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I. The Spirit within and the Bible without must be balanced
II. To know the Bible requiring the exercise of the spirit and the training in the mind
III. The origin of the Bible
А. The Bible being God-breathed
B. The Bible being the speaking from God by men borne by the Holy Spirit
C. The Bible being God’s speaking in the prophets and in the Son
D. The Bible being the Holy Spirit’s revelation
IV. The Bible being the embodiment of God the Spirit
А. The expression of God the Spirit
B. The dwelling place of God the Spirit
C. The means of God the Spirit
V. The functions of the Bible
А. Testifying concerning the Lord Jesus
B. Making men wise unto salvation
C. Causing men to be regenerated
D. Being the believers’ spiritual milk
E. Being the believers’ bread of life
F. Making the believers complete
This is the sixth and the last lesson book of this series of six lesson books for the summer school of the truth. The first lesson book showed us God’s full salvation concerning how God saved us, the tripartite beings, in three stages for His purpose, the church. The second lesson book showed us Christ’s person and work and the Triune God. The third lesson book showed us the Holy Spirit and the human spirit, how the two are mingled, and how to live by the mingled spirit. The fourth book showed us the eternal life that we have received and how to experience it. The fifth book showed us the church universally and locally and how the church is to be built. This book explains what the Bible is, who wrote it, how it was written, the subject, the central thought, and the key sections. It also shows us that the Bible is proven to be the Word of God. The major portion of this lesson book reveals the Bible’s content, including the main topics and the content of each book. Finally, this book shows us what our proper attitude toward the Bible should be and how we may enjoy the Bible for our Christian life. We pray and hope that you will be helped to know the Bible and to know how to enjoy it.
[To edify a person spiritually, we must help him to know the Bible. In the past two thousand years, Christians all acknowledge that no one can truly know the Lord without knowing the Bible. We human beings are not merely a spirit. Although we have a spirit, we are not merely a spirit, but a human being. If we were a spirit only, then God would need to give us only His Spirit and not the Bible; however, since we are not a spirit only, He must also give us the Bible.
The spiritual inheritances God has given us are the Spirit which cannot be seen and the Bible which can be seen. Inside of us is the Spirit, and outside of us is the Bible. Christians throughout the ages can testify by experience that a proper Christian must be fully balanced in both respects — the Bible without and the Spirit within. These two aspects must be absolutely balanced. Any bias towards one side will result in serious problems. Among Christians throughout the ages, some have leaned toward the Spirit within which has resulted in great errors. Still more lean toward the Bible without. Seemingly they have not erred as much, yet among them there is a very serious condition of death. In other words, if there were only the Spirit within and not the Bible without, man would easily commit errors. Conversely, if there were only the Bible without while lacking the Spirit within, man would become extremely dead, altogether lifeless, and without any vitality.
Christians can be likened to a train. There needs to be the fuel inside as its energizing power. But a train needs to have tracks outside as well. If there is fuel within but no tracks without, the train would not be able to run. Even if it runs, problems will arise. However, if there are only the tracks without, but not the fuel within, the train may be on the right track, but it cannot move. Therefore, for a train to run, and to do so smoothly, there must be the coordination of two aspects: the inner aspect and the outer aspect. Outwardly, there must be the regulation of the tracks; inwardly, there must be the energizing of the fuel.]
[Therefore, we must put equal emphasis on the Spirit and the Bible; we must not neglect either matter. We must not overlook the Spirit within, neither can we despise the Bible without.]
[The Spirit and the Bible are two sides of one matter. Similarly, in knowing the Bible, there are also two sides. Almost everything God ordained in the universe has two sides. For example, there is the heaven and the earth; there is male and female; there are two sides, the inside and the outside; there is the top and there is the bottom — these are all two-sided. For a person to know the Bible, it is the same. There is the need for the mind, and there is the need for the spirit. No one can know the Bible properly by neglecting either aspect of this. To know the Bible, one must be trained in the mind; he must also be exercised in the spirit.]
