There is only one way a person can have a personal relationship with God and that has to be on God's terms, not on what we may feel, or think. The bottom line is putting our heart and trust in God's word, the bible.
Many people don't realize they are born under a curse, because we are all sinners and are not fit for a relationship with God in our natural fleshly condition.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Many believe the good they do will outweigh the bad or they believe if they renew their mind, they have salvation. Neither of these will God honor for they both are works of self righteousness. Two very good reasons why neither one will God honor nor can he honor is because of our fallen sinful condition.
Isaiah 64:6 �But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Since it is impossible to please God in our natural, sinful state; God says we have to be born again of the spirit.
John 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Faith is mentioned often in scripture. Many people think as long as they believe something, that is their faith. God tells us what faith is and where it comes from.
Faith is something we can't see but we can read about and believe it.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
God also tells us if it is not found in his word than its sin.
Romans 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
Faith or believing God's word for the gift that He wants all to have can only be had just as Romans 14:23 states: And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith:
God says salvation is a free gift, but many want to do something with their own righteousness to please God and hope that will get them to heaven.
God says there is only one way to heaven and that is through Christ.
John 10:1 �Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
John 10:2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
John 10:7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
John 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
If we break just one small part of the Law that makes us guilty of all the law.
Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
The law was given to point us to Christ, for there is no salvation in any other.
Galatians 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Galatians 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Since we are all guilty under the law, Christ came in due time and became sin for us. By believing what he has done for us, Christ will give us His perfect righteousness just by asking for it and then we are born again with a new nature that cannot sin.
Romans 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Our new man in Christ cannot sin, but our old man the flesh is still in sin and that part of us we will leave behind when we leave this life and when a person excepts Christ as their savor, He will make them a new man, or new creature born from God, one day a new body.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
This reconciliation is a completely free gift by faith without works.
Romans 5:15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus
Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Romans 5:16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
Romans 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Some will say you have to have good works or your faith is dead. What these people fail to realize is that just believing God through faith is a good fruit, not of the flesh but of the spirit.
Some will say you have to have good works or your faith is dead. What these people fail to realize is that just believing God through faith is a good fruit, not of the flesh but of the spirit.
I say if it is bible faith, it will produce Good worksThat is according to the inspired word of God.
Great post, and you are so right, though there is one thing, I must say I do not believe to be true. When you say:
"The bottom line is putting our heart and trust in God's word, the bible."
I put my heart and trust in the LORD and the LORD alone. Don't get me wrong, the bible is a good and important book, but after all, it's a book. A dead book, and it is not one with the living God, like Christ is or like the Holy Spirit is.
So what I mean is, that I believe all those other things you said are true, but not because it is written in the bible, but because God showed me that it is true in my heart. If God had not shown it to me, all the bible would be nothing but dead letters to me - without any meaning.
I write this because I've met many brothers and sisters in Christ who told me I had to trust the bible and the bible alone, thus making the bible nothing but a god itself. Some even worship the bible in some way and doing so close their hearts to the living God, who is so much bigger than the bible.
So I think we have to stay careful about this. Just as the enemy lead many people astray making them think that they had to obey bishops rather than the living God, I see him at work today leading people astray telling them to put all trust in a book rather than in the living God.
IN their proper places both are good: Bishops and bibles. They all have their place in the church which is the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. But neither of them can take the position of the head.
The word is Christ, and Christ is the word. They are inseparable. If the word were dead, then Christ would be dead, as the Word is alive as Christ is alive for they are one and the same. God has magnified his word above His name.
Please note anytime I use the word, I'm using not only a unit of language but referring to Christ as the word for in scripture they cannot be separated.
Psalms 138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
A person cannot be born again if they do not believe God's word for if God's word were dead, then God would be a liar and He would be dead as well.
Romans 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
If a man does not believe God's word then he has no faith, because faith comes from God's word, {Rom. 10:17} It is through God's word is what determines wither most of mankind will spend eternity with Christ or if a person will spend eternity in a living death and darkness with no rest day and night in torment.
Acts 13: 48 is an interesting verse of the Word.
