Where did the Bible come from? Are its words simply religious lore, written down by people over the centuries? Are they the product of the thoughts and imaginations of men? Or is the Bible the inspired Word of God? Did God write the Bible? Or did men?
Since our faith is based on this book, it’s crucial for us as Christians to know the source of the Bible.
Knowing the source is critical
When we want to find out how reliable something is, we check its source. For example, we definitely want to know where our drinking water comes from. If we know it comes from a pure source, we’re confident we can drink it without harm. In the same way, we trust certain news reports if we believe the reporters are reliable and their facts are checked.
For us to gauge the trustworthiness of something, it helps if we know its source. When we do, we can then determine whether we should disregard it or deem it valuable and reliable. So much depends on its source. The same is true with the Bible.
Where did the Bible come from?
Throughout the ages, many people from different cultures at different times have written down their thoughts, observations, and philosophies on life. But what about the Bible? Is it merely a collection of the thoughts, observations, and philosophies of pious men about God?
In 2 Peter 1:21, the apostle Peter says:
“For no prophecy was ever borne by the will of man, but men spoke from God while being borne by the Holy Spirit.”
Peter explains that although the Scriptures were written through men, these men spoke from God. The source of the Bible is God, not men.
We can see this when we consider the true and profound words in the Scriptures. Could any person write such words? At times, they defy our expectations by providing indescribable comfort or piercing light concerning our inner condition. Even if a person wanted to write something for or about God, all mankind is fallen, and the mind of man is darkened and limited, incapable of writing such words as those found in the Bible.
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How did the words of the Bible get to us from God?
Men didn’t speak from themselves, but were used by God to record the words in the Bible. To understand how this could occur, we need to look more closely at this phrase: “men spoke from God while being borne by the Holy Spirit.”
Note 2 on 2 Peter 1:21 in the New Testament Recovery Version explains:
“No prophecy was ever borne by the will of man. Man’s will, desire, and wish, with his thought and exposition, were not the source from which any prophecy came; the source was God, by whose Holy Spirit men were borne, as a ship is borne by the wind, to speak out the will, desire, and wish of God.”
If you’ve ever watched a boat sailing on the water, you’ve seen its sails catch the wind. It moves not by its own power, but by the power of that wind. This picture demonstrates how the Bible came from God. Just as a boat is moved by the wind, certain men were borne, or carried along, by the Holy Spirit. By this Spirit these men could speak or write down the will, desire, and wish of God. This is what we mean when we say that the Bible is inspired by God.
So the words of the Bible didn’t originate from man’s own mind. But how did this “being borne by the Holy Spirit” happen?
The Holy Spirit and the human spirit
It’s important to see that God created human beings not only with a mind, but also with an inward part that’s deeper than the mind. The Bible tells us in Zechariah 12:1 that God “formed the spirit of man within him.” This “spirit of man” is our deepest part, and just like the other parts of our being, it has a particular function. Our eyes are for seeing, our ears are for hearing, and our human spirit is for contacting, receiving, and containing God.
John 4:24 says:
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit.”
The first Spirit in this verse refers to the divine Spirit, and the second spirit refers to the human spirit. With our human spirit, we can worship, fellowship with, and know God, who is Spirit.
So how does this relate to where the Bible came from? As certain men had fellowship with God in their spirit, they were borne, or carried along, by the Holy Spirit to write down not their own words, but the words of God. The Scriptures are God’s words, and they are holy because their source is God. They came to us from men who were borne by the Holy Spirit to speak and write words from God.
Why it’s important for us to know the source of the Bible
If we don’t see that God Himself is the source of the Bible, that all Scripture is God-breathed, then the foundation of our Christian life will be unsteady and vulnerable. Our faith rests solidly on the Bible. For us to have confidence in this book, we need to see clearly that God is the source of the Bible.
In our daily environment, we interact with people who don’t believe in God or value the Bible’s words as being from God. At work, at school, on television, in movies—nearly everywhere we look—we encounter things and people that may make us question the Bible, causing us to ask ourselves questions like, “Is the Bible reliable?” “Is everything in the Bible true?” “How do I know the Bible is true?” And if we’re unsure about the Bible, our faith can be shaken.
However, if we’re clear that God is the source of the Bible, we’ll know its words are trustworthy, true, and pure because God is trustworthy, true, and pure. We’ll have confidence in the reliability of the Bible, and our faith will be strengthened by its words. God’s Word can sustain us in all situations, guide us to know God today, and be depended on for all eternity.
Because we know God Himself is the source of the Scriptures, we can trust the Bible wholeheartedly, without reservation or doubt. By trusting in and relying on the Bible, we’ll come to know God more and more deeply both in this book and in our lives.
If you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
Can you imagine being incredibly wealthy yet not knowing how to access your wealth?
This may be our case spiritually speaking. In Ephesians 3:8, Paul uses a wonderful phrase: the unsearchable riches of Christ. Jesus Christ is unsearchably rich in who He is and in all His accomplishments, and He wants us to enjoy all He is and has.
Although in fact the riches of Christ are for us to enjoy, in experience we might feel as if we’re quite lacking, even spiritually poor, because we don’t know how to access all He wants to be to us. It’s like having a huge bank account and not knowing how to withdraw a single dollar.
So how can we access the riches of Christ? One very effective way is to call on His name. By calling on His name, we can enjoy everything that is in Him, and all He is.