[Therefore, brothers and sisters, if we really want to know the Bible, we must be balanced. We must understand properly the letter of the Bible and must properly use our spirit to sense the spiritual meaning in the Bible. To read the Bible well, we must train our mind for this and, perhaps even the more, exercise our spirit for this. To train the mind is for the purpose of understanding the Bible. To exercise the spirit is for the purpose of touching and contacting the Bible. One is a matter of the mind; the mind has to understand the Bible. The other is a matter of the spirit; the spirit has to contact the Bible.
With the matter of electricity, to understand it is one thing, and to contact it is quite another. Understanding electricity is a matter of the mind, whereas contacting electricity is a matter of the body. Many times there is electricity, but a board insulates the body from it. Under such a circumstance, although a person’s mind may understand electricity, his body cannot contact it. In contrast, some people do not understand electricity at all, yet their bodies have actually contacted electricity. They are able to contact electricity because electricity is there, and because their bodies are not insulated from it. Once they touch it, they come into contact with it. This is a good illustration. Our relationship with the Bible is the same. For our mind to understand the Bible is one thing, and for our spirit to touch it, to contact it, is quite another. Perhaps your mind understands the Bible, but your spirit has not yet contacted or touched it. We must not only use our mind to understand the Bible; we must also use our spirit to contact it. It is not sufficient merely to understand the Bible with the mind; we must also contact and touch the Bible with the spirit.
Nevertheless, while we need to touch and contact the Bible with the spirit, it is also necessary to have the understanding in the mind. We must realize that the reason we want the mind to understand the Bible is so that our spirit can contact and touch its words. One thing is sure: it is difficult for our spirit to touch the words in the Bible without the words first passing through the understanding of the mind. This is true with the words in the Bible; it is also true with the word that is preached. Even the words in this chapter cannot touch your spirit without first passing through the understanding of the mind. Suppose I am here preaching in Chinese, and there is one sitting here who cannot understand Chinese. Nothing will get into this person’s mind. How can his spirit be touched? The truth must be grasped by the mind first before it will reach the spirit and touch the person. If there is a person here who is illiterate, and he opens up the Bible to read it, how can his spirit be touched? For his spirit to be touched by the Bible, he must put in some effort to first learn to read with his mind. He must at least be able to identify the words in the Bible before he can read it and be touched by it in his spirit. If we do not understand the words in the Bible, even if we pray for three hours with much inspiration, it will still be impossible for us to understand or be touched when we read the Bible, because its words cannot get through our mind. We must spend much time to learn the language with our mind before we can come to read the Bible. Only then will the words be able to get through our mind to touch our spirit.
Furthermore, the Bible itself is not that simple. One may know every word in the Bible but still not be able to understand its meaning. There are passages in the Bible that cannot be apprehended just by mere reading. The Bible has its own distinctive features and its own background knowledge. Many people with doctorate degrees and much learning open up the Bible to read it, only to find that, though they know every word, they cannot understand some of the passages because they do not comprehend the background knowledge or the special terms of the Bible. Since they do not understand them, it is difficult for them to be touched. Of course, there are certain passages, such as John 3:16, which present no technical difficulty in their wording. As long as one understands the words, a mere reading will be sufficient for the mind to grasp. However, there are many other places in the Bible that contain special problems in their wording. For example, there are specific names of people and places, there is the problem of the dispensation, the types, and the prophecies. In addition to these, there are numerous other matters such as numbers, allegories, and symbols. The ability to understand these specific expressions and terms definitely does not belong to someone who is merely literate or learned in worldly education.
This can be likened to the fact that though I am literate, I am entirely lost when presented with a book on electricity. I can read the words, but I do not understand their meaning because of the many specific terms. To understand a book on electricity, we must first study some of its special terms.
