Those who refer to the Bible as
the “word of God” are usually quite sure they do so advisedly, but the passages
to which they appeal refer only to the prophetic aspect of the
scriptural words they quote, rather than to their scriptural aspect per
se. James W. Scott ("The Inspiration and Interpretation of God’s Word,
with Special Reference to Peter Enns," pt. 1: "Inspiration and Its
Implications," WTJ vol. 71 no. 1 [2009]:129-83140), for example, claims
that the identification of Scripture itself as “the written word of God” is
repeatedly taught by Scripture
itself, most commonly whenever the NT introduces an OT quotation with such
words as “God said” (e.g., 2 Cor 6:16) or “the Holy Spirit says” (e.g., Heb
3:7), especially when God is not the speaker in the OT passage (e.g., Acts
13:37, quoting Ps 16:10). “The word of God,” to which Heb 4:12 refers, includes
the Scriptures (along with God’s spoken words), as is clear from the repeated
statements in the previous verses that God has spoken the words of Scripture.
The difficulty with Scott’s argument is that
every one of these NT references to the Old Testament appeals to a prophet
passage (2 Cor. 6:16 refers to Lev. 26:12; Heb 3:7 refers to Ps. 95:7-11).
Scott thinks that Ps. 16:10 (quoted in Acts 13:37) stands out as a passage in
which “God is not the speaker,” but the NT writers clearly did not regard it
so: David was widely viewed as prophetically inspired in his (supposed)
authorship of the Psalms, and Ps. 16:10 was especially dear to the early
Christians as a prophecy of the Christ event (See Poirier 2014, "Psalm
16:10 and the Resurrection of Jesus 'on the Third Day' (1 Corinthians
15:4)," Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters 4 [2]:149-68) The
string of OT passages are quoted in the verses leading up to Heb. 4:12 are
similarly prophetic in form. (John C. Poirier, The Invention of the Inspired
Text: Philological Windows on the Theopneustia of Scripture [Library of New
Testament Studies 640; London: T&T Clark, 2021], 7)
