Hello Mike, I must say it is refreshing to have someone truly give careful thought to subjects such as these.  You have given me much to think about.  I am afraid that I have given the impression that I do not believe the Scriptures to be valuable. That is definitely not what I was saying.  Having carefully read your two emails several times, I have rethought what I believe and I can see no problem with calling the Scriptures the Word of God.  And I can now see that even the things that Satan and men spoke as recorded in Scripture can be said to be the Word of God, because nothing occurs apart from him, without God speaking it into existence. I have come to believe that God truly is sovereign over all things, that he even created evil for his purpose;  that all of his judgements are corrective in nature and that one day all creation, without exception, will be in willing subjection to Christ, so that he may present it all back to God, who will be all in all.  I have come to believe that all things physical in scripture are but shadows and types of the spiritual reality, namely, Christ. With that in mind, let me bounce this off of you, too if I might.  The Word of God as Scripture is physical. It is a shadow and type of the spiritual reality, namely Christ. Of course we both believe he is the Word of God.  And of course, everything in Scripture, from Gen 1:1 concerning the creation, to Rev 22:20 concerning the revelation of Christ, all is fullfilled in him; he can be found in every part, every story. He sums up everything therein. I am very glad I wrote to you concerning this, for as iron sharpens iron, you have sharpened me. You brother, R____

Hi again R____,
It is refreshing to be privileged to communicate with someone who is affected by the words of scripture. The vast majority of Christians much prefer the doctrines of their church to the words of scripture.
In this letter you say:
“The Word of God as Scripture is physical. It is a shadow and type of the spiritual reality, namely, Christ.”
Inasmuch as it is so received, that is true. Most Christians read “salvation is of the Jews,” and “God is in the heavens,” and they take both to be literal and physical. To such “the Word of God as scripture is physical.”  But  that certainly is not the case with any who have been given spiritual eyes and ears to “read and to keep the saying of the prophecy of this book.”

2Ti 2:9  Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, [ even] unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

The children of the bondwoman are in bondage to the letter of God’s Word, but the children of the freewoman are free from the letter and are alive unto the spirit of God’s word.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

That word “quick” in “The word of God is quick” is the Greek word ‘zoa,’ from which we get our English word ‘zoo.’ It means to ‘live’ or to ‘be alive.’ It is the same word translated ‘live’ in this verse:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live [ Greek, ‘zoa’] by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

So to the spiritually dead “the Word of God as scripture is physical.” The spiritually dead see heaven as a planet out beyond the scope of the Hubble telescope, and the “Jews” are physical descendants of Israel. But to those who are spiritually minded, God dwells within. “We are His house… and His tabernacle… and His temple.” “Even the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him.” He certainly is not restricted to a planet called ‘heaven,” and the same is true for what is a Jew, of whom is salvation:

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither [ is that] circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly ; and circumcision [ is that] of the heart, in the spirit, [ and] not in the letter; whose praise [ is] not of men, but of God.

Who do you know who believes verse 28? They are few and far between who do not consider physical Jews to be “God’s chosen people.” There is but one “chosen people.” All to whom “the Word of God as scripture is physical” are not the seed of the freewoman. They are the seed of the bondwoman. It take a spiritually minded son of the freewoman to see Gentile Galatians “as Isaac was”, and “Jerusalem that now is, is in bondage with her children… and answers to Hagar.”

Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, [ thou] barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him [ that was born] after the Spirit, even so [ it is] now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

“What saith the scriptures?” To all to whom “the scripture as the Word of God is physical” the son of the freewoman is the physical descendants of Abraham by their physical father Isaac, and their physical mother Sarah. But to those whose eyes are given to see the spirit in the scripture, the scriptures are spiritual, and the two wives of Abraham are allegories of a physical covenant with physical Israel and a spiritual covenant with spiritual Israel, and we Gentiles, “as Isaac was, are the children of promise… and the children of the freewoman.”

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

I hope I am not coming across as argumentative. Of course the paper and ink of a Bible is nothing more than paper and ink. But “the Words that I speak to you” from Gen 1:1 to Rev 22:21 “are spirit and they are life [ Greek, ‘zoe’ – alive in spirit],” and we will all “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Mat 4:4).
Your brother in Christ,
Mike>