In the same principle, the words in the Bible may be quite common, yet they are very specific and contain many particular terms. If we have not been properly trained in these specific terms and technical matters, we will have a hard time understanding as we read. For example, John 1:17 says that the law was given through Moses. “The law” is a special term, and “Moses” is also a special name. Without a background for these two terms, even a hundred Ph.D.s put together would not be able to understand their meaning.
Hence, in order for a saved person to understand the Bible properly, he must spend time in the specific terms and wording and must be trained in his mind. With the training, the reading would be much facilitated. There would not be any difficulty when one encounters words such as “the law,” “Moses,” or “the shedding of blood for the remission of sins,” because one would already know these special terms. As soon as one reads them, they will be readily understood. The words of the Bible will immediately pass through the mind and will be touched by the spirit. Therefore, this time we will spend much time to look into the specific terms and wordings of the Bible. This aspect of training the mind is a preparation in helping us to use our spirit to contact and touch the Bible.]
[The Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16). This tells us that the Scripture did not come out of man’s thought, man’s mind, but rather, it is God’s breathing His thought and His word through His Spirit into and out of the writers. Hence, the Bible contains God’s elements and carries His flavor. As Christians, our greatest joy, or shall we say, our greatest blessing, is to be able to contact God and taste Him daily through the word of His breath.]
[Since the Scripture is God’s breathing His word out from men through His Spirit, no word of the Scripture can be of man’s will; rather, men were borne by the Spirit and spoke out of God. The word, “men spoke from God, being borne by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21), has a twofold meaning: first, men were borne by the Spirit; second, men spoke from God. In the original Greek, being borne by the Holy Spirit means being carried along as a ship by the wind. The writers of the Bible received God’s inspiration, and they were under the power of the Holy Spirit, being borne and carried along by Him to speak out God’s word. Furthermore, when they spoke, they spoke from within God. It was the Spirit of God carrying men along to speak, and it was also men speaking from within God. In other words, it was God speaking His own word from within men through their mouths.
Second Samuel 23:2 says, “The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.” This word was spoken by David. He told us that the words he spoke were the speaking of the Spirit of God through him, and that it was God’s word that was in his tongue. Not only the Holy Spirit spoke through him, but also God’s word was in his tongue and was spoken from his mouth. This is the Bible.]
[The Old Testament is God’s speaking in the prophets; the New Testament is God’s speaking in the Son, our Lord Jesus (Heb. 1:1-2). Hence, whether it is the speaking of the prophets in the Old Testament or the speaking of the Lord Jesus in the New Testament, both are God’s speaking and both are of God.]
[John 16:13 says, “But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come” (John 16:13). The Lord’s word here also proves that after the Spirit’s descension, what His disciples spoke and wrote was disclosed to them by the Spirit. Hence, the Lord’s word here proves that after His ascension, all the books of the New Testament, written by His disciples, were of the Spirit’s revelation and their divine authority was acknowledged by Him. The Scripture, therefore, is the word written by men under God’s command (Exo. 34:27), the word of the Spirit of God spoken through men, the word of God spoken through man’s mouth (2 Sam. 23:2), and the word spoken by men who were moved by the Spirit (Mark 12:36). The Old Testament is the word spoken by the prophets under God’s command (Jer. 1:7), the word of God coming upon the prophet (Ezek. 1:3), and the word of the Spirit of God spoken through the prophets (Zech. 7:7; Acts 3:18; 28:25; Rom. 1:2; 1 Pet. 1:10-12). Some portions of the New Testament are God’s speaking in the Lord Jesus (John 14:10), while other portions are words written by the apostles as taught by the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:13). The words written by the apostles as taught by the Spirit are as sacred as the Old Testament Scriptures (2 Pet. 3:15-16). Hence, the entire Bible originates from God; every word and every sentence, every iota and every tittle (Matt. 5:18), are God-inspired. Hence, men should neither add to or take away anything from the Holy Scriptures (Rev. 22:18-19).]
