Once when Jesus was wrapping up teaching, he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” What exactly does he mean?
In our culture, we often consider “the word of God” to mean the Bible. So the common understanding is we need to read the Bible and obey it.
However, the part of the Bible about Jesus (the New Testament) didn’t exist at the time, so he couldn’t have been telling the people to read and obey something that hadn’t yet been written.
But since Jesus is both man and God, he could have used “hear the word of God” as a euphemism to mean “hear me.” While we can’t directly hear Jesus today, we can hear from the Holy Spirit he sent to us.
So maybe Jesus means he wants us to hear the Holy Spirit.
For some people this is easy and for others it’s nonsensical, while for the rest this is feasible but difficult and confusing and infrequent.
Yet, we may need to pursue listening to the Holy Spirit if we are to truly “hear the word of God.”
A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.
