Word of God

"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." John 5:39-40

It seems to me that the scriptures, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, would point people to Jesus. The Holy Spirit is always pointing to Jesus and is determined that we know the Father's Son. The whole of the scriptures is about revealing the relationship of the Father and Son and our inclusion in their relationship through the Son and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We know the Father through the Son, who has made Him known, and He shares their relating with us through the Holy Spirit. "From the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit" is what I heard and read J.B. Torrence (great, Scottish theologian) say on several occasions.

To reduce the Christian life to living the Bible is to miss the point altogether. The Father did not send His Son to give us the Bible so that we can have an instruction manual by which to live. He has given Himself to us through His Son and in the Spirit so that we might have fellowship with them.

The scriptures are so beneficial in their revealing the Son to us. The Spirit is always using the scriptures to draw us to the Son and to paint us a picture of what living in relational participation looks like. But there are those that want to replace God with the Bible and exalt it above Jesus.

"Thank you, Jesus, I've got this covered - I have your Word and have mastered it!" That is what Pharisees always do - give me the words, those I can manipulate, control and master. The difficulty is that the Word cannot be manipulated, controlled or mastered, for He is the Lord of the Universe and when we draw near to Him we are the ones who are transformed.

We honor scriptures when we recognize they bow their knee to Jesus and guard ourselves from our propensity to ditch the Author and go for the words.