Romans 10:12-13 show us the marvelous benefits of calling on His name:
“For the same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all who call upon Him; for ‘whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”
When we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, He is rich to us, in our experience. He’s rich to us as patience, love, kindness, endurance, peace, righteousness, holiness, and so many other positive things. And when we call on His name, we can also be saved from many negative things in our lives, like anxiety, fear, depression, anger, impatience, worldliness, and so on.
Note 1 on calls in verse 13 in the New Testament Recovery Version tells us calling on the Lord is the secret to enjoying all of Christ’s unsearchable riches:
“Calling on the name of the Lord is the secret not only to our salvation but also to our enjoyment of the Lord’s riches. Beginning with Enosh, the third generation of mankind, and continuing all the way down to the New Testament believers, God’s chosen and redeemed ones enjoyed Christ’s redemption and salvation and all His riches by means of this secret (see note 211 in Acts 2).”
Now we know how to access the riches of Christ: simply by calling on His name! We don’t need to compose a formal or elaborate prayer. We can simply call, “Lord Jesus!” Calling on His name gives us access to all His riches!
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Cross-reference “d” in Romans 10:12 on call directs us to many verses related to calling on the name of the Lord. Just two of these verses reveal to us how we can experience love, peace, and God’s nearness by calling on Him:
“But flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”—2 Timothy 2:22
“I called upon Your name, O Jehovah, from the lowest pit. You have heard my voice; do not hide Your ear at my breathing, at my cry. You drew near in the day that I called upon You; You said, Do not fear.”—Lamentations 3:55-57
Note 1 of Romans 10:13 (quoted above) also references note 1 of Acts 2:21, which traces the history of those who called on the Lord throughout the Bible, beginning from Genesis. Surely the Lord was rich to them as they called on His precious name.
All of the verses and notes above are quoted from the Holy Bible Recovery Version. We encourage you to order a free copy of the New Testament here and read that substantial note on Acts 2:21 for yourself. It’s well worth taking the time to read, and even to study it. You can look up the verses it cites to get a fuller view of the matter of calling on the name of the Lord Jesus as seen in the Word of God.
The Lord Jesus is rich to all who call upon Him!
If we’re being honest with ourselves, we have to admit that relying on our own strength or ability doesn’t get us too far in our Christian walk. Our patience, love, endurance, goodness—whatever it is that’s required of us in different situations—all eventually run out. And sometimes we find ourselves in the midst of difficulties we simply can’t handle on our own. So how can we be strengthened to live our Christian life?
Today, we’ll focus on a short yet encouraging phrase in Galatians 3:5:
“He therefore who bountifully supplies to you the Spirit.”
What God supplies us with isn’t something material or temporary; He supplies us with the Spirit. Also, this verse doesn’t say God supplies a little, or even merely enough, of the Spirit. It says He bountifully supplies the Spirit to us.
So let’s take a closer look at the two parts of this phrase now.
What does God supply to us?
Galatians 3:5 tells us God bountifully supplies us not with some material objects or things, but with a wonderful person: the Spirit. To gain more appreciation and understanding of this fact, let’s read note 2 on the Spirit in the New Testament Recovery Version:
“The all-inclusive compound Spirit, typified by the compound ointment in Exo. 30:23-25. This is the Spirit mentioned in John 7:39, who is the life-imparting Christ in resurrection. To the believers in God’s New Testament economy, this Spirit is the bountiful supply. The supplying of this Spirit is altogether not out of the works of law but out of faith in the crucified and glorified Christ.”
This Spirit we’re bountifully supplied with is the life-imparting Christ in resurrection. He’s all-inclusive; in Him are life, love, patience, kindness, long-suffering, strength, rest, faithfulness, and everything we could ever need. Instead of depending on our limited resources and struggling on our own to live a Christian life, we can simply receive and enjoy this rich Spirit. By enjoying Him, we live Christ out in our daily life and He is expressed through us. This is the Christian life God wants us to have.
God supplies us bountifully
Now, let’s focus on the words “bountifully supplies.” In the New Testament Recovery Version, the first part of note 1 on bountifully says:
“The Greek word means supplies fully, bountifully, and liberally. See Phil. 1:19. On God’s side, He supplies the Spirit bountifully; on our side, we receive the Spirit. Day by day a marvelous divine transmission takes place: God supplies and we receive.”
On God’s side, He supplies us with the Spirit fully, bountifully, and liberally. God wants to be everything to us, in every situation in our life. Furthermore, He doesn’t supply us with enough to merely get by; His supply is generous, abundant, and unstinting. Whatever we’re going through, no matter how draining or perplexing, we can count on God to supply us bountifully with Himself as the Spirit to meet our need.
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How we receive the bountiful supply of the Spirit
God bountifully supplies, but on our side, we need to receive. If we don’t open to receive, we won’t be able to enjoy what God supplies. So how can we receive the bountiful supply of the Spirit? The second part of note 1 mentions two ways:
“The way to open ourselves to this heavenly transmission to receive the supply of the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit is to exercise our spirit to pray and call on the Lord.”
We open ourselves to receive a big “dose” of the Spirit by praying to the Lord and calling on His name, “Lord Jesus!” Day by day, and even minute by minute, we can receive the transmission of the Spirit into us just by opening our mouth to pray and call on Him. We can do this anytime, anywhere, and under any circumstance.
