Besides the Lord Jesus, who is the very Word of God becoming flesh, there are two kinds of ministers in the ministry of the word. In the Old Testament there is one kind, and in the New Testament there is another. In principle, the Old Testament ministers were completely objective in nature; they did not have any subjective experience of their own. Although Jeremiah, Isaiah, and many other Old Testament prophets had many subjective experiences, these experiences pertained to their personal history only; they were not experiences in the principle of the ministers of the word. As a rule, God only needed to place His word in man’s mouth, and man only had to speak this word verbatim. This constituted a person an oracle of God. Man would receive God’s word on the one hand and release this word on the other hand. Under this rule, even Saul was considered as one of the prophets (1 Sam. 10:10). Balaam was another prophet. God’s word and those who spoke His word had little relation to each other. Man was like a water pipe; water flowed into one end and flowed out from the other end. The pipe remained the pipe with little relation to the water itself. With this kind of speaking, the only thing that was required to preserve God’s revelation was for man to be accurate. This was not too difficult.
But the ministers of the New Testament are different. If a New Testament minister matches God’s goal, his ministry is more glorious than that of the Old Testament ministers. If he does not match God’s goal, however, he is more dangerous than the Old Testament ministers. In the New Testament God entrusts His word to man. He places it before man and allows man to deliver it according to his own thoughts, feelings, understanding, memory, and words. If man delivers the word in a pure way, this ministry is many times more glorious than the Old Testament ministry. It is a most glorious thing for man to be involved in God’s word without changing or contaminating it. But if there is even a slight problem or flaw on the part of the speaker, God’s word suffers.
Some may wonder why God uses such a cumbersome method to release His word. This question is similar to those asked by unbelievers when they ask why God did not remove the tree of the knowledge of good and evil at the beginning, and why God did not create a man who could not sin. If God had done this, there would have been no danger of sinning, and God would have spared Himself the trouble of redemption. The answer to these questions can be applied equally to the question concerning ministers of the word. God does not want His creatures to be like a robot, something that does not have its own choice and which moves around only as a dutiful machine. It would be easy for God to create a machine that follows His directions completely. This would involve no effort on man’s part. Of course, it also would not give any glory to God. This kind of obedience and virtue is worth little. This kind of a man would never err or sin, yet he also would not have any holiness of his own. He could be pushed around like a machine. This is not what God wants. He desires a people who can discern the left from the right, who can choose good as well as evil, right as well as wrong. If the creature created by God chooses submission to God of his own volition, his choice gives God more glory than the obedience of a machine. God has given man a free will to choose between good and evil. If he chooses good, God gets the glory. Although the possibility of choosing evil is a risk, the decision to choose good is a great glory. This is why God did not create a dutiful machine. He did not create a machine that was only capable of performing good. Instead, He created a man with a free will who could choose between good and evil. God wants man to choose good and obedience of his own volition. This gives glory to God.
The same principle can be applied to the ministry of the word in the New Testament. There are numerous obstacles for God to speak His word through man. For God to speak directly by Himself poses no difficulty. Neither is there much problem for God to speak through angels. Even using a donkey poses less of a problem than speaking through man because a donkey is not as complicated as a man. A donkey does not form obstacles in its mind, understanding, memory, motive, and spirit. A donkey does not have these problems. If God’s word were placed in its mouth, it could repeat the word accurately. But using a donkey is something exceptional for God. God used a donkey to release His word only when the prophet failed. He has no intention for the donkey to replace the prophet; He still wants man to be His prophet. God wants to use man. Man was created especially for God’s use. When God created the world, His intention was not to have a submissive machine. In the same way, God is not after a machine that can preach. He is not after something without a will. He is after men who possess a free will. It seems as if He took a big risk when He chose man to be a minister of His word. But God would rather do this than not. God entrusts His word to man, a complicated man, one full of sin, defilement, and weakness. There are also the problems of the outward man, the natural man, and the carnal man. All these are factors against God. Yet God still entrusts His word to man. He wants to gain the greatest glory through overcoming the greatest difficulties. If God can break through these great obstacles, He will secure the greatest glory.
God desires to speak through man. Yet man can be both good and evil. Man can convey God’s word in a pure way, or he can damage God’s word. Obviously, therefore, God has to do a great and thorough work before He can entrust His word to man and before man can convey His word in a proper way.