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There are some here who reject that Jesus said the spirit is the word of God. More than anything Jesus stressed the word of God. Jesus often said ",it is written in the prophets," stressing the word of God but some here try to lead others away from the word of God which is written in ink. Jesus said that man lives by the word of God. Well, the word of God is in the bible written in ink. Remember Jesus said the Holy Spirit would remind others of what He said and the spirit of truth would declare what He has taken from the word of God to guide The follower to the word of God, the truth.
The Holy Spirit is not some kind of polterguiest who whispers in your ear. There are many who believe that but the Holy Spirit would not teach a different message on the same subject which is what is happening that way of thinking. The Spirit of Truth who is the Holy Spirit is the spirit of the word of God, hence Spirit of truth because he takes from what belongs to the word of God and declares it as Jesus foretold.
"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life."
"The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will instruct you in everything and remind you of all that I told you."
"When He comes, the Spirit of Truth, He will guide you to all truth (the word of God is truth). He will not speak on his own but will speak what he hears and declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me because He will take from what is mine and declare it to you."
Jesus said; "It is the spirit that gives life", so if the word of God is spirit and it gives life then the word of God, written in ink, is essential to the believers spiritual life.
Is the word of God spirit and life or is a polterguiest spirit and life?
Do you realize the Holy Spirit is actually a person?
"Here is the covenant I have made with them. My spirit which is upon you and my words which I have put into your mouth shall never leave your mouth nor the mouths of your children nor the mouths of your children's children, from now on and forever."
In the above verse God is describing the spirit as the word of God. So Jesus was spot on in saying the word is spirit.
But your problem is in thinking Scripture is the "word," when nothing is further from the truth. Scripture tells you in the first chapter of the gospel of John that JESUS is the WORD. Jesus, Himself, not any other.
None of the NT authors saw their own writings as "holy." They were mostly instruction with a little sometimes conflicting history thrown in.
"Scripture" is the Greek noun graphē (from which we get our English word "graphic"), a general word for "a brief piece of writing." However, where graphē is used in the New Testament, it always refers to the sacred Scripture of the Old Testament.
So in this thread you appear to be doing something with the NT that it doesn't do for itself---claim to be the "word of God."
There are many gems of wisdom in both the Old and New Testament. But there is also a heavy influence of the culture of the day, which was a far cry from 21st century America and resulted in the writers authoring things that were not from the heart of God, but from their own cultural context.
The very worst thing anyone anywhere can ever do is interpret scripture literally 100% of the time. And I don't mean literally just when there are obvious metaphors. I mean the kind of garbage that put women second and demanded their silence in the church (an obvious scribal addition or Paul was very conflicted about women speaking in the church).
We are all SELECTIVE literalists at best, and sometimes downright dishonest ones as well. For me, my interpretation of all Scripture is based on the words of Jesus. When someone speaks differently from Jesus, I have no need to create a fiction story to explain those differences. For me, the writer wasn't in the Spirit as he penned it. That, to me, is a more honest way of approaching scripture than creating stories NOT in the Bible to explain conflicts--and there are more than a few. The only way "explanations" resolve anything is if the story spinners think of their make believe story as the same thing as scripture.
It is intellectually stifling and spiritually dishonest.
We don't need to "get back" to what people once believed (although in many cases it would be an improvement over the fundamentalism of today). We need to look for more fragments, refuse to make up stories and let the authors of the NT have their say in their own way---which is on occasion contrary to the words we have recorded of Jesus.
There is no quicker way for any person to become like the person building their house on the sand than to accept it all without using our God given brains to interpret it in the same way we interpret other ancient writings--with complete textual and contextual criticism so we can see not only what they wrote, but what that meant to them in their community at the time it was read.
It is a task that is far beyond Sunday School lesson Bible stories. And it requires men and women of great faith who are not afraid of where they will be taken by an honest study.
But your problem is in thinking Scripture is the "word," when nothing is further from the truth. Scripture tells you in the first chapter of the gospel of John that JESUS is the WORD. Jesus, Himself, not any other.
None of the NT authors saw their own writings as "holy." They were mostly instruction with a little sometimes conflicting history thrown in.
