The Spirit and the Letter

John 5:39 (NKJV) You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.

Search the Scriptures. Diligently study (NIV). Sounds like a lot of effort, doesn’t it? That’s what the Pharisees did their whole life, and what I’ve spent a good portion of my life doing. This isn’t a bad thing at all – it’s very good, in fact.

I was listening to Kris Vallotton of Bethel Church in Redding, CA. He made this statement: “If knowing the Word was synonymous with knowing God, the Pharisees would have rocked.” He pointed out that demons recognized Jesus (Mark 1:24, 5:7) and that Peter recognized Him (Matthew 16:16).

On the other hand, the Pharisees didn’t recognize Jesus, in spite of their long years of studying the texts that should have pointed Jesus out to them. They had their ideas about exactly what the truth was and exactly how God was going to do things, and Jesus didn’t fit into that mold.

You can’t just live by the Bible words printed on the page. “Every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” is not just what’s written in the Bible. Jesus said His sheep hear his voice (John 10:27). The Spirit speaks to our hearts, through our ministers, and through the divine encounters He gives us.
If it is the Spirit speaking, He won’t contradict the word, even if what He says doesn’t always fit our understanding of it. He wants to enlarge our understanding of God and His ways.

In my early years as a believer, I spent significant time around the Word of Faith movement. Because of this, I knew the importance of knowing the Bible thoroughly. But it wasn’t until ten years or so ago that I made more effort to know the Spirit that inspired the word, and not just know the word for its own value. This is when I started hearing God’s voice more, started to see visions, starting to operate again in the gift of prophecy (something I’d not done regularly since the early 80′s), and starting to operate from compassion and relationship, and not just from rules.

I still study the scripture, but I’m spending time with the Spirit as well. We need to know the Spirit that the apostles did have, as well as the Bible they didn’t have (paraphrasing Bill Johnson of Bethel Church).

Don’t let the word without the Spirit give you a rigid, dogmatic faith. Let the Spirit bring the word to life.

Doug