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The Certificate track answers the multiple choice. The Associate adds the fill-in-the-blank questions; M.Div. and Th.M. add those and the short-answer questions. 90% of each part is required to pass.
Introduction: A Life Built on the Word
We have learned to walk with God, to keep a daily time with Him, and to pray. At the center of all of these stands the Word of God. The Christian does not live by his own wisdom or by the changing opinions of the world, but by what God has spoken. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4, NKJV). In this unit we ask what the Word is to us, how it makes us grow, how to take it into our daily lives, and where it is finally meant to lead us.
I. The Word Is Our Daily Food
Scripture again and again compares the Word of God to food, because we need it as truly and as regularly as we need our daily bread. Job said of God, "I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food" (Job 23:12, NKJV). The prophet Jeremiah said, "Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart" (Jeremiah 15:16, NKJV). Peter urges the youngest believers, "as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby" (1 Peter 2:2, NKJV). And this food is living food, for "the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword" (Hebrews 4:12, NKJV). A believer who neglects the Word grows weak in the same way a body grows weak that refuses to eat.
II. How the Word Makes Us Grow
The last command Peter left us is, "but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18, NKJV). How does a Christian grow? Chiefly by feeding on the Word. There is no growth in grace apart from the steady intake of Scripture, just as there is no growth in a child apart from food. The first Psalm describes the blessed man this way: "his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season" (Psalm 1:2–3, NKJV). Notice the picture: a tree that bears fruit because its roots are sunk deep in a steady supply of water. So it is with the believer who reads, hears, and meditates on the Word regularly — not in fits and starts, but day by day. This is why faithful Bible reading, faithful sitting under the preaching of the Word in the gathered church, and a willingness to sacrifice lesser things for it are among the surest ways a Christian grows.
III. Taking the Word In: Read, Meditate, Memorize, Obey
There are four simple ways to take the Word into daily life, and the believer who practices all four will be well fed. First, read it. Have a plan — a portion each day, perhaps a chapter, or a few verses read slowly — so that over time the whole counsel of God passes through your heart. Second, meditate on it. To meditate is not to empty the mind but to fill it: to turn a verse over slowly, as a cow chews its cud, asking what it says about God, about ourselves, and about how we are to live. Third, memorize it. "Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You" (Psalm 119:11, NKJV). A verse carried in the heart is ready in the hour of temptation, when no Bible is open before us. Fourth, and above all, obey it. As we learned in our first unit, we are to be "doers of the word, and not hearers only" (James 1:22, NKJV). Knowledge that is never obeyed puffs up; the Word truly received always bends the life toward obedience.
IV. Where the Word Leads: To Christ Himself
The written Word is not an end in itself. Its great purpose is to bring us to a Person. The Lord Jesus rebuked those who searched the Scriptures yet missed their point: "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me" (John 5:39, NKJV). After His resurrection, "beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27, NKJV). All Scripture points to Christ, the living Word, of whom John wrote, "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14, NKJV). So when you open your Bible each day, do not read merely to gather facts or to win arguments; read to meet your Lord, to hear His voice, and to be changed into His likeness. The written Word in our hands is meant to lead us to the living Word, Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
The Word of God is our daily food, the means of our growth, and the path that leads us to Christ. To read it, meditate on it, memorize it, and obey it is not a burden laid on us to earn God's favor, but the privilege of children feeding at their Father's table. Make the Word a daily companion, and you will find your walk with God steadied, your prayers deepened, and your life slowly but surely conformed to the Savior of whom every page speaks.
Unit 6 Final Exam
Certificate track: the 20 multiple-choice questions. Associate: multiple choice and the 10 fill-in-the-blank questions. M.Div. and Th.M.: multiple choice, fill-ins and the 10 short-answer questions. 90% of each part is required to pass. If you do not pass, the exam waits a short time before you can try again.
Multiple Choice — 20 Questions
Short Answer — 10 Questions
M.Div. and Th.M.: all five assigned readings are part of the course. Their separate exam is required after activation; see its page for the current rule. Honors remains optional and does not replace the exam.
Open Course Readings →