[God is Spirit. The Spirit, however, is very abstract. It is as abstract as the radio waves in the air. It is hard for man to touch Him or to understand Him. But the Bible is the embodiment of this Spirit. The Lord Jesus said in John 6:63 that the words He speaks are spirit. This shows us that God’s word is the embodiment of God’s Spirit. This is like a radio receiver capturing the radio waves in the air; the radio receiver becomes the embodiment of the radio waves. When the radio waves are in the air, we neither hear, touch, nor understand them. As soon as they are captured by the receiver, the radio waves become manifested before us. What was abstract becomes real. We can feel it, hear it, and understand it. Thus, we can say that the radio receiver is the embodiment of the radio waves.
In the same principle, if there were only God the Spirit in the universe and there were no Bible, God to us would be the same as the radio waves; we would not be able to grasp Him or find Him. But thank God that His word is here. This word is the embodiment of Himself. God the Spirit is contained in the word. This is why the Lord Jesus said that His word is spirit. In the same way, we can say the word in the Bible is the Spirit. To put this in a clearer way, we can say that the Bible is the embodiment of the Spirit.]
[First, the Bible is the embodiment of God the Spirit; it is also the expression of God the Spirit. God the Spirit is expressed through the Bible as the embodiment. Since the day you heard the gospel until now, how many times have you been moved by the Holy Spirit apart from God’s word? Probably very little. Almost every time we are moved by the Holy Spirit, it is through God’s word. Never does the Holy Spirit urge us apart from the word. Sometimes, it is through a verse you have read in the Bible. Sometimes, it is through your remembrance of a verse you have read. Sometimes, it is through some words that match the Bible in principle. These are all words. Although you are moved by the Holy Spirit, it is hard to separate the Holy Spirit from the word in these cases. It is hard for you to say whether you are moved by the word or by the Holy Spirit, because at such times the Holy Spirit is in the word. The word is the embodiment and the expression of the Holy Spirit.
Of course, we admit that many times we can have the word without the Spirit. It is like having a radio receiver without the radio waves. Surely, this is vain. We admit that many people read God’s Word in vain. But there are also many times when we just open up the Lord’s Word a little and the Holy Spirit comes. The Holy Spirit is in the word, and the word is the expression of the Holy Spirit.
At any rate, it is hard for us to be moved by the Holy Spirit without God’s word. To put it in another way, seldom are we moved by the word without the moving of the Holy Spirit within. Under normal circumstances, one cannot separate God the Spirit from the Bible, since the Bible is the embodiment and the expression of God the Spirit.]
[The Bible as the embodiment of God the Spirit is not only His expression, but also His dwelling place. God the Spirit resides in His word. From our experience, we know this is true. Many times, when we read the Bible, we touch God the Spirit. This is because the Bible is the dwelling place of God the Spirit. It is the place where God the Spirit resides.]
[There is another point. The Bible is the means of God the Spirit. God is Spirit. Whatever He does to us is through the Bible. Whatever God does toward us and whatever God wants us to do are done through His word. The word is the embodiment of God the Spirit. Hence, it is also the expression, the dwelling place, and the means of God the Spirit. Under normal circumstances, whenever we touch the word in the Bible, we should receive, touch, and feel the moving of God the Spirit and should contact God Himself.
This is the Bible. What is the Bible? The Bible is God’s word, God’s revelation, God’s breathing out, and the embodiment of God the Spirit.]