For example, let’s say we’re driving to work and hit every red light in heavy traffic. We’re now running late, and the later we are, the more upset and even angry with other drivers we become. We might think, “I’m a Christian, I shouldn’t be angry,” and attempt to be calm, but we’re not very successful. Then, instead of trying harder to be patient or calm, we remember that God bountifully supplies to us the Spirit and that we can turn our heart to the Lord and call on Him. So we cry out, “Oh, Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus, I need You! I need You right now in this traffic. Lord, I can’t make it without You!” As we open to Him this way, we immediately receive the supply of the Spirit. Inwardly, we experience a radical shift as we enjoy the Spirit supplied to us as our patience and calmness.
We can’t get into all the wonderful details of the Spirit today, but we hope to in future posts. In the meantime, we encourage you to read John 7:39 and Philippians 1:19 with their accompanying notes to see more about the wonderful Spirit we can constantly receive as our supply. You can read these eye-opening notes by ordering your free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
Let’s all endeavor to receive and experience the bountiful supply of the Spirit day by day!
Have you ever wondered what it means to be holy?
Verses like 1 Peter 1:16 clearly say we believers are to be holy: “Because it is written, ‘You shall be holy because I am holy.’”
But what does it mean to be holy? Does it mean we’re pious, perfect, or sinless, or that we dress, talk, and behave a certain way? Does performing a religious ritual make us holy? Does it mean we withdraw from society to go live in a monastery?
The New Testament has a lot to say about God’s desire for believers to be holy. But in this post, we’ll discuss this topic in a simple way by focusing on Ephesians 1:4 and the corresponding notes in the New Testament Recovery Version.
Why did God choose us?
Ephesians 1:4 says something we may find quite unexpected. It says God chose us before we were even born for a particular purpose:
“Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love.”
We probably think God chose us to be saved from judgment. We surely were delivered from eternal judgment when we believed in Christ as our Savior and Redeemer, and we thank God for that.
But this verse doesn’t say anything along those lines. God’s choosing of us was before the foundation of the world, even before sin entered the picture. So why did God choose us? This verse tells us that God chose us before the foundation of the world “to be holy and without blemish before Him in love.”
We were chosen by God to be holy, so it’s important to understand what that means.
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What it means to be holy
The New Testament Recovery Version has a very helpful note on the word holy. Let's read the first part:
“Holy means not only sanctified, separated unto God, but also different, distinct, from everything that is common. Only God is different, distinct, from all things. Hence, He is holy; holiness is His nature. He chose us that we should be holy.”
To be holy means we’re sanctified, that is, separated unto God. It also means we’re different and distinct from everything common.
But only God is distinct and different from everything and everyone else. Only God is holy; holiness is His very nature.
Everything has a particular inherent quality, which is its nature. For instance, the nature of a car is mostly metal. What is God’s nature? God’s nature, His being, is holy. His holy nature makes Him unique, different, and distinct from everything else in this universe.
And God chose us to be like Him, to be holy as He is holy. This tells us that to be holy is not something related to outward behavior, but to inward nature.
Understanding the meaning of holy helps us realize that adopting outward behaviors—such as dressing, acting, or talking in a certain way—or isolating ourselves from society doesn’t make us holy. We can do these things and still not be holy.
In fact, people can behave in an outwardly pious way without actually being saved. Regardless of how they behave, they certainly aren’t holy, since they haven’t been born again with the life and nature of God.
How can we be holy?
When we look at ourselves, we may wonder how we could ever be sanctified and separated unto God from everything common. How could we be holy as God is holy?
We have to admit that in certain areas of our life, we’re worldly through and through. And in other matters, we’re altogether not distinct or different from what’s common. We're not separated unto God.
But when we were born again, we received the life of God in our spirit. At that time, the process of God’s full salvation of our whole being began, which includes God making us holy.
Let’s read the rest of the note on holy in Ephesians 1:4 to find out how God does this:
“He makes us holy by imparting Himself, the Holy One, into our being, that our whole being may be permeated and saturated with His holy nature. For us, God’s chosen ones, to be holy is to partake of God’s divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4) and to have our whole being permeated with God Himself. This is different from mere sinless perfection or sinless purity. This makes our being holy in God’s nature and character, just like God Himself.”
We become holy not by reforming ourselves, but by God imparting Himself, the unique holy One, into us. From the time we're saved, God wants to impart Himself into us more and more until we’re permeated and saturated with His holy nature.
This isn’t something instantaneous; it takes time. Little by little, God is making us holy. This permeating process that makes us holy continues throughout our whole Christian life.
But to be fully saturated with God’s holy nature doesn’t happen automatically or against our will. God needs our daily cooperation. We need to allow Him to impart more of His holy nature into our being. By being saturated in this way, we will be holy, and spontaneously, the way we live will be affected.
So how can we cooperate with God to be made holy? We’ll discuss just three ways here.
1. By going along with Christ who lives in us
First Corinthians 1:30 says that Christ became sanctification to us from God. In Greek, the original language of the New Testament, the word sanctify is the verb form of the word holy. When we believed in Christ, He came into us to be our life. Christ brought the holy nature of God into us to sanctify us—that is, to make us holy.
This explains our experience after we're saved. We spontaneously feel different about things we used to do before we received the Lord. We no longer want to engage in sinful activities, and we feel uncomfortable if we do.
This uncomfortable feeling doesn’t come from any kind of outward regulation. It comes from the Lord Jesus who lives in us. From within us, the Lord lets us know His feeling about the worldly, sinful, or unclean things and activities in our life that don’t correspond with His holy nature.
