A special thanks this morning to Matthias Media for allowing us to reproduce selections from an excellent series of articles by Dr. John Woodhouse, principal of Moore Theological College, on the rightful place of the Word in Christianity.

Have you ever been assailed by the accusation that your faith is too cerebral – that God is much more than a collection of doctrines, even scriptures? So has Dr. Woodhouse. But in his first article he leads his readers through a thorough examination of the Old and New Testaments to show that the Scriptures were always at the centre of the spiritual renewal God was bringing about:

“We might crystallize the point of all this in a simple proposition: Where you have the word of God created faith in God (and nothing else can create real faith in God) there is all of biblical Christianity. Where the word of God is lacking there is no Christianity.

“What does this mean for the accusation that evangelical Christianity with its emphasis on words has become an intellectual’s religion? There is, I suspect, some truth in the accusation. However, it is one thing to recognize that our faith and life are less than they ought to be. It is another thing to blame that inadequacy on a particular doctrinal emphasis. Noticing symptoms is one thing; diagnosis is another, and prescription is another again.

“If our Christianity has become too cerebral it is not because of an emphasis on words. Words are not the property of intellectuals.”

That’s only a taste – the rest of the article is well worth reading over at The Briefing.

Stay tuned for two more insights on the Word of God in the coming weeks.

– Ed.