Acts 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
John 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. That is what God has ordained, but it is up to us wither we believe God or not for we were created in God's likeness and part of that likeness is having a free will.
Here is more proof that the Lord and his word are inseparable.
John 1:1 �In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 �And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
The light that shines in darkness is God's word because it is shaper then a two edged sword.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Only a living word can have that kind of power because God has magnified his word above his name.
Today, we have no other direct way of God speaking to man because God has ordained that it should be through his word or through the things God has created.
Romans 1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
I think we have to be careful with the term "word of God", because this does as well refer to Christ (John 1).
Let's say Christ is the living word of God and the bible is the dead word of God (in a way, as the bible does not have life itself).
Everything that is dead can be controlled by man, is no opposite to man but in many cases just a mere tool man can use as he pleases, to the glory of God or to oppose God.
Dead letters won't fight back, won't say: No, wait, that's not what I meant.
When people are dealing with the bible, they can interpret it (and have to do because everything we get out of the bible is an interpretation), but the bible alone will never step in and say: Wait: This is not the way it was meant.
Stepping in is to be done by someone alive. So the bible alone won't do a thing. It's always God Himself, though He oftentimes uses the bible.
But if you go and put your trust in something dead, this dead thing can be controlled as well by any other man, so after all, you might be following a creature and not the creator.
An example: You write down some pages of what you consider right and wrong. Now somebody who doesn't like you will take those pages with the idea to harm you in some way.
It is well possible - with every piece of written down text - to twist the whole thing so it will mean the opposite. So this guy might be harming you and at the same time smile in your face saying: I keep strict to your written down words.
Now you might be telling him to stop, but if he only refers to what you wrote down, he will just go on, ignoring what you are directly telling him.
The same with the bible. The bible is something created by God, like all of us. Unlike us, the bible is not alive, so it can be used as a tool by whoever likes to.
If we put our trust in the bible and not God, or if we take the bible for God and proclaim both to be the same, this will lead us straight away from God.
God is not a dead thing we can put in our pockets or master. God is alive and much bigger than we are. The bible is a witness for the living God, and a good one. But the bible is not God and if we forget God over the bible, we're mislead I think.
I hope, I could make my thought clear. I don't mean to put the bible down, not at all, but I want to put God up, and I don't want to mix the living God with a dead book, however wonderful that book is.
I do think that we have to seperate the bible from the word in John 1. The bible as we know today wasn't even completely written back then, but still, the real reason is what you mentioned:
Sometimes the word is refered to in the bible as something alive, but I am most sure that this would refer to a living word the LORD is speaking at the moment.
(and then there is also the problem having several Greek words for "word", one of which being logos).
Logos is what is used in John 1, and Logos does not only mean "word", but also "reason" etc. So Christ is not just the word as something God has said, but Christ is God's reason, His rationality, and this completely. I would never dare to think that I could put the rationality of our LORD in my pocket, but I can do so with the bible.
You also wrote:
"Today, we have no other direct way of God speaking to man because God has ordained that it should be through his word or through the things God has created."
I feel sorry that you say so, because it means God has not spoken to you in your life, which is a very sad thing (though there might be a misunderstanding, because if He had not spoken to you, how could you have come to faith in Him?)
I never spoke of the bible to be anything bad. All I said was: The bible is not God, the bible is not Christ, and the bible is not the Holy Spirit. In trusting all our hearts in the bible, we have no trust left for God Himself. This is what I wanted to point out, and I thought (and still do so), that you wouldn't say otherwise.
Because: Do you pray to the bible? Or do you pray to God? So if you are praying to God, does this mean you put your trust in the bible, or in God?
When you find God blessed you in one way or the other, would you thank God or the bible? Or would you say it was as good to thank the bible as to thank God Himself? If Christ and the bible cannot be seperated, it wouldn't matter, but I am almost sure it does matter to you, as I see you have faith in the LORD, though you speak to defend the bible (which is great, but I wasn't attacking the bible, only the idea to make the bible God).
Of course no one prays to the bible anymore then anyone would pray to what you or I state.