When we sense that feeling from the Lord, we shouldn't ignore it. Continuing in such things even after we know the Lord doesn't approve will prevent us from being made holy. But if we separate ourselves from those things or activities, we allow Him to saturate us more with His holy nature.
Let’s go on to see the second way we can cooperate with the Lord to be made holy.
2. By reading the Word of God
In John 17, the Lord Jesus prayed to the Father. Verse 17 says:
“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”
God’s Word is truth. The Word as truth shines on us and sanctifies us. By its shining, we realize what agrees with God’s holy nature and what doesn’t. When we come to the Bible with an open heart, the Word enlightens us and teaches us to be holy.
For instance, let’s say in your Bible reading you come to 1 John 2:15 and 16, which say:
“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him; because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.”
As you read, these words shine on you and enlighten you concerning the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life. In this light, you sense how God feels about your love for a particular aspect of the world. The light of the Word may even shine on how you spend your time. As a result of this shining, you might pray something like this: “Lord, I agree with Your Word. Separate me from the world. Save me from loving the world. Save me from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life.”
Many of us know by experience the difference in our Christian life when we’re reading God’s Word regularly versus only sporadically.
What sanctifies us isn’t a Bible sitting on our shelf, but the words recorded in the Bible shining on our hearts as we read them. The more we read the Word with prayer and an open heart, the more we’re sanctified.
To cooperate with the Lord to be made holy, we need to daily read the Word of God and not resist or argue with the shining we receive from His Word. Instead, we should agree with it and allow the Word to sanctify us.
Now we come to the third way we can cooperate with the Lord to be made holy.
3. By cleansing ourselves from defilement
We've seen that God wants us to be holy. In 2 Corinthians 7:1, the apostle Paul said:
“Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
Here, Paul strongly exhorts us to “perfect holiness in the fear of God.” We should all have a healthy fear of God, meaning a fear of offending the God who chose us and saved us. This healthy fear encourages us to cooperate with the Lord to cleanse ourselves from defilement.
How do we do this? To cleanse ourselves from all defilement requires us to take certain actions: we don’t go places that are unclean in the eyes of God; we stop participating in vile, sinful activities; and we get rid of anything we possess that offends God’s holy nature. Engaging in defiling activities and possessing unclean and sinful things prevent us from being made holy. Cleansing ourselves from all defilement is something God wants us to do so He can continue to impart Himself into us, sanctifying us.
The atmosphere of being made holy
It may seem hard to cooperate with the Lord in the ways we’ve discussed. We may look at our condition or our weakness and be discouraged.
But we should remember that the Lord lives in us. He’s near us and available to be our life and everything we need. We can do all things in Him who empowers us, including cooperating with Him to be separated unto God and saturated with Him to be made holy. We simply need to turn to Him and contact Him in our spirit.
And it’s also encouraging to remember that Ephesians 1:4 ends with the phrase in love.
Let’s read note 7 in the Recovery Version on this phrase:
“Love here refers to the love with which God loves His chosen ones and His chosen ones love Him. It is in this love, in such a love, that God’s chosen ones become holy and without blemish before Him. First, God loved us; then this divine love inspires us to love Him in return. In such a condition and atmosphere of love, we are saturated with God to be holy and without blemish, just as He is.”
God loves us, and His love inspires us to love Him in return. Our being made holy by God takes place in this atmosphere of love. Every day we can freshly experience His love for us, and we can express our love for Him in return.
When we’re in such an atmosphere of love, cooperating with His shining isn't a dry duty to us. As we say, “Lord Jesus, I love You,” anyour resistance to Him will crumble. We can’t help but lovingly cooperate with Him and let Him impart Himself into us more.
In this post, we’ve only scratched the surface of what it is to be holy. Reading Ephesians 1:4 with all the accompanying notes in the New Testament Recovery Version will help you see even more about this topic. If you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
In a previous post, we discussed how important it is to know that the essence of the Bible is the Spirit. Since John 6:63 tells us only the Spirit can give life, in order for us to get life from the Bible, we need to contact the Spirit in God’s Word. By receiving life, we’ll be spiritually nourished, and by that nourishment, we’ll grow in Christ. So being able to receive life from the Bible is crucial to our Christian life.
How do we receive life from the Bible?
Second Timothy 3:16 tells us:
“All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
As we previously saw, this is a key verse that unveils the essence of the Bible to us. Let’s look again at note 2 on God-breathed in the New Testament Recovery Version, paying special attention to the second part:
“This indicates that the Scripture, the word of God, is the breathing out of God. God’s speaking is God’s breathing out. Hence, His word is Spirit (John 6:63), or breath. Thus, the Scripture is the embodiment of God as the Spirit. The Spirit is therefore the very essence, the substance, of the Scripture, just as phosphorus is the essential substance in matches. We must strike the Spirit of the Scripture with our spirit to catch the divine fire.”
So to receive life from reading the Bible, we must use our spirit to contact the Spirit in the Word. Like the note says, we need to “strike the Spirit of the Scripture with our spirit to catch the divine fire.” But what does this mean?
A helpful illustration
Let’s take a closer look at the analogy in the note and talk about how a match is ignited.
The head of a match is made with phosphorus. Heat generated by friction ignites this highly reactive chemical when a match is struck against a rough surface. If we strike a match against a sweater, grass, or a plastic bottle, nothing happens, because none of these are the right kind of surface. But when we strike a match against a gritty stone, it immediately ignites into flame.