"Scripture" is the Greek noun graphē (from which we get our English word "graphic"), a general word for "a brief piece of writing." However, where graphē is used in the New Testament, it always refers to the sacred Scripture of the Old Testament.
So in this thread you appear to be doing something with the NT that it doesn't do for itself---claim to be the "word of God."
There are many gems of wisdom in both the Old and New Testament. But there is also a heavy influence of the culture of the day, which was a far cry from 21st century America and resulted in the writers authoring things that were not from the heart of God, but from their own cultural context.
The very worst thing anyone anywhere can ever do is interpret scripture literally 100% of the time. And I don't mean literally just when there are obvious metaphors. I mean the kind of garbage that put women second and demanded their silence in the church (an obvious scribal addition or Paul was very conflicted about women speaking in the church).
We are all SELECTIVE literalists at best, and sometimes downright dishonest ones as well. For me, my interpretation of all Scripture is based on the words of Jesus. When someone speaks differently from Jesus, I have no need to create a fiction story to explain those differences. For me, the writer wasn't in the Spirit as he penned it. That, to me, is a more honest way of approaching scripture than creating stories NOT in the Bible to explain conflicts--and there are more than a few. The only way "explanations" resolve anything is if the story spinners think of their make believe story as the same thing as scripture.
It is intellectually stifling and spiritually dishonest.
We don't need to "get back" to what people once believed (although in many cases it would be an improvement over the fundamentalism of today). We need to look for more fragments, refuse to make up stories and let the authors of the NT have their say in their own way---which is on occasion contrary to the words we have recorded of Jesus.
There is no quicker way for any person to become like the person building their house on the sand than to accept it all without using our God given brains to interpret it in the same way we interpret other ancient writings--with complete textual and contextual criticism so we can see not only what they wrote, but what that meant to them in their community at the time it was read.
It is a task that is far beyond Sunday School lesson Bible stories. And it requires men and women of great faith who are not afraid of where they will be taken by an honest study.
Whoever penned that verse about Jesus being the word was only partly correct because the son of man is many. The son of man is the word only because He does nothing on His own in the eyes of God. In other words the Father only hears His word when the servant of God ,the son of man, uses it. This is how he can do nothing on his own. Since we are judged by our words then those who honor the Father and spread His word are freed from sin because the son frees them by the word of the Lord. That is the ransom for sin the life of the son, the word of God.
"If the son frees you, you shall truly be free."
"If you continue in my word you are truly my disciple then you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."
Whoever penned that verse about Jesus being the word was only partly correct because the son of man is many. The son of man is the word only because He does nothing on His own in the eyes of God. In other words the Father only hears His word when the servant of God ,the son of man, uses it. This is how he can do nothing on his own. Since we are judged by our words then those who honor the Father and spread His word are freed from sin because the son frees them by the word of the Lord. That is the ransom for sin the life of the son, the word of God.
"If the son frees you, you shall truly be free."
"If you continue in my word you are truly my disciple then you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."
"(Father) Your word is truth."
But none of the verses you quote say the BIBLE is the "word," you assume it.
"There are many gems of wisdom in both the Old and New Testament. But there is also a heavy influence of the culture of the day, which was a far cry from 21st century America and resulted in the writers authoring things that were not from the heart of God, but from their own cultural context."
Just repeating what was for me the most cogent passage of another great post.
The truth is the word of God as Jesus said. The word of God is in the Bible. I never said that the Bible was the word of God.
I think that is not necessarily a "bad" appraisal. But it would be better phrased "The word of God is contained in the Bible." A whole bunch of other stuff is in the Bible, too. Just none of it telling us about God but rather telling us how men USED God to justify their immorality--like dashing the heads of babies against the rocks--and rejoicing about it.
I think that is not necessarily a "bad" appraisal. But it would be better phrased "The word of God is contained in the Bible." A whole bunch of other stuff is in the Bible, too. Just none of it telling us about God but rather telling us how men USED God to justify their immorality--like dashing the heads of babies against the rocks--and rejoicing about it.
Agreed to a certain extent.
Killing babies and others when taken literally sounds unjust but taken allegorically it is reasonable.
Killing babies and others when taken literally sounds unjust but taken allegorically it is reasonable.
Taken allegorically, Mein Kampf" is reasonable.....
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