wants to function in us to reveal God in man. This is why
we noted at the outset that the Bible is in one sense like
every other book in the world: written words, literature, a
bound-book. But in another sense the Bible is unlike every
other book in the world. The Living Word, Jesus, uses this
book to reveal how it is He has functioned and continues to
function as God in man.
The "natural man" does not understand spiritual things"
(I Corinthians 2:14) regardless of how many times he might
attempt to read the words of the Bible. Jesus told His
disciples, "when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will
guide you into all the truth.." (John 16:13). The Spirit of
Christ, Who is Truth (John 14:6), may utilize the Bible to
reveal and disclose Himself, but He does not require the
written book in order to do so. The Teacher is not tied to
the text! The Spirit is not bound in the Bible!
Apart from the Living Word, Jesus Christ, functioning
spiritually in our lives, the book is mere "letter" (legalistic
biblicism), and there is no Spirit-action, no genuine divine
functioning. To the Corinthians Paul wrote, "God... made
us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter,
but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives
life." (II Corinthians 3:6,7). Mere book-religion kills, but
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