So to start a fire, we need two things: the match itself, and the right kind of surface to strike it on.
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Using our spirit to contact the Spirit in the Word
The illustration of a match striking the right surface helps us see how to catch the divine fire hidden in God’s Word. To do this, we also need two things: the Bible (the match), which is outside of us, and our human spirit (the right surface), which is inside us.
If we come to the Word of God and only exercise our mind to understand it, there will be no ignition, no fire. We’ll miss the Spirit in the Word. The Scriptures have to be struck against the right surface for ignition to occur. The right surface is not our analytical mind or our changeable emotions; it’s our human spirit.
But how exactly do we use our spirit to contact the Spirit in the Word?
Exercising our spirit by praying
Physically speaking, the best way to exercise our feet is to walk. Spiritually speaking, the best way to exercise our spirit is to pray. As we read the Bible with prayer, we use our spirit. When we use our spirit by praying, we contact the Spirit in the written Word of God.
Even before we begin to read the Bible, we can pray a simple prayer like this: “Lord Jesus, I want to touch Your Spirit in Your Word. Lord, I don’t want to just read the black and white letters in the Bible; I want to receive You as life from Your Word.” Praying this way makes a big difference as we learn to exercise our spirit when we come to the Bible.
Then, as we read His Word, we can continue to pray by using the words in the Bible as our prayer. We can use these words to praise, thank, and worship the Lord.
How to pray the Word of God
As an example of how to pray with the Word of God, let’s use John 10:11:
“I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”
We can use the words of this verse to pray something like this: “Lord Jesus, I praise You that You are the good Shepherd. I’m so glad You are my Shepherd. Thank You, Lord, for making me one of Your sheep. Lord, thank You for laying down Your life for me!”
We can pray to the Lord using His words, the words in the Bible, as our prayer. As we pray with the Bible, we use our human spirit and contact the Spirit in God’s Word. This causes the Word to convey to us the Spirit who gives life. We experience what the Lord spoke of in John 6:63: “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
This life feeds our spirit, satisfies our inner hunger for God, and waters our thirsty soul. And just as a child grows physically by being nourished, we experience spiritual growth in our Christian life by being nourished by the Spirit in God’s Word.
Receiving life from God’s Word
Knowing that the Spirit is the essence of the Bible will revolutionize how we handle the Word of God. We’ll no longer view God’s Word simply as a book of teachings or an outward guide on how to live. We won’t come to God’s Word using only our mind. Instead, we’ll exercise our spirit in prayer to contact the Spirit in the Word. We’ll come to the Bible to receive life from the Word of God.
If you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
Do you know what the essence of the Bible is? The dictionary defines essence as the indispensable quality of something, the most important ingredient or crucial element of that thing. This is important because what something is determines how it’s handled. So knowing the essence of the Bible determines how we handle the Bible.
We need to look below the surface
Consider an orange. When we look at an orange, we see its round shape, its orange color, and its smooth texture. All these observations are correct, but if we don’t know the essence of the orange, we might use it for something besides its intended purpose. We might play with it because it looks like a ball, or we might use it as decoration. But we won’t enjoy the essence of the orange!
However, once we know what the essence of an orange is—its nourishing fruit and juice—we treat it very differently. We no longer want to play with it or put it on a shelf. We want to eat it or juice it to enjoy its essence. That’s how we get the full benefit of the orange.
We should consider the Bible in the same way. When we look at its “surface,” what do we see? We may see a compilation of interesting stories, a book of good morals and high ethics, a manual for religious practices, or a reference for doctrinal teaching. But when we handle the Bible as a storybook or a manual, we don’t get the full benefit from it.
Why not?
All these things are found in the Bible, but they aren’t what the Bible is. To get the benefit God intended from His Word, we need to see the essence, the crucial element, of the Bible.
What is the essence of the Bible?
The answer is found in 2 Timothy 3:16:
“All Scripture is God-breathed.”
This verse doesn’t say that all Scripture is God-mandated, or even God-given. It says that all Scripture is God-breathed. The first part of note 2 on God-breathed in the New Testament Recovery Version elaborates:
“This indicates that the Scripture, the word of God, is the breathing out of God. God’s speaking is God’s breathing out. Hence, His word is spirit (John 6:63), or breath. Thus, the Scripture is the embodiment of God as the Spirit. The Spirit is therefore the very essence, the substance, of the Scripture.”
Breath and Spirit are the same word in the original languages of the Bible. By saying that all Scripture is God-breathed, the apostle Paul indicated that the essence of the Bible is the Spirit.
John 6:63 says:
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
It’s not the black and white letters of the Bible that give life, but the Spirit, who is the essence of those words. Once we know this, we’ll come to the Bible not simply to learn something new, but to touch the Spirit, the life-giving essence, in the Word.
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The Bible gives us life
Just like with the orange, we can become distracted by the “surface” of the Bible. When this happens, we’re likely to mishandle the Bible and miss the life contained in the Word of God.
However, John 10:10 tells us God desires that we “have [His] life and may have it abundantly.” So the most important thing for us to get from the Bible—more important than any doctrines, teachings, or stories—is God’s life.
God’s breath, His Spirit, gives life. Good teachings can’t give us life. Ethics can’t give us life. Only the Spirit can give us life, and this Spirit is the essence of the Bible.
If we see that the Spirit is the essence of the Bible, we’ll change our approach. We’ll come to the Spirit in God’s Word, and the Spirit will give us life. This life will refresh us, enliven us, feed us, and cause us to grow in Christ.
