Scripture and Faith

Today I would like to just make a point concerning a couple of topics that have appeared on this page a few times in the past few weeks. If you were to ask a hundred people who profess faith in Christ what the word of God is, probably at least ninety nine of them would tell you "the Bible." And if you were to go back out a couple of days later and ask ninety nine more professing believers in Christ, What is the record that God has left of his Son? I would say again that at least ninety nine of them would say, "the Bible." And maybe by this point your wondering yourself, "So what's wrong with this guy? Both answers ARE the Bible." Are they? According to who, or according to what? If the answer to EITHER of these two questions is the Bible, then by all means show me where THE BIBLE states either of those claims. It does not. But in short order I will show you where the Bible DOES give us the answer to both questions, and in fact the answer to both of these questions is the same; but it isn't the Bible. First for the word of God: "What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the WORDS that I speak unto you, they are SPIRIT, and they are LIFE" (Jn. 6:62,63). I think it's safe to say that Jesus was speaking the word of God, especially since he himself is known AS the Word of God. And about now someone is thinking, "Can't this guy see that the Bible is the WRITTEN word? After all, the quote of what Jesus said is FROM the Bible." The Bible is telling ABOUT the word of God that Jesus was speaking, but there is no way on earth that anyone can compare reading these things to being in the presence of Jesus and HEARING these things spoken by him. Because it is written, "Where the WORD of a king is, there is POWER" (Eccl. 8:4). So as Jesus said, the words he spoke were SPIRIT, and they were LIFE. And what Spirit might that be? That's right, the HOLY Spirit. And what life might that be? "The SPIRIT of life IN Christ Jesus" of course (Rom. 8:2). The word of God itself CANNOT be written because it is "alive and powerful," as the scripture confirms (Heb. 4:12). No, the word of God can only be written ABOUT. And so the answer to the first question is that the holy Ghost IS the word of God, as the apostle Paul confirmed: "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph. 6:17). The grammar breakdown of this sentence clearly shows that it is "the Spirit" which is "the word of God." And Jesus takes us full circle and shows us the truth of the matter again: "He that hath an ear, let him HEAR what the SPIRIT SAITH unto the [congregations]" (Rev. 3:13). So it is clear that the word of God is what the Spirit of God SAYS, not what is written ABOUT what the Spirit has said. So then no one actually has the word of God unless they have received the Spirit and have learned to LISTEN to the Spirit.

As for the "record" of Jesus, we will allow the beloved apostle to bring that to us in clarity: "And it is the Spirit that beareth WITNESS, because the Spirit is TRUTH... If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath TESTIFIED of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the RECORD that God gave of his Son" (I Jn. 5:6,9,10). Now the three words, "witness," "testified," and "record," are all taken from two Greek words, called "Martureo, and "marturia," both of which mean the same exact thing - "a testimony given by someone." So these three English words were used by the translators for variety sake, to avoid repetitiveness; but actually they have the exact same meaning, which is to testify. So the words "testified," [testimony] and "record" mean the same thing as "witness;" which witness verse 6 clearly says is the Spirit. So again, it is the holy Ghost that is the record that God has given to us of his Son, and not the Bible. Not convinced? John again wrote about the truth of this matter in another place: "And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the TESTIMONY of Jesus: worship God: for the TESTIMONY of Jesus is the SPIRIT of prophecy" (Rev. 19:10). So again we see that the testimony or record of Jesus is actually the holy Ghost, which IS the Spirit of prophecy. And we can once again allow Jesus to conclude this very important point of truth to us: "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the SPIRIT OF TRUTH, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall TESTIFY of me: And ye ALSO shall BEAR WITNESS, because ye have been with me from the beginning" (Jn. 15:26,27). And again, the word "testify" comes from the Greek word "martureeo," so we see the truth confirmed to us that it is indeed the SPIRIT OF TRUTH that is the record that God has given of his Son. Note also that Jesus told his disciples that they would "bear witness" of him only AFTER they had received the Spirit. And John said, as is quoted above, whoever "believes on the Son of God has THE WITNESS [record, testimony] in himself." And that goes perfectly with the words of Jesus, when he said, "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive" (Jn. 7:38,39). So then no one actually has the record of Jesus Christ unless they have received the Spirit of Christ. And that is why the scripture says, "no man can say [bear witness] that Jesus is the Lord, BUT BY the Holy Ghost" (I Cor. 12:3). And that is also why the scripture tells us, "Now if any man have NOT the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Rom. 8:9). Amen.