The Word of God is not just a flapping of the lips. The Word of God does not merely set the air to vibrating when it is spoken. No, the Word of God is always performative. It does what it says and it says what it does. Unlike us and our words, the gospel is always promissory. Since God Himself stands behind it, the Word of God is true in the absolute sense. The Word of God does not merely promise a future pay-off, like a bearer bond, but the promise it conveys is given in the speaking. God's speech does the promise. We humans struggle to get our words around this Word. We struggle with the articulation of this, because so much of our speaking betrays the promises in our words. How many promises go unfulfilled by us! "Until death parts us." "I will be faithful to the Word of God, and suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it." "I will always love you." "If I must die with you, I will not deny you" (Mk 14:31). We can't even make true what has to do with our own performance, promise though we might. Yet God's Word is true in its very speaking, even on the lips of those who can't keep their own promises.

How graciously God deals with us poor sinners! He sets His Word on our lips and even then, even on the lips of sinners, the promise of forgiveness is true. It comes to be when we speak it, because we are speaking not our own wishes, promises, hopes, and dreams, but the living, active Word of God. The full faith and commitment of God Himself delivers the content of the speech. The gospel delivers its full freight on the lips of whomever speaks it. In that sense, it is like a bearer bond, in that whoever holds the bond is able to turn it into currency at any time. Whoever holds the bond is presumed to be the beneficiary, even if the bond is actually stolen. No records are kept of the owner, or the transactions involving ownership of bearer bonds. Whoever physically holds the paper on which the bond is issued owns the instrument. This is the Word of God in hands of sinners. The promise is God's. He hands over the Word to us. We haven't merited it and yet it promises work and become ours in our speaking. Jesus puts this so simply when he tells the disciples: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld" (Jn 20:22-23).

"'Let there be light' (Gn 1:3). The command was itself an action, and a state of things was brought into being. This state the human mind cannot even imagine a more pleasant one for our enjoyment. It must be well understood that when we speak of the voice, of the word, of the command of God, this divine language does not mean to us merely a sound that escapes from the organs of speech, a collision of air struck by the tongue. It is a simple sign of the will of God, and, if we give it the form of a command, it is only the better to impress the souls whom we instruct."