Read about how we can come to the Spirit in God’s Word in our posts, How to Receive Life from God's Word and How to Eat the Word of God.
If you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
As Christians, we desire a closer relationship with God. Whatever our experience was last year, thank the Lord, we can freshly give ourselves to daily pursue Christ this year. At the beginning of this new year, we thought we’d share seven ways for us to have a new beginning with the Lord.
The points below include inspiring and motivating quotes from well-known Bible teachers, preachers, Christian workers, and authors.
1. Love the Lord Jesus
“If you would learn to appreciate Christ more, read this book [the Bible], frequently and prayerfully.”—H.A. Ironside
To have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, it’s essential that we love Him. And our love and appreciation for Him issues from our knowing Him and what He’s done for us. The more we know Him by reading His Word, the more we love Him. We can start this new year by asking the Lord to renew our love for Him and to give us a deep longing for Him in His Word so that we wouldn’t be satisfied until we find Him, see Him, and touch Him in His Word. This is a prayer the Lord will gladly answer.
2. Spend time with Him
“I never have seen a man or woman who spent fifteen or twenty minutes alone with God every day that didn’t have the dew all the while. I have never known one to backslide, either.”—D.L. Moody
We simply need to spend time with the One we love. There is no substitute for quality time spent alone with Him, free from distractions, especially early in the morning. By spending time with Him first, before we get involved with the affairs of our day, we’ll experience Him as the refreshing dew in our fellowship with Him. It’s only by taking time to be with Him that we’ll know Christ, grow in our relationship with Him, and grow in His life.
3. Feed on Him in the Word
“The ‘good food’ is…the food of the Word of God, for as food builds up the tissues of the body, repairs waste, and preserves us in health, so the Word of God is the complete food of the soul.”—W.H. Griffith Thomas
The Bible is our spiritual food. In Jeremiah 15:16 the prophet said, “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your word became to me the gladness and joy of my heart.” We must daily come to the Word hungry to taste and enjoy God, to eat and drink Him, and to be nourished and satisfied by Him. Feeding on His Word in this way imparts His life into us. If we don’t have an appetite for God in the Word, we can simply ask Him to give us one.
4. Come to Christ in the Word
“Points of truth however interesting, scriptural knowledge however profound and extensive, Biblical criticism however accurate and valuable, may all leave the heart barren and the affections cold. We want to find Christ in the Word; and, having found Him, to feed on Him by faith.”—C.H. Mackintosh
When we come to the Bible merely for knowledge or guidance, it’s very possible to miss the Lord. The Lord Jesus said in John 5:39-40, “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me. Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” When we come to the Bible, we must come to contact the Lord Himself and turn our heart back to Him. We should not separate the Word from Christ, but come to find the Lord in His Word.
As we find the Lord in the Word, we can talk to Him about what we’re reading. We can also confess our sins to Him as His light in the Word shines on us. We can sing to Him, praise Him, and worship Him with what we find in the Word. Our time reading the Bible should be a time of fellowship with the Lord.
5. Linger on small portions
“For all reading should be joined with meditation and prayer. Read a little, pray and meditate much.”—John Wesley
Often we try to read too much at one time, or we read His Word too quickly. This isn’t the healthiest way to take in the Word, just as eating a huge meal too quickly isn’t so healthy for us physically. As with physical eating, it’s much better spiritually to take a small portion, chew it, and even digest it by prayer. When we chew on the Word in this way, it nourishes us and “sticks to our ribs” throughout the day.
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6. Read the Bible with prayer
“The vital connection between the word and prayer is one of the simplest and earliest lessons of the Christian life.”—Andrew Murray
Our time with the Lord in His Word should be filled with conversational praying and the audible reading of the Scriptures. As we read, we can pray over the Word, even using it as our prayer. In this way, speaking the Scripture becomes our prayer to God and reading it becomes our listening to Him.
7. Focus on contacting Him, not on carrying out a duty
“The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, or how I might glorify the Lord: but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished.”—George Mueller
Rather than being a cold routine or duty, our time with the Lord in His Word is a time to delight ourselves in the Lord. This time should make our hearts happy in Him and come out of our single and pure desire for God Himself. Instead of seeking for biblical knowledge or answers to prayer, in this time we must learn to linger in His presence to enjoy Him in an intimate way.
This year, may we all have a new beginning with the Lord and continue to develop our personal relationship with Him by spending time with Him. May we learn how to nourish ourselves in His Word ever more deeply and renew and enrich our daily, personal times of fellowship with Him.
We all know breathing is the most fundamental need for sustaining our physical life. But did you know that continually breathing in the life of God is essential for maintaining our spiritual life?
We were saved eternally when we believed in Christ, and we received the divine life when we were born again. From the moment we’re saved, we need to continue to breathe spiritually so we can grow in the divine life.
In the post How Is Prayer Our Spiritual Breathing? we saw that to breathe in the life-giving Spirit is our greatest need. We also saw that the Greek word for “Spirit” is pneuma, and this same Greek word is also used for “breath.” The resurrected Lord is now the life-giving Spirit, or “breath.”
So how can we breathe in the Spirit as the living breath? It is by prayer. Just as we have to use our lungs to take in oxygen, we have to use our human spirit when we pray to breathe in God as life.
Physical breathing involves both inhalation and exhalation. In the same way, as we breathe in all the positive things of the Lord Himself, we also exhale all the negative things in our being. We’re revived and strengthened by the fresh supply of the Spirit, and most importantly of all, we gain God Himself.
