The Word of God Is Alive: Let Scripture Perform Its Spiritual Surgery

Hebrews 4:12 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. (NIV)

The Word of God is alive. But the Word of God is active.

In this week’s passage, the Word of God is compared to a surgical instrument. In the same way a scalpel is used to precisely excise tumors and damaged tissues of the body, so the Word of God penetrates to excise the sin in us.

The Word of God must be understood from a plenary perspective. We can’t take Scriptures and assume the Bible teaches exactly what a passage says until we also consider every other passage addressing the same issue. God is love, and the Word of God is the Spirit and Presence of God. We must approach the Word, then, from the perspective of love, and love doesn’t always look the same. Everyone who has multiple children knows we cannot discipline them the very same. Some are more stubborn and need more structure, while others so much want to please that we have to be careful how much displeasure we show, or it will crush them. Discipline is part of love, and we see from it that it is not always the same. In the same way, the Word of God may direct us to one action in a certain situation, but there are nuances where it may direct us to do something a bit different.

When we consider this and the surgical application of the Word today, we know we must understand Scripture as a whole, but we must also apply it in a surgical way. Once we have discovered the right passages to consider for the current situation in front of us, we must slowly use these passages to cut out pride, prejudice, lust, greed, and all other forms of sin. Reading general passages each day is good, but the Word is an instrument given to us to cut at the exact spot where we need it.

When we only use the Word like an anesthesia to numb the pain but never use it as a scalpel guided by the Holy Spirit to cut out the malignancy causing the pain, we miss its power. We must let it deal with our specific attitudes in certain moments, the thought patterns in our head that may never be spoken. It will remove what hurts if we use it correctly.

Prayer: Lord, teach me to interact with Your Word in a general sense, but also surgically, to allow You to remove all the sin in me that harms me and all those around me. Amen.