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All Bible students acknowledge that Colossians and Ephesians are sister books because they have many similar utterances. For example, Colossians 3:16-17 speaks of giving thanks and praise when we are filled with the Lord’s word, and Ephesians 5:18-20 speaks of giving thanks and praise when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. These two portions refer to two aspects of one thing. If we want to be filled with praise and thanksgiving, we must be filled with the Lord’s word as well as with the Spirit. Moreover, if we compare these two portions, we will understand that the Lord’s word is the Spirit. When we are filled with the Lord’s word, we are filled with the Spirit. In order to be filled with the Spirit, we first must be filled with the Lord’s word, because the Lord’s word is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the Lord’s word.
Nutritionists tell us that food contains energy that can be measured in calories. Every day we need to consume many calories; hence, we must eat well in order to absorb energy from our food. Speaking on the podium consumes much energy because energy is required for the exercise of the spirit and the cooperation of the physical body. Hence, whenever I give a message, I need to eat food in order to have the energy to speak. The Lord’s word can be compared to food, and the Spirit can be likened to the energy in the food. If we want to be full of energy, we must take in a sufficient amount of food. Similarly, if we want to be filled with the Spirit, we must be filled with the Lord’s word.
I believe this is what Paul had in mind when he spoke of the Lord’s word and the Spirit in Colossians and Ephesians. Both the word and the Spirit are indispensable. The Spirit depends on the Lord’s word, and the Lord’s word depends on the Spirit. A believer should pay attention to the Scriptures without and to the Holy Spirit within. Thank God that we have the Bible in our hand and the Holy Spirit in our spirit. This is very precious. In order to learn to take God as life, we need to know how to deal with the Bible and how to deal with the Holy Spirit. Both the Bible and the Spirit are indispensable.
Regrettably, many believers do not take care of both aspects equally. Some emphasize the Bible to the neglect of the Spirit. They use their mind to study the Bible, read the Bible, and memorize the Bible. As a result, the Bible becomes dead letter to them. It is not wrong to diligently read the Bible, but if we neglect the Spirit, the letter will quickly deaden us. Others emphasize the Spirit to the neglect of the Bible. Although they believe that the Bible is God’s Word, they rarely read it, and when they read it, they do not comprehend or understand it. Instead, they focus on spiritual practices, such as praying. When they pray, they are full of Hallelujahs and touch a sweet inner feeling that seems to give them a sense of living in heaven. However, when we speak of reading the Bible, they say, “The words in the Bible are dead letters. What good is there to read it? It is sufficient to pray. All our problems are solved when we pray and are filled with the Holy Spirit.” While we should pray and be filled with the Holy Spirit, the consequences of neglecting the Bible can be dangerous. Such a condition can be likened to a train with a boiling steam engine but with no train tracks to direct its motion. This is a dangerous situation.
Once some people came to debate with us, saying, “The Holy Spirit in us will never lead us in a wrong way. As long as we have the Holy Spirit living in us, this is enough. We do not have to pay attention to the dead letter.” These people were very insistent concerning their views, but within a few years they fell into serious errors.
It is dangerous to pay attention only to the Spirit but neglect the Bible. We must pay equal attention to the Bible in our hand and to the Spirit within us. When the children of Israel journeyed in the wilderness, they were led by a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire during the night (Exo. 13:21-22). Actually, the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire were the same leading of God. During the day this leading appeared as a pillar of cloud, and during the night it appeared as a pillar of fire. The Old Testament clearly reveals that God was present in both the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. God Himself is in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. The cloud typifies the Spirit, and the enlightening fire typifies the Bible. Just as God led the children of Israel in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire as they journeyed in the wilderness, He leads us in the Spirit and in the Word. This is a very good type. When our condition is as bright as the day, we have the clear leading of the Spirit within us. When our condition is darker and we cannot touch the sense of the Spirit within us, we should follow the pillar of fire, the Bible. I hope that we all would follow the Lord by reading and meditating on the Bible diligently every day and by following the Holy Spirit within us moment by moment.
A normal Christian should have a normal relationship with both the Word and the Spirit. Whenever our being does not correspond with the Word, something is wrong. Similarly, whenever our being does not correspond with the Spirit, something is wrong. In order to be a proper Christian, our being must correspond to the Word without and to the Spirit within.
We can illustrate the need for our being to correspond to the Bible with the matter of repenting and believing in the Lord. The Bible says that we should repent and believe into the Lord (Acts 20:21; John 3:16). If we read the Bible but do not have a daily experience of repenting and believing into the Lord, our being will not correspond to the words in the Bible. Thank the Lord that we are in accord with the Bible on this point.
In addition to the Bible speaking of repenting and believing into the Lord, it also says, “He who believes has eternal life” (6:47). Furthermore, the Bible says, “I have written these things to you that you may know that you have eternal life, to you who believe into the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13). We need to ask ourselves whether or not we are experiencing eternal life. I believe that many of us would respond that we have eternal life because God is in us. But how can we know that God is in us? We can know because there is a sense of joy and satisfaction in our inner being, but if this sense of peace is lacking for any reason, we will not be able to see the pillar of cloud clearly. Even if our inner being becomes darkened so that we cannot clearly see the pillar of cloud, we should remember that we also have a pillar of fire. When we do not have a clear inner sense and it seems as if the Spirit is not present, we should not forget that we still have the Bible. The Bible says, “Everyone who believes...would have eternal life” (John 3:16). This is the Word of God. Although we may feel dark within, even to the point that we have no sense of God within us as life, the Word still says that those who have believed into the Son of God have eternal life. If God says this, it is so. This is the Word, like the pillar of fire, shining in a dark night to enable us to go forward on our path.