In our fast-paced, busy lives, it’s easy to find ourselves “holding our breath.” No wonder we’re spiritually weak, negative things build up in our heart, and we’re susceptible to sin. How we need to breathe! We need to absorb the life of God in order to live the Christian life. Too often we pray to ask God for things and answers to problems. But our primary need is to breathe in God.
Today, we’ll touch on eight points that can help us breathe in God through prayer.
1. Set aside time to pray. Much like working out, if we don’t schedule time to pray, we won’t do it. Maybe it’s simply a matter of going to bed at a decent time and waking up thirty minutes earlier than usual. In fact, spending time with God first thing in the morning really sets the tone for the day. We can begin our time with Him by telling Him we love Him: “Oh Lord Jesus! Lord Jesus, I love You.” We can exhale all of the things that are bothering us and focus on enjoying Christ.
2. Develop a habit of prayer. Studies show it takes about twenty-one days to form a new habit. We can try to spend twenty minutes with the Lord in prayer every day for three weeks to begin to develop a healthy prayer habit. It will make a big difference in our life if we spend consistent time in prayer to be filled with the Lord and be spiritually recharged.
3. Turn off our electronic devices. Matthew 14:23 tells us Jesus “went up to the mountain privately to pray.” He left the crowd below, even His disciples, to be alone and spend uninterrupted time with the Father. While modern technology helps us, it also brings huge distractions into our lives that keep us from spending time with the Lord Jesus and breathing Him in. He wants to spend personal, private time with us. By going to a place free of other people and putting away our devices so we’re not distracted, we can shut out the world and take in the Lord in a solid way.
4. Muse on the Word. Psalm 119:15 says, “I will muse upon Your precepts and regard Your ways.” Note 1 in the Holy Bible Recovery Version defines muse:
“To muse on the word of God is to enjoy His word as His breath (2 Tim. 3:16) and thus to be infused with God, to breathe God in, and to receive spiritual nourishment.”
Did you know that not only the Spirit is breath but also His Word is breath? Second Timothy 3:16 tells us, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” By using our spirit to pray with the words in the Bible, we can muse on and take in every God-breathed word, so we can be infused with God and nourished by Him.
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5. Pray with the Bible. We can make any verse in the Bible our prayer. For example, we can pray, “All Scripture is God-breathed. Thank You, Lord, all of Your Scriptures are Your breath! I come to breathe You in through Your Word right now.” We can spend time praying over a certain verse; we don’t need to feel like we have to rush ahead to another one. Instead, we can continue to enjoy a particular phrase, lingering to breathe deeply.
6. Praise the Lord. When we spend time with the Lord, musing on His Word and enjoying Him, praises will spontaneously issue from our lips. Say, for example, we’re enjoying Matthew 1:21, which says, “And she will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.” From musing on this verse, it will be easy to praise Him, “Lord Jesus, I praise You. You’re the most wonderful One in the universe. Praise You for becoming a man! Thank You, Lord, for saving me from my sins. I praise You as my Savior!”
7. Allow God to finish His speaking. We often cut our time with the Lord short. Imagine if we were treated like this by the people in our lives. Let’s say a good friend comes to talk to us. He tells us about something that happened to him, tells us how he’s doing, asks us to do a few things for him, and before we can respond, he walks away. How would we feel? We might have had a lot to say, but we didn’t get a chance. Quite often, this is how we treat the Lord. We vent to Him, unload what’s on our heart, ask Him to do something for us, ask Him to help us with something, and then finish our time of prayer without allowing Him to say anything to us. To breathe in the Lord, we also need to allow the Lord the opportunity to speak what’s on His heart to us.
8. Pray throughout the day. The simplest way to pray throughout the day is by calling on His name. Calling on the name of the Lord Jesus is something we can do anywhere at any time, whether loudly or quietly. It’s an easy way to breathe in the Lord all day.
Prayer isn’t a duty; it’s a necessity for survival, because it’s our spiritual breathing. And it’s a delight! We can breathe in our enjoyable God moment by moment to be refreshed, strengthened, and filled with Him.
A hymn by A.B. Simpson aptly describes the experience of breathing in God by prayer. The final verse says:
I am breathing every moment, Drawing all my life from Thee; Breath by breath I live upon Thee, Lord, Thy Spirit breathe in me.
To see the entire hymn and listen to the tune, visit this page.
If you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
Have you ever felt you were lacking in faith, or found it hard to believe in the Lord at times? In previous posts, we discussed what faith is and where it comes from, and how we can be strengthened in our faith.
Today, we’ll focus on Hebrews 12:2 and accompanying notes in the New Testament Recovery Version that show us Jesus is the source of faith, and how to apply this fact in our Christian life.
Jesus, the Author of faith
Hebrews 12:2 says,
“Looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God.”
This verse tells us clearly Jesus is the Author of our faith. Note 3 on Author begins by explaining the meaning of the word in Greek:
“Or, Originator, Inaugurator, Leader, Pioneer, Forerunner. The same Greek word as in 2:10. All the overcoming saints in the Old Testament are only witnesses of faith, whereas Jesus is the Author of faith. He is the Originator, the Inaugurator, the source, and the cause of faith.”
Jesus, the Author of faith, is the unique source of faith.
What about us? Note 3 continues:
“In our natural man we have no believing ability. We do not have faith by ourselves. The faith by which we are saved is the precious faith that we have received from the Lord (2 Pet. 1:1).”