[The first function of the Bible is to testify concerning the Lord Jesus (John 5:39). The Lord Jesus is the subject and contents of the Bible; the Bible is the explanation and expression of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is God’s living Word; the Bible is God’s written Word. The Bible, God’s written Word, must have the Lord Jesus, the living Word, as its reality; otherwise, it is but mere doctrines and empty letters. The Lord Jesus, the living Word, must have the Bible, the written Word, as His expression; otherwise, He is mysterious and difficult to know, vague and hard to grasp. However, since there is the clear, definite explanation and plain revelation of the Scriptures, the Lord Jesus can be known practically and comprehended definitely by men. Not only every book of the New Testament reveals the Lord Jesus, but every part of the Old Testament, whether (1) the Law of Moses, (2) the Prophets, or (3) the Psalms (these are the three major parts of the Old Testament), testifies and speaks concerning the Lord Jesus. Hence, if we want to know the Lord Jesus, we must read and understand the Bible.]
[The functions of the Bible are of two aspects: one aspect is to serve the Lord, and the other aspect is to serve us. On the one hand, it testifies of the Lord Jesus and, on the other hand, it causes us to receive grace and be built up. The first function of the Bible toward us is to make us wise unto salvation (2 Tim. 3:15); it reveals to us how God saves men in Christ, and how men may be saved by faith, so that we may know the way of salvation.]
[The first practical function of the Bible in us is to cause us to be regenerated (1 Pet. 1:23). The Bible is the Word of the living God, and it contains the life of the living God. When we receive the word of the Scriptures into us by faith, it comes into us like a seed of life, sowing God’s life into us; thus, we have God’s life and are regenerated.]
[When we first get saved, we do not have a strong enough comprehension concerning spiritual things. Some portions of the Scriptures are like milk that can nourish us and make us grow in our spiritual life (1 Pet. 2:2). Hence, a newly regenerated believer must long for the word of the Bible, like newborn babes longing for the guileless milk of the word. Otherwise, his spiritual life cannot grow, and he will continue to be one who is an infant in Christ (1 Cor. 3:1-2).]
[The word of the Scriptures is also our spiritual bread of life (Matt. 4:4). Just as our physical life needs nourishment, so also our spiritual life needs nourishment. The nourishment of our spiritual life can only be supplied by the word of the Bible. In order to be living and strong before God, we cannot depend on bread alone, but on every word, that is, the word of the Bible, that proceeds out through the mouth of God. We must take the word of God as food and eat it (Jer. 15:16), even regarding the word of the Bible as more important than our food (Job 23:12b). Otherwise, our spiritual life cannot grow. We must practice to have our faculties exercised in apprehending the word of the Bible so that we may be able to understand the words that are hard to interpret; that is, like those who are mature, we can eat the solid food (Heb. 5:13-14). Otherwise, our spiritual life cannot be strong.]
[The teachings of the Bible can give us endurance, encouragement, and hope (Rom. 15:4). Many Christians have fallen into tribulation and sickness. Being unable to bear it, they feel sorrowful and hopeless, but when they read a portion or a sentence of the Bible, they have the enduring strength in their hearts, or they receive unspeakable comfort, and thus obtain hope that is beyond their expectation. The Bible also records many things as warnings to us that we may be admonished, be on the alert, and not repeat the former mistakes (1 Cor. 10:11). Hence, after our regeneration, the Bible is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that we, the men of God, may be complete (2 Tim. 3:16-17).]
The two greatest gifts of God for our enjoyment are the Spirit inside of us and the Bible outside of us. The Spirit gives us life and the Bible gives us stability; we need both to be proper Christians and to grow in life. The Bible is composed of words; therefore we need our mind. The Bible embodies the Triune God; therefore we need to use our spirit to receive the Spirit and life. Reading the Bible requires a balance between the use of our mind and of our spirit. We need to use both our mind and our spirit in order to apprehend what is revealed and conveyed in the Bible. The Bible testifies concerning the Lord Jesus. It also makes us wise unto salvation, thus causing us to be regenerated. After we begin our Christian life through regeneration, the Bible becomes our spiritual milk and bread of life for us to grow in the Lord. Finally, we will be full grown, made complete, fully equipped for every good work of God. Praise the Lord for giving us both the Spirit and the Bible! We need to spend time every day in the Bible exercising our spirit to enjoy all of its benefits.
