The Spirit and the Word B. B. James There is much confusion about the relationship between the Spirit and the word. Some think that the Spirit operates separate and apart from the written word. Others believe that the Spirit continues to have a work to do and does it through the word. There are yet others who believe that no one can understand the relationship, and hence there is no point in trying. Much misunderstanding about the Holy Spirit stems from the fact that the Spirit is a person. Jesus refers to him as a Comforter who would guide the apostles into all truth (John 16:13). He is the third person in the Godhead. He is a person even though he does not have a material body. If we can understand how Jehovah (the first person in the Godhead) can be a person and not have a material body, surely we can understand the same about the Spirit. There are two things the Holy Spirit accomplished that we need to appreciate. First, he revealed the truth. Second, he confirmed the truth. Today we have the revealed and confirmed truth. That truth has been given to us as the Last Will and Testament of Christ. In Old Testament days the Spirit used words to convey ideas. “Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands” (Neh. 9:30). Notice that God testified by the Spirit in the prophets. The people could have listened to what the Spirit had to say but did not. In referring to this attitude Stephen stated, “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye” (Acts 7:51). To resist the Spirit is to resist the words spoken by God’s prophets. Every act of the Holy Spirit upon man is affirmed of the truth—the word of God. • “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). • “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15). • “This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me” (Psa. 119:50). • “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Pet. 1:23). • “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls” (Jam. 1:21). • “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently” (1 Pet. 1:22). • “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you” (John 15:3). • “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). • “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col. 3:16). Other scriptural references might be cited, but these should be sufficient to show that what the Spirit does, he does it through the word.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 09:21:13 +0000
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