"Word" Comments
I feel to comment on several passages of scripture here...
2 Timothy 3:16-17 reads, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
My take on this is that if scripture is not read, taught or spoken of with the very same breath-of-Spirit on it as that which was on it when it was penned, then it is not much more useful than any other self-help book, then it is not THE WORD OF GOD (the Expression of the Father), and it is even something that can be used to kill people instead of bringing forth life from within them.
With regard to this, it seems to me that natural minded Christians are continually killing people with dead letter scripture today, this often presented to people in the form of church-law, rules and regulations which are taught as things which must be kept in order for people to be "right with God." To do things in this way is to feed people from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and not the Tree of Life. This is the way of religious and legalistic death. The commission from the Lord to church elders is to get people so hooked up to the Father that His Laws are written on their hearts and their minds. This is how people come into LIFE and a holy walk. There is not another way that I know of.
Another verse...
1 Corinthians 2:13 states, "This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words."
I've been trying to share some spiritual truths with someone lately about how Jesus was THE WORD before He came to the earth as the flesh and blood Son of God/Son of Man, and of how this Word is not the Bible, but you'd think that I've committed some sort of unpardonable sin by the response that I've been getting. It seems to me that Christians today can be some of the most unteachable of people, and I think that this is because of their thorough indoctrination - sectarian opinions, points of view and principles that have been formed in them by way of natural minded human wisdom.
Romans 10:8 "The Word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart..."
Again, I believe that this is about the many ways that the Father EXPRESSES Himself to us and through us, and IS NOT so much about us quoting scripture verses to people (as many Christians today might like to think, and try so hard to do). Also, this Expression (Word) cannot be accessed (nor be given out) by way of the natural mind of man, but rather, it must come up from out of man's HEART (his spirit, which is connected to the Father) whereby it then can be brought forth from his mouth. This, beloved, is why prophecy is so "edifying," and why "THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS IS THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY." Think about this for a moment. Think about how RICH our meetings would be if all involved in them would practice speaking forth (and also praying) from their heart/spirit and not their natural mind. This is what meetings "in Spirit and Truth" are all about, beloved.
One more verse...
Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."
To be brief with this, a genuine word (which comes forth by the Spirit) RESONATES in the spirit of sold-out disciples (dwells in them richly) and brings them joy. In this way even words of correction and admonishment can bring forth from the heart spontaneous praise to God. Another way to describe this "resonance" is as an immediate "knowing" of truth because this truth is immediately processed in the vivified spirit of the disciple and not in his or her natural mind. When this "knowing" or spirit witness happens, then there is no longer a need to "pray about it" or to "search the scriptures" about a matter because truth has been made "known." Think about this in the light of those passages of scripture which bespeak of "Knowing Him" and even those in which the Lord says to some "I don't know you." This is all about intimacy with the Father in Christ, beloved, about knowing His voice for ourselves, about connection with Him in Spirit and Truth. Does the Bible have something to do with this? Yes, it surely does. For now, it is a tool to be used for communication between our Father who is Spirit and our spirit. It is a tool. It is not God. Is it the Word? It can be. As I have shared, it is also something that can be used to lead men away from the Truth (a Person), and unfortunately, it is often used in that way.
D