God is incisively penetrating. As a two-edged sword pierces through body parts, so the Word of God pierces through the innermost parts of man. It does not just go into the head, but it pierces the deepest parts of the inner being. It may shape our thoughts without our realization that we are changing, which brings us closer to God's way of thinking. John Calvin said, "If anyone thinks that the air is beaten by an empty sound when the Word of God is preached, he is greatly mistaken; for it is a living thing and full of hidden power, which leaves nothing in man untouched."[vii] The Word of God is not stagnant. When confronted by its truth, we are always forced to make a decision. It will not let anyone remain neutral. 
 
A biblical illustration of the penetrating power of the Word is found in the book of Acts. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached a message of which the main point was, "Men of Judea, throughout biblical history God promised to send you a Messiah and when He came you killed Him." When they heard him say, "whom you crucified" (2:36), they knew exactly what he meant. At that point the truth hit them between the eyes and they realized what they had done to Jesus. The next verse says, "when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart." The two-edged sword of the Word of God demanded a response from its hearers-"what shall we do?" The answer was, "Repent" (2:38). The piercing Word twists and turns to expose whatever is in our hearts that needs to be repented of. It is the divine scalpel used by the Divine Surgeon to cut and expose the cancerous sin that must be dealt with in order to gain spiritual health.
 
The biblical counselor, therefore, must let the Word of God do its cutting work. We must always speak the truth in love, but we must always speak the truth. Our counseling must be Word-saturated so that the Spirit's tool will be readily available for Him to convict those in sin and bring them to repentance. But we must also be careful to remember that God does not overwhelm His children by showing us all our sinful ways at once. We are all works in progress (Phil. 1:6).
 

• Discerning Book

Fifth and finally, the Bible is a discerning book. The Word is able to judge, "to discern."[viii] The Greek word is kritikos from which we get "critical." This is the only occurrence of this adjective, but the root word is used throughout the New Testament of God as Judge and of men when they act like judges (e.g. Heb. 12:23; Jas. 4:11). The Scripture is able to analyze and sift out the deepest portions of our inner being, "the thoughts and intentions of the heart." In other words, it weighs out the reflections of our minds and the affections of our hearts in order to show us right from wrong. God said, "I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind" (Jer. 17:10). He does this through His Word. "The unfolding of Thy words give light; it gives understanding to the simple" (Ps. 119:130).
 
The biblical counselor, then, must use the "sword of the Spirit" (Eph. 6:17), the Word of God, for the "destruction of fortresses" and the taking of "every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:4). The fortresses Paul is speaking of are the false ways of thinking and the philosophies of the world. Knowing the Word enables us to take those foolish speculations and conform them to the Word, which automatically results in thoughts that are obedient to Christ.
 
A.W. Pink correctly noted, "There is only one safeguard against error, and that is to be established in the faith; and for that, there has to be prayerful and diligent study, and a receiving with meekness the engrafted Word of God."[ix] As we faithfully employ the Scriptures in counseling we will train disciples to discern the wrong ways of thinking that have become fortresses for sin in their lives so that their minds can be renewed and their lives transformed. Such is the surgical power of God's Word.
 
 
 

[i] Iain Murray, Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism (Great Britain: Banner of Truth Trust, 1995), p. 7.

[ii] Iain Murray, Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Great Britain: Banner of Truth Trust, 1987), p. 243.

[iii] Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Bible Works 5.0, word #2198.

[iv] A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1982), p. 74.

[v] Rienecker & Rogers, p. 676.

[vi] Strong's, #5114.

[vii] Prokope, July-September 1997.

[viii] Arndt & Gingrich, p. 453.

[ix] A.W. Pink, The Attributes of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1975), p. 23.