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by Katie Erickson

“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. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” -Hebrews 4:12-13

While I wrote last week on Hebrews 4:6-11, verse 11 is really a transition verse between the following section and these important verses we’ll discuss today. Verse 11 says, “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.” This summarizes the previous section, where the author instructs us that our main goal as believers is to obey God with our lives.

Why should we obey God? Because of the description we get of His word in today’s verses. It has been said that a person is only as good as his or her word, and that is true of God as well. God’s Word in the Bible and Jesus as the living form of that Word are how God has specifically revealed Himself to us. While there is more to God than what we can comprehend from His word with our simple human brains, if His word is not valid, then neither is God.

While our English version quoted above splits verse 12 into two sentences, it’s really all one sentence in the original Greek. The structure of the verse has the word of God as the subject, and then the rest of the clauses describe it. The word of God is alive, active, sharper than every double-edged sword, penetrates to dividing, and able to judge. All of those phrases are equally joined into one sentence. That would make for a long sentence to read in English, but it’s important to note that each of those attributes of the word of God are portrayed equally in one grammatical piece, rather than a little more separated like we see in English.

Does the word of God here refer to the written word of the Bible, or the person of Jesus (as in John 1? Yes. Some scholars believe that this phrase in this context means anything that God has spoken, which would include the Bible and the words spoken by Jesus. Other scholars believe this refers to the person of Jesus also. However, the specific distinction is not very important, as the whole Bible points to the person and work of Jesus, so they are essentially one in the same.

The idea of the word being “alive and active” means that the revealed word of God is actually doing things, not just passively sitting there in a book gathering dust. Have you ever had the experience where you re-read a passage of the Bible, and it almost feels like you’ve never read it before? That’s the dynamic, living, and active essence of God’s word; when we give it the opportunity to work in our lives, transform us, and help us to mature as believers, it will definitely do so!

What specifically does the word do? It is sharper (literally “more cutting” in the Greek) than a double-edged sword, and it penetrates to our inmost being. The word of God is unique, and nothing else can do what it does. The author is not referring to the sword as dividing or splitting our body apart by saying “even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow.” Rather, that refers to it being able to reach deep inside of us where nothing else can. We have absolutely no secrets from God, and there is nothing that we can keep to ourselves; His word will be able to reach there! Our whole person is open to God, and there’s nothing we can do to prevent that.

The word of God “judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Again, we see that the word can see fully inside us, even to our very intentions. No one can fully discern our thoughts and attitudes except God. Not only does God know them, but his word judges them. We cannot keep any secrets from God; everything we think and even our very attitudes are scrutinized by God.

Verse 13 echoes this same idea but with a different metaphor. Rather than a double-edged sword digging into the core of our very being, we now see that it is impossible to hide anything from God. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before Him. There is nothing in all of creation that can ever hide from God’s knowledge and presence! Even our thoughts and our attitudes cannot hide from Him, and they will be exposed to Him.

The last phrase of this verse, translated in the NIV as, “before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” makes sense in context and is a good translation. But, it causes us to miss that the final Greek words in this verse are ha logos, which means “the word” - it’s the same phrase used at the start. The word essentially bookends these two verses, at the start and the end. This further shows the all-encompassing nature of the word of God.

Is the word of God active and alive in your life? It will be active and alive no matter what our thoughts or opinions of it are, because we do not control the word. But we do control our attitudes and the thoughts of our hearts; are those aligning with the alive and active word of God? Or are we disobeying God even with our innermost beings?

How does it make you feel that the word of God penetrates to your inmost being, and that even your thoughts and attitudes are exposed to God? If we recognize the evil nature of our ways as fallen humans, then that will likely make us feel pretty uncomfortable and anxious, knowing that the perfect God of the universe knows every evil little detail about us. But, that is why Jesus is so important! The sacrificial death of Jesus and His resurrection have covered all of our sinful thoughts and attitudes when we put our faith in Him. What was uncovered and exposed to God has been covered by the blood of Jesus, so we need not worry.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, seeing the word of God in this way is a comfort and not a threat. If you feel uncomfortable about the word of God knowing and judging every little detail about your life, it’s time to put your faith, hope, and trust fully in Jesus Christ today!

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