The bible is God's way of speaking to mankind. Granted some words are incorrect such as the word Easter as found Acts 12:4 and that word should read as passover, not Easter. The overall thought content is still in tact and if we are taught by the Holy spirit then will know God's marvelous truths from His word for believers are given the spirit of error and truth.
1 John 4:6 �We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
When God says He is the word, means what is found in his word, is the Lord speaking to mankind.
Also the word is not of private interpretation. 2 Peter 1:20.
God's word speaks to man's heart, provided a person is open to receiving it, otherwise that person will remain in ignorance and will continue to state the irrelevance of God's word.
John 8:47 �He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
I believe the reason many do not recognize God's word as being alive is because they assimilate their information from their carnal minds. A carnal mind is something we all have that is why faith has to come from God's word and we accept it with child like faith rather then rationalize away God's word with one's mind.
Romans 8:7 �Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
If God's word were not important, then God made a mistake when He magnified his word above his name.
Psalms 138:2
OF course this means nothing to a person when they use their natural mind.
If we don't study God's word and walk in it then we will be ashamed when we have to face God for either our service to Him or for one's eternal damnation.
2 Timothy 2:15 �Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
1 Corinthians 2:13 �Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
The bottom line is, who will we believe, man's wisdom or that what the Holy Spirit teaches through His word?
I am not as far from you as you might be thinking. And I'm afraid you're missing my point maybe.
I didn't say anyone was praying to the bible. But, what I was saying is: As nobody is praying to the bible, one can also not say that there was no difference between the bible and Christ.
I agree with you that the bible is a way God uses to speak to mankind, if not THE way (I am very careful about trying to see God in nature and what not), but after all it has to be God speaking.
So I believe there are two ways that one can read the bible: The first way with God speaking to you at the same time, and the second way is that you read it - period.
As no one of us can control God or make Him speak to us or do anything else, I would say that we can only be grateful for every time God uses the bible to speak to us through it. But there is no way to make God speak to us through the bible. It is not like picking up the bible and then saying: This is the will of God. One could say "this was the will of God in this and that time under this and that condition". But I would not say that you can make rules from it.
This is not because I want to get rid of the bible or anything, but because I do deeply believe that I have to listen to what God tells me rather than what I read in the bible. If I read something in the bible and God is not speaking at the same time to me about it, I cannot say anything about it. I can pray to Gopd to open this scripture to me, I can think about it and study what has already been said about this verse, but unless God speaks to me directly, I cannot claim that I understood God at that point, as He had not sent me a revelation.
Yo point out that the word is not of private interpretation (2. Peter 1, 20) and this is exactly what I was saying the whole time: As it is not to be interpreted by us, we have to wait for the LORD to speak to us, through the word and while reading the word, but we cannot claim we understood what's written there withot Him speaking to us at the same time.
Calling the bible dead has nothing to do with carnal mind, but how I understood the first commandment. If we are to have no God besides God, and if God is a trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and if the bible itself is never doing anything bt it's always the Spirit or another person of the trinity that does a thing, I cannot speak of the bible as living. Whoever lives can take action. That is why one can call the nonbelievers dead in a way, because it is not them who act, but the enemy controls them, and even the enemy does not act himself, but only react to action that is done by God.
I never said the word was not important. But only if we listen to God and God is also speaking to us at that time is the bible the medium through which God speaks to us. We cannot make Him speak, He is not under or control, but we under His. I cannot take up the bible, read it and demand God to talk to me. All I can do is read the bible, think about it, pray about it and hope for God to speak to me. And I can be grateful whenever He does.
So I am completely on your line when you ask: Do we believe man's wisdom or what the Holy Spirit teaches?
I do not want to trust what my wisdom makes of the bible, nor what any other man's wisdom makes of the bible, but only what the Holy Spirit teaches me. Through the bible, but if necessary also through anything else, because the Holy Spirit is free to do so.
Benny, you stated, "Yo point out that the word is not of private interpretation (2. Peter 1, 20) and this is exactly what I was saying the whole time: As it is not to be interpreted by us, we have to wait for the LORD to speak to us, through the word and while reading the word, but we cannot claim we understood what's written there withot Him speaking to us at the same time."
