The Sword of the Spirit

My mother once told me a story as a child, that has stuck with me, even now in my adulthood.

It went something like this:

After a long day, a man laid in his bed looking to catch some much needed shut eye. He pulled the covers,   placed his black pocket Bible on his night stand, and fell deep into slumber.

Hours into his sleep, he was hastened by the sudden rattling of his door knob. Having lived alone, he knew someone was trying to break in.  

With little time to think,  as the burglar broke in,  the man threw his Bible in a form of self defence and fled his apartment unit immediately.

The morning after, upon returning to the scene of the crime, he was comforted by the presence of police attending his apartment. Maybe a Good Samaritan had reported of the home invasion.

To his surprise, a police man approached him and uttered:

“Sir, a grotesque crime was committed here last night”

“Break in and entry?” The man exclaimed 

“No…murder, we suspect a stabbing based on the evidence”, the police man responded.

The tenant stood in fear as he veered his view behind the officer and noticed his black pocket Bible… covered in blood.

Upon hearing, I was both terrified and in awe of the power of God’s word.

Now whether or not my mom made up this story, honestly only God knows.

However, the truth of the matter remains:

God’s word is powerful.

In fact, in Ephesians 6, Apostle Paul speaks of how the word of God is in fact  the sword of the Spirit.

“17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”

Ephesians 6:17 ESV

Contextually, from Ephesians 6:10, Paul begins to conclude his letter to the church in Ephesus by encouraging them to “put on” the whole armour of God.

He speaks of the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace & the helmet of salvation.

However, it is only the Word of God that is presented as an object for attack, an active weapon

…Why is that? 

Let’s go all the way to the beginning, to the book of Genesis.

1. The Word Creates

Genesis 1:3 –  And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Genesis 1:9 – And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” 

Genesis 1:11 – And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so

If you continue reading through Genesis 1:3-26, the phrase “God said” is mentioned 8 times. And each time God declared a word, it came to pass.

If you have the privilege of vision, whenever you walk outside you will see the living power of God’s literal word.

The sun that you saw this morning, the sky, the clouds, the plants and every living animal that you have seen is an outcome of God’s words.

It is only Him who speaks life into existence. 

As the Psalmist said in Psalm 33:6-9

⁶ By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
    and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
⁷ He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
    he puts the deeps in storehouses.

⁸ Let all the earth fear the Lord;
    let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
⁹ For he spoke, and it came to be;
    he commanded, and it stood firm.

Psalm 33:6-9 ESV

The Bible carries power, because it testifies of the word that was spoken from the mouth of God. And whatever God has spoken, will come to past.

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 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 55:10-11

2. The Word Penetrates

When someone genuinely takes up God’s word it pierces their inner person. 

Many of us can attest to situations where we heard a sermon that heavily convicted us to repent.

A word that challenged the inner thoughts and attitudes of our hearts.

This is because, the word of God is far more than a piece of ancient literature for intellectual use. It rather judges / discerns the inner thoughts and attitudes of our hearts.

This is exactly what the Bible says, in Hebrews 4:12

“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

It is to be beheld against our life as a mirror, drawing us closer to the writer Himself in desperate need for His love and transformative work.

3. The Word of God Saves

It is only through God’s word that someone can be saved from sin and be granted the gift of eternal life. 

Where am I getting this from?

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ 

Romans 10:14-17

What is the word of Christ ?

For starters we know that the word of Christ is synonymous with the word of God because Christ Himself said that His words are not his own but from the Heavenly Father, namely God [John 14:34]

Secondly, in Romans 10:9 [which is directly in context with Romans 10:14-17 referring to the word of Christ] Paul proclaims that the only way to be saved is to confess Jesus as Lord and believe in His death & resurrection. 

^This is the word of Christ Paul is referring, namely the Gospel.

Jesus Himself declared it clearly in John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

God uses the efforts of sinful men and women to achieve His divine will of salvation.

What exactly are these efforts?

“Preaching the word of Christ”

Think about it.

God is God, and He could have done many things to achieve His will for salvation.

But in His wisdom, God found it necessary for us to attain faith through the hearing of His word.

And God designed it such that these words would be uttered through the lips of men…even the most sinful of men who do not know Him…

Follow me for a second.

Let’s say there is a Pastor who has been leading his church for 30+ years, yet he has been openly and unapologetically indulging in all forms of sexual immorality, all the while stealing the tithes & offering from his congregation.

However, while doing all of this he preached the word of Christ accurately.

When we hear of such stories – which unfortunately does happen – naturally we ask ourselves the question.

“Was his preaching valid?”

“Was his doctrine true?”

“Is it sinful for me to grow as a Christian through some of the words that were spoken out of his mouth?”

“Can any real fruit come from individuals who sat under his teaching?”

Thankfully, Paul answers this question perfectly in Philippians 1:15-18

¹⁵ Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. ¹⁶ The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁷ The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. ¹⁸ What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice

Philippians 1:15-18 ESV

Pay close attention to how Paul describes those who preached the Gospel with false motive.

They preached out of selfish ambition – the state of being devoted or concerning primarily for your own interest.

In order to understand the gravity of this sin, let’s look at James 3:14-16

14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be  false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly,  unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be  disorder and every vile practice.

James 3:14-16 ESV

According to this text, selfish ambition is earthly, unspiritual and demonic 

Pair this truth to what Paul is saying regarding those that preach with false motives.

This literally means some were preaching the Gospel with a demonic agenda with hopes that this would bring more trouble to Paul.

But…

Regardless of their demonic intentions, these individuals still preached Christ. And for this, Paul rejoiced, not because of the messengers but the message itself – that Jesus Christ lived, died for our sins and rose from the grave.

In the end, even if I myself was writing this article out of the most selfish of reasons, so long as I proclaim the true message of Jesus Christ, it will benefit you.

Not because of me, but because the word of Christ is preached.

All this to say, the word of God is so powerful, that somebody can be saved by listening to the word of Christ, irrespective of the soul condition of the messenger.

As written in the book of Isaiah 55:10-11, God’s word will always accomplish the purpose He intended to.

To summarize…

Although not a definitive list, these few verses present the following conclusions pertaining to the active nature of the word of God:

1. Life was created through the word of God life was created

2. The word of God judges the thoughts & attitudes of the human heart 

3. Salvation is only possible through the proclamation and receiving of the word of God, namely the Gospel of Jesus Christ  

We have good reason to heed to His Word.