We don’t have the ability to believe; we can’t muster up faith by ourselves. Second Peter 1:1—the verse referenced above—also makes it clear we’re not the source of faith. It reads:
“Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have been allotted faith equally precious as ours.”
Here, we see faith is something allotted to the believers, which means we don’t naturally have it. God gives it to us as a share, or a portion. The faith we’re allotted is equally as precious as that given to the apostle Peter and to all the believers.
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Looking away unto Jesus
Now, let’s focus on the first four words of Hebrews 12:2: “Looking away unto Jesus.”
Concerning faith, we’re first exhorted to look away. What are we supposed to look away from?
Today, we lead incredibly busy lives. Responsibilities related to family, jobs, school, and so on demand our attention. We’re constantly receiving texts, emails, and calls. On top of that, many other things distract us, even alerts on our phone about the latest news event halfway around the world. It’s easy to be occupied by everything happening around us, both in our personal situation and in the world at large. Maybe that’s all we see before us. Filled with anxieties, cares, and things we have to do, we certainly can end up feeling we lack faith.
No wonder the Word of God exhorts us to look away! The more attention we focus on the things around us, whether they’re good or bad, the more we can feel our faith draining away. So we need to look away and turn our thoughts from all our cares.
However we’re not just exhorted to look away, but also to look unto Jesus. How can we do this? Where do we even look?
Hebrews 12:2 tells us Jesus sat down on the right hand of the throne of God, but the Bible also tells us when we believed in Him, the Lord came to live in us. He’s dwelling now in our human spirit. So to look unto Jesus practically is to turn to Him in our spirit. We can look away from all the distracting, faith-draining things and look unto Jesus, the Author of our faith, by setting our mind on Him in our spirit.
Note 2 on Jesus, the One we look away unto, is truly precious:
“He [Jesus] is like an immense magnet drawing all His seekers to Him. It is by being attracted by His charming beauty that we look away from all other things than Him. Without such a charming object, how could we look away from so many distracting things on this earth?”
The beauty of the wonderful Jesus is what attracts us. He is so lovely! Our dear Lord Jesus is a magnet, and by His attracting us, we can look away from everything unto Him.
The result of looking away unto Jesus
By looking away unto Jesus, something wonderful happens in us. Let’s return to Note 3. It goes on to say:
“When we look unto Jesus, He as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) transfuses us with Himself, with His believing element. Then, spontaneously, a kind of believing arises in our being, and we have the faith to believe in Him. This faith is not of ourselves but of Him who imparts Himself as the believing element into us that He may believe for us. Hence, He Himself is our faith. We live by Him as our faith; i.e., we live by His faith (Gal. 2:20), not by our own.”
The spontaneous result of looking away unto Him is that we’re transfused with Jesus Himself as our faith. We don’t even have to ask for it; faith arises in us as we behold Him. The Lord Jesus, who was imparted into us, is the One who believes for us; He’s our living faith. The apostle Paul testified to this in Galatians 2:20:
“I am crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Paul lived in faith, but that faith wasn’t his own; it was the faith of the Son of God who lived in him.
Let’s now consider some practical ways for us to look away unto Jesus.
1. By turning our heart—2 Corinthians 3:16 says, “But whenever their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” Then verse 3:18 says, “But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord.” When we exercise to turn our hearts to the Lord and deal with anything separating us, we can behold His glory.
2. By calling on His name—Calling on the name of the Lord is the easiest way to look away from everything else unto Him. We can cry out, “Lord Jesus! Oh, Lord Jesus! Lord Jesus, I need You!” The more we do this, the more we sense all other things fading away as He becomes nearer and dearer to us.
3. By praying—We can bring every matter to God in prayer. We can open to Him concerning all our problems and difficult decisions we face. We can pray, “Lord Jesus, I don’t know what to do. But Lord, I just look away right now unto You. I want to gaze at Your beauty. Lord, You are the most lovely One.” Instead of being absorbed with our problems, we can absorb Jesus as the source of our faith.
4. By reading His Word—We can also behold the Lord Jesus in His Word. For example, reading the Gospels impresses us with the details of the wonderful life He lived on the earth. We read about His death and resurrection, and what He did to save us. In the Scriptures, we behold Him and are spontaneously filled with love and appreciation for Him. We can also use the words of the Bible to pray, allowing Him to infuse us with Himself.
5. By spending regular time in His presence—A major reason why we feel lacking in faith may be because we haven’t spent much quality time with the Lord lately. Instead, our time may have been spent beholding many other things—our devices, our circumstances, our problems. But we need to devote regular time to looking away unto Jesus. The best time to do this is in the morning. Instead of waking up and immediately checking our phones, we can first look away to the wonderful Person living in us. Spending time absorbing Him and being transfused with Him before we do anything else strengthens our faith.
Hebrews 12:2 and the notes in the Recovery Version help us realize we needn’t be discouraged or feel as if we’re a failure when we’re lacking faith. We shouldn’t think others are more able to have faith, while we aren’t. The Word of God tells us Jesus is the Author of faith. We simply need to get to the source of faith by looking away from everything else and beholding the Lord in our spirit. This is how He transfuses us with Himself to be our believing ability and the faith we live by.
How wonderful it is that Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, dwells in us! He’s so near; at any moment we can turn to Him. Let’s practice daily looking away unto Jesus and being infused with Him as our faith.
If you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
