There is much disagreement among the religious regarding the role of the Holy Spirit. I was clearly on one side of the Spirit controversy; but no longer. I was taught and believed the Holy Spirit only worked through the Word. I believed it with a vengeance because those who taught me so had an ulterior motive. They appeared to be in keeping with the church fathers of our past. But they were not/I was not reading the very word we were attributing credit.
The word is the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17). The Spirit is not the sword the word uses. It's the reverse. The Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit. The word does not direct God, nor the Son, does it? Neither does it wield the Spirit.
Jesus said once that there were those very religious people who believed they had eternal life in the word; but they didn't. He was frustrated because the word should have led them to him...but they would not come. Why? They became stuck in the word. That was enough for them.
A result was there was no love in them when stuck in the word. Oddly, love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit and not of Bible reading.
The sword of the Spirit is very much the word of God. The Spirit had such written by mere men. We must intentionally receive the Holy Spirit at baptism; not the Bible. He is our guide. He causes our fruit. We need his activity among us....and within us.
2 comments:
Ahhhhh, it tastes good when you get closer to the roots. Yes, the Spirit is not confined to the word of God, He is the same Spirit who was in Jesus Christ, and if that same Spirit is in you that was in Christ Jesus, Wow! Thank you, Terry, for reading God's word honestly, not "traditionally."
Years ago while this heresy was being drilled into me, I asked a preacher, "If the Holy Spirit is confined to the written Word, then the Holy Spirit can be massed produced on a printing press, right?" He never gave me a response. I guess he just thought I was beyond help. But I have been married to his daughter for 35 years!
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