We know that a ten-dollar bill is worth ten dollars because we can plainly see the words ten dollars. The Bible is God’s unlimited treasure house, and the value of its content is real and can be received by us, just as we can receive ten dollars worth of goods when we have a ten-dollar bill. If we do not know the words in the Bible, we will suffer a big loss. This would be like using a ten-dollar bill to receive only five dollars worth of goods. This would be quite regrettable.
In order to know the Bible, we should read it every day and even memorize it. The more we memorize, the better it will be. We should memorize not only John 3:16 but also the Lord’s words in verses 14 and 15: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life.” We know that we have eternal life because the Lord said, “Everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life.” Since we have believed, we have eternal life. If a person who has believed into Him says that he does not have eternal life based on his feelings alone, he is calling the Lord a liar. Who is more reliable — the Lord who says that everyone who believes may have eternal life or the person who says that he does not have eternal life based on his feelings? We should believe the Lord’s word; otherwise, we are treating Him as if He were a liar.
It does not require much effort to have a proper regard for the Bible. It is enough to simply acknowledge what the Bible says. When the Bible says that we should repent, we should acknowledge this and repent. When it speaks of believing into the Lord, we should simply believe and receive. When it speaks of having eternal life, we should say, “Amen. Praise the Lord! We have believed, and we have eternal life.” We know these things because they are spoken of in the Bible. Some may say, “Even though the Bible says that I have eternal life, I do not feel as if I have eternal life. What should I do?” To those who ask such a question, we should respond, “Your feelings do not matter, and they cannot change the truth in the Bible.” When I am speaking, I concentrate my whole being on my speaking, and therefore, I do not necessarily feel a ten-dollar bill in my pocket, but it is still there. Our feelings are not reliable. Sometimes we may feel that we have a one-hundred-dollar bill in our pocket but realize that it has been stolen only when we reach into our pocket.
It is not our feelings that matter but the facts in the Bible that matter. The Bible says, “Everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life.” Since we are believers, we must acknowledge that we have eternal life. We should not read the Bible but ignore the facts in the Bible. If this is our situation, our being will not correspond with the Word. It is sufficient to simply believe the words in the Bible. Since God says in His Word, “Everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life,” we should say to Him, “Amen! I believe! I have eternal life.” We should not rely on our feelings. God never lies. If we say that we have believed but do not believe that we have eternal life, we are regarding God’s words as a lie and God as a liar. Hence, in order for our being to correspond to the Bible, we should not rely on our feelings but believe in the words in the Bible. When God speaks, we should believe.
Our being should also correspond to the Spirit. Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” The Spirit in our spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. We know that the Spirit is witnessing in this way because when we pray, the Spirit leads us to call God, “Abba, Father” (v. 15). First Corinthians 12:3 says, “No one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.” When we pray, sometimes we call God our Father, and at other times we declare that Jesus is Lord. We call and declare this because the Spirit is in us.
When a believer prays to the Lord, he often addresses Him as Lord, and when he turns to God, he often addresses God as Father. We come to Jesus as our Lord and to God as our Father because the Spirit is in us. No one calls another person father in a casual way. Even when we force ourselves to address someone in this way, we do not have a pleasant sense within us. However, when we spontaneously address our father in the flesh as father, we have a sweet inward sense. In the same way, I believe that all the brothers and sisters spontaneously have a sweet inward sense when they call God their Father. The sweet inward feeling that we have when we call, “O Father,” is the witnessing of the Holy Spirit with our spirit.
A brother once asked, “What does Romans 8:16 mean when it says that the Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God?” Another brother responded by asking him if he was married. When the first brother said that he was married, the second brother asked, “When you went with your wife to meet her parents for the first time, what did you call your father-in-law?” The first brother thought for a moment and said, “It was a difficult situation. When I first met him, my wife called him ‘Dad’ as soon as she saw him. I called him ‘Dad’ as well but rather reluctantly, and my face turned red.” Then the second brother asked, “When you call your own father ‘Dad,’ does your face turn red?” When the first brother said that his face did not turn red, the second brother said, “That is because your heart is witnessing that you are your father’s child. In the same way, when we pray to God, we are able to call Him Father without any sense of embarrassment because the Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are His children.”
Let me relate another story. One day a few of us knelt down to pray with an unbelieving friend. We were praising God in our prayer, saying, “O Father, we praise You. Thank You for being our gracious Father.” When we finished praying, the unbeliever said, “I think that it is good to believe in Jesus, but I cannot pray like you. When I heard you calling God your Father, I was uncomfortable. Why were you not uncomfortable as well?” His comment proved that the Spirit was not in him and that he had not yet been born of God to be a child of God.
The Bible is not merely a book of words; the words in the Bible are the pledge of our inheritance in Christ. Moreover, the Spirit is a living pledge in us, enabling us to know with certainty all the things promised by God in Christ. Hence, we should read the Bible diligently and follow the Spirit faithfully. The Bible in our hand is the word of the Spirit, whereas the Spirit in us is the Spirit of life. These two correspond to each other. As we read the Lord’s words, the Holy Spirit moves within us to touch us, and the Spirit touches us by reminding us of the Lord’s words. These two correspond with each other and enable us to be in life.
