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And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us … (John 1:14)
Ever since the time of Jesus the Christ, emphasis in the Bible has transitioned from the written word to the living word, Jesus Christ.
Howbeit when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. (John 16:13a, 14)
Why do we need a guide when we have the written word? Because the written word alone is not enough. We need the spirit which inspired the written word in order to understand it properly, in order to actually grasp the word of God. Why? The devil himself will try to give you an understanding of the written word, like he did Jesus in the wilderness; and many times after, through others. He will unlovingly, angrily, adamantly and harshly demand that you bow to his interpretation of the Bible, claiming it to be “The Word.” He will use the Bible in his personal attacks against you, usually through the words and actions of others, who use it to attack you.
And he (the devil) brought him (Jesus) to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If you are the son of God, cast yourself down from here; For it is written, He shall give His angels charge of you, to keep you; And in their hands they shall bear you up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone. (Luke 4:9, 10)
Well, what the devil quoted to Jesus had been the spoken word of God before it was written down as Scripture,, but was it God’s actual word in the mouth of the devil? No. In the mouth of the devil, what was quoted was simply wrongly divided Scripture.
For we are not as many, who corrupt the word of God; but as of (ek – from out of) sincerity (genuineness), but as of (ek) God, in the sight of (lowered in the presence of) God speak we in Christ. (II Corinthians 2:17)
The word “corrupt” comes from the word for huckster, or charlatan. We’ve got a lot of those in organized churchianity today. Their main function is to make a very good living off of exerting power over others, using the word of God to make that happen. They are preaching and teaching the Bible, but is it the word of God they’re teaching? Are they presenting the will of God or their own will (inspired by the devil)? Usually it’s a mix. The devil’s great trick is to only change one or two minor details, thereby corrupting the word of God completely. For example (and I’ve heard this so often!), a preacher will preach to his congregation, “It’s by grace alone, and there’s nothing we can do to deserve it. Now, here’s what you have to do …” I hear this and think, “Does he even hear himself?” The first phrase is the word of God, the second is contrary to the will of God. So is the preacher’s message as a whole the word of God, or not?
I have been taught that the Bible (the holy scriptures) “interprets itself.” If that is true, then we don’t need the spirit of Christ, the holy spirit, to guide us into “all truth.” Then we only need the written word, and not the spirit. But of course this is false. The Bible does not “interpret itself.” This was a term invented by someone who wanted everyone to believe his understanding of the Bible as being the only true understanding. (those words are never found in the Bible, and in fact are a false-logic extrapolation which came out of II Peter 1:20, 21). I do believe there are keys to reading the Bible that will bring us in the right direction of understanding with our minds (context, scope of topic, administrational context, etc.), but our minds can only bring us so far, which is still far short of grasping God’s true intent.
I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. (John 14:6)
This is one of my favorite verses, and the one which led me to first believe unto Jesus Christ so many years ago. Jesus did not say that the written word of God is the way and the truth and the life. He said that he was; he, the living word.
Yea doubtless, and I reckon all things loss for the excellency of the intimate knowing of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them dung, that I may gain Christ, And be found in him… (Philippians 3:8, 9a)
Paul did not write that he was willing to endure the loss of all he had held dear in life in order that he might learn the Holy Sriptures more. (He was one of the most Scripturally well-versed men alive at that time, and yet he missed God’s true intent, until he encountered Christ on the road to Damascus) No, he didn’t want more of the written word, he wanted the living word – Christ!
Your words were found, and I did eat them; and Your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; … (Jeremiah 15:16a)
This (and many other Old Testament scriptures referring to “the word of God”) is speaking about the written word, for Jeremiah literally found the scrolls which contained the writings of God. He rejoiced in them. But remember, this was during the time when man was not born of the spirit of God, Christ had not yet come and died and been risen; the holy spirit had not yet been sent. This written word was what carnal man had to connect with a spiritual God. The word of God was perfect, but carnal man (without God’s spirit within) was not. Today is entirely different.
You are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. Who (God) also has made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit; ;for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. (II Corinthians 3:3, 6)
Here is the true word of God, proclaimed to, believed by and now residing in the hearts of God’s people, the body of Christ. Today the word of God is not ink on a page, as the above verse indicates ; is not written in stone, like the commandments given to Moses, but it is the living Christ in the hearts of God’s people. The spirit of Christ is literally writing the revelation of himself in the hearts and lives of people every day.
Immediately after Peter had professed his belief that Jesus was “the Christ, the son of the living God,” and Jesus had informed him that he had gotten that understanding by revelation from God, Jesus continued,
And I say also unto you, That you are Peter, and upon this rock (of the revelation of Christ) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)
It is by either the spoken word or the written word that a person even gets an inkling that there is a revelation of Christ to be had. So how do we know that we’re seeing the written word ( Old Testament or New Testament) in the proper way, with God’s true intent? Simply, is our understanding of what the Bible is saying pointing toward the knowing (gnosis – experiential knowing, or encountering) of Christ, or in some other direction, like toward our behavior and the actions of others? The written word is not our destination, but rather is a means to an end; and the end is the revelation of Christ.
If, in your study of the Bible, you find yourself becoming increasingly critical of yourself and of others, then you are not understanding it properly, and in fact are being influenced in your understanding by the enemy of God, the devil, just as Jesus was tempted to be. On the other hand, if your reading and understanding is pointing to the Christ within you and others, and what he has accomplished and what he desires to accomplish for us and in us, then that absolutely can not be the devil, but is the spirit of truth.
If your worship of the written word of God brings you to a place of anger and harsh judgment toward those with whom you don’t agree, then the spirit of truth is not guiding your understanding of God’s word. It’s one thing to know what the Bible says, quite another to be living in its truth. The only way we can faithfully and powerfully live in the truth of the Bible is by walking in the revelation of the Christ, the living word of God, which it points us toward.
How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote before in few words, Whereby, when you read, you may grasp my understanding in the mystery of Christ); (Ephesians 3:3, 4)
Trying to bludgeon me over the head with your harsh, fear-inspired message of “Watch out, the word of God says…” is the devil trying to make me kneel before him and his interpretation of it. He desperately wants to keep us away from coming into the knowing of Christ. Why? Our understanding of the Bible is something he can influence, whereas the revelation of Christ is something he can not touch!
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another; in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your heart to the Lord. And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by means of him. (Colossians 3:16, 17)
We can only give thanks to God the Father by means of the Lord Jesus to the degree he has been revealed within us, and as we walk in the reality of that revelation within. Jesus Christ truly is the living word, and he beckons us to receive the testimony of his spirit within, so that he might lead us into all the truth, as he has before promised. ______________________________________
Related Studies
If you enjoyed how this study challenged your thinking and opened up your understanding of Christ, click on one of the related studies below:
What is the Word of God
The Role of Bible Research
God’s Point of View
What is Life?
How Christ is Building His Church
How Do We Get Faith? ….. God GIVES It To Us
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