God's word as a consuming, purifying force. The image is Jeremiah's: is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces (Jer 23:29). The same prophet, exhausted, says the word burns in his bones so that he cannot stay silent (Jer 20:9). Hebrews 4:12 names the word quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. Fire in Scripture both judges (Lev 10:2; 2 Thess 1:7-8) and refines (1 Cor 3:13; 1 Pet 1:7); the word does both. To receive Scripture rightly is to be willing to be burned by it — the consuming of every false structure the word touches in the heart that submits to it.