The Author

Let's do a little word study for a moment.
A what study?  Huh?
Word Study!  Let's look at a single word and investigate it a bit.
Ok...  what word?

au·thor

   [aw-ther] 

noun

1.

a person who writes a novel, poem, essay, etc.; the composer of a literary work, as distinguished from a compiler,translator, editor, or copyist.

2.

the maker of anything; creator; originator: the author of anew tax plan.

We generally would think of an author by the first definition - someone who has written something, a book, a poem, a magazine article.  And by this definition alone, an author is an amazing thing.  They put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, and produce a written product that did not exist before.  For the purposes of information, of entertainment, of self-expression or of moving ones emotions, authors use recorded words to say something unique, something important.  


But this second definition is very interesting in broadening the scope of being an author - the maker of anything, creator, originator.  If you can produce anything that did not previously exist, you have authored that thing.  If there is an idea that originated in your mind that was not planted there by some conglomerate of other ideas, you are the author of that idea.  


What made me think of looking into this word - Author?


Tonight I was singing a song that called God the "Author of Salvation."  It intrigued me.  Were there any times in the Bible where God was called the Author of something???  I discovered, Yes!  There are!  Only a few, but...

• Acts 3:15 - Paul is preaching on the day of Pentecost and tells his audience "You killed the author of life..."
• Hebrews 12:2, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..."

Author of life, author of our faith, author of salvation.  Back up in that second definition, another word for author was originator.  The idea of life originated with God, before Him life itself did not exist and He made it.  Faith originated with God, we did not realize on our own that we should believe and trust in God, but He authored faith, brought its possibility into existence.  


Or how about this...  God had an empty page before Him, and He had a story on His heart.  He wrote the story of salvation, complete with amazing, complex and conflicted characters (you and I), a hero (His own Son, Jesus), conflict (we are separated from God), and an amazing climax and resolution (Salvation - Kingdom bringing...).  It's His story, He authored it.  He is the Author.