The power behind words is a timeless debate, many authorities over the years have thrown their varied ideas into the hat. Claire Fanger discussed the power of words in her dissertation. Although Fanger discussed the ideas of many ancient and medieval writers she neglected some of the oldest writing, biblical ones. The biblical writers in both the new and the old testaments found an intriguing and God based power in words. In this paper we will look into how the Bible demonstrates the power of words and sets forth how to use them. I will attempt to show that St. Augustine was incorrect by saying that action that comes about based solely on words must be demonic magic. For reference purposes I will be using the New International Version of the Bible printed by Zondervan publishing.

Platonic ideas were the glasses through which many of the writers that Fanger discussed looked at magic. Another large influence on medieval writing was church doctrine, certain writers had to skirt around what they wanted to say to avoid persecution. If we get a new prescription in glasses, we might see the world of magic in a new way. The glasses we will now try on is to look at the world through the model based solely on the bible.

The bible itself pays a lot of attention to words and things we say. According to James Strong’s “Concordance of the Bible” the word “said” appears in the Bible almost four thousand times. The word “words” and “word” combine to over twelve hundred times. The words “say” and “saying” appear over fifteen hundred times. When we consider the length of the Bible, this might not seem like much until we consider that both the words “Christ” and “Chosen” as in chosen one, only appear less than seven hundred times. Apparently Biblical writers thought much of the use of words.

In the very first chapter of the Bible we see evidence of power in words. Genesis 1:3 reads “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” It was through the power of God’s word that light was created; it was not through mixing of chemicals or any other means but by what he said. Every day that Genesis records God creating something starts with the phrase “God said.” According to the apostle John (1:1) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Not only was it by the word of God that the universe was created, but the Word was God, and therefore all power stems from the word. Genesis 1:27 reads “so God created man in his own image.” Since God created us in his image we also have power in our words.

The book of Proverbs is also very hefty with references to “words” and “mouth.” Although, as we will explore later, words can have an immediate effect if one believes in what he is saying, that is not the only power in words. God’s word in proverbs and elsewhere set forth how words can destroy or give life if not used properly. Even if one does not understand why, what they say matters. For example, Proverbs 11:9 says “With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor.” Also in 10:11 “the mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked.” Here God is giving us just a glimpse of the power that is within our own words, depending on how we use them we have the power to create and the power to destroy. Perhaps in the Proverbs the strongest decree of the power of words is 18:21 “The tongue has the power of life and death.”

From words not only do life and death spring, but also your words are the key to everything most people want in life. There is a computer term WYSIWYG which means, “what you see is what you get.” WYSIWYG can also sum up what God was talking about in the old testament, only we have to change one word. God meant “what you say is what you get.” Proverbs 12:14 says “From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things.” If you speak badly and talk of things you don’t want then “A fools lips bring him strife” (18:6). In Proverbs 18:20 “From the fruit of his mouth a man’s stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied.” If an individual speaks the things that he wants then he will be happy, his stomach will be filled because his wrods are what he gets. If a man dwells on what he does not want, as a fool does, then his lips will bring him strife. An indepth reading of proverbs shows words, lips, and mouth to be a very dominant theme. Obviously our words are very important in a grand scheme.

Sometimes the power of words are so great that they can almost match the power of God. The very first example shows up again in the first book of the bible. Chapter 11 is the story of the Tower of Babel. The whole world had one language, and were together in one place. They were attempting to build a tower to reach them all the way to heaven. God knew that with all those people working together, and with one language, they could do anything. God said “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them”(11:6). So God confused their language so that they could not communicate and use their words together to rival the power of God. Another prime example of God fearing the power of human words appears in the new testament. In the beginning of Luke we see an angel come down from heaven to reveal God’s plan to Zechariah. Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth was to be the mother of John the Baptist. Zechariah argued in disbelief. He said how he is old and is wife is also. Because of his disbelief, God feared what his words might bring about so he struck him dumb. After the birth of John, his mother said that he was to be named John, everyone argued with her for noone in her family was named John. They asked Zechariah and he was given a pad to write down his choice. As soon as he wrote the words “his name is John” his mouth was opened and out poured words of praise for God. God feared what John might say to stray from his plans, as soon as he knew he could trust John he was allowed to speak again.

The new testament demonstrated a more obvious power of words. This power in words could be more easily confused with magical power. The Apostles of Jesus set forth many examples of how our words can have an immediate effect on the world that surrounds us. First we see the power of Jesus’ words. In Matthew 8:16 we see a demon possessed man who “with a word” Jesus freed from demons. In Matthew 8:3 Jesus is apporached by a man with leprosy; Jesus states “Be Clean” and the man is healed. In Matthew 8:26 Jesus and his disciples are on a boat. In the middle of the night a violent storm rages and the disciples become scared and ask Jesus to save them. Jesus “rebukes” the wind and all is calm. In all of these examples it is nothing more than the word of Jesus that causes things to happen.

None of this is above nature, this is the natural way that things were supposed to work. It was by God’s word that the universe was created; it was by Jesus’ word that the sick were healed. Since Genesis says that we were made in God’s image then it is perfectly plausible for it to be part of our nature to be able to control nature as well. Jesus also gives us reason to think that.

In the Gospel according to both Mark (11:12) and Matthew (21:18) we see the episode of the fig tree. Jesus and his disciples were walking along the road and Jesus was hungry; he spied a fig tree and when they got closer they realized that there was no fruit on the tree, only leaves. Jesus said “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediateley, the story recounts, that the tree withered. All the disciples were amazed and asked Jesus how. Matthew 21:21 reads:

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain ‘Go throw yourself into the sea’ and it will be done.

Jesus also said in Matthew 17:20 “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Jesus also said in Luke 17:6 “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” All of these are powerful examples of Jesus giving his power to us. As long as we believe that our words will have the desired affect, no matter what we say will happen.

When we explore the world not through the eyes of plato and his followers but through the eyes of ancient and Common Era biblical writers we see that words have a different power. The magical prperties or power in words does not necessarily extend from demons, nor does it have to cme from supernatural forces. Even Al-Kindi’s somewhat ‘natural’ explanation of the power of words is very problematic in its’ complexity. When we use the Bible as our model for the universe we see how the universe was designed for us to control it. Our words have power over the universe when we believe in them. There is no limit to the power of our words, so much so that God himself has had to strike people dumb to protect his plans. Under this paradigm, words do not control the universe merely because of what they mean, but when used in conjunction with a belief in their efficacy. Although we might tend to still think of these words as ‘magic’ when they work, they can rationally be seen as merely having their natural effect on the universe.

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