not unfair. not talking about you, or many others. please understand, when someone challenges our perceptions about something so dear, like the scriptures, some will only hear attack, and not hear what is actually said. i think that you would agree that we can quote scripture all day long, and unless the spirit is working in both the speaker and the hearer, then salvation is not working.
it works like this: the word spoken by the preacher by the spirit is enpowered by the spirit and that word goes into the heart of those who have been prepared to hear these spiritual words, and the hearer receives grace from god. and salvation is present.
another verse about the word being important and powerful is 1st cor 1:18
the spirit is why these words from god are powerful. the word of god is powerful, but would we say that it is so in the absence of god? the children of israel thought so once, and suffered devastation when they placed the ark of the covenant in front of them, without seeking god. they lost the ark, which contained the word, the covenant on tablets, arron's rod which had budded, among other things from god.
i hope that i have not offended you with these words.
in his perfect peace,
vic
Lol Hi Vic, you haven't offended me I am enjoying our discussion. And I am not in real disagreement with you, as I am sure you have sensed.
I equate the the power of God (Trinity) with the power behind the word. The Corinthians where more interested in how the message was spoken and not the eloquence of the rhetoric, yet Paul reminds them of the simple message of the cross, the message that seems foolish is the power that is saving us.
The word in the ark still had power, but God through his purpose to punish disobedience and if I remember correctly not waiting for Samuel were in disobedience, that's the context of that narrative. They new the defeat was of the Lord.. But by bringing the Ark to the battlefield by their own actions not of God, they thought that it would bring God into action for them (almost in a blackmailing action).
they use the Ark like a pagan uses a charm. God teaches them a lesson/
But God would not allow the enemy to think they had defeated Him.. and so the Philistines suffer plagues etc. and so the story carries on.
we don't have prophets or priests and the tabernacle/ temple cultus, we have as you rightly say Christ in us, the power of the Spirit, yet God in His glorious goodness has given us His word, to bring to Salvation, by the power of the Spirit and to lead us through life and grow in wisdom and Love in Him.
If you mean we receive life through the blood of the cross and Christ's resurrection, and that,God softens our hearts and opens our eyes so that we can see the fullness and power of this simple message by the power of the Spirit, we exercise or Faith(as Abraham), and that through the scripture we learn about God, our relationship to him, learn of His will,His relationship to man, and that the word is our daily food (and without it we are not feeding our souls) etc,
Anyhow I think your saying that we live by the power of the Spirit sent to us through Christ, and without the spirit we do not have life, the Spirit gives us understanding of the Scriptures as our daily food, even just a small portion can feed you for a day (Spiritually) as the scriptures were inspired by the Spirit?
Its very hard to pin down exactly what you mean, especially on the word, I understand what you say about the Spirit, its the importance of Scripture thats I am not seeing in your posts, maybe its me lol.
Anyhow I am enjoying our discussion. and equal respect of opinion. too tired now too even have wrote what I have lol.
Kind regards
Phil
