Words of life & letters that kill
This morning after getting ready for work, I walked into the lounge, picked up a bible that was lying on a coffee table and started reading somewhere in the Psalms. At some point I became aware that I was no longer simply reading; I was no longer a casual observer, but somehow I entered into a conversation. It was no longer me taking time to read the bible, but ‘someone else’ taking time to speak to me! It became personal. Far from simply reading some historic document in which I could observe the wisdom of people who lived thousands of years ago, I realised that the One who originally inspired these stories still speaks and He had something to say to me!
The words I read were no longer static containers of intellectual information, but they became a clear and distinct voice – a voice that resonated within my spirit. These words confirmed what I sensed the Lord had been saying to me for a while; they gave explicit direction and inspired me to take specific action.
“Andre, breakfast is ready” called Mary-Anne. 20 minutes later I was in the car on my way to work. Gratitude filled me as I thought about the many times in which the Lord spoke to us so clearly through the Scriptures. The content of what the Lord spoke to me is not relevant for anyone else, but the process and experience of hearing Him, is. The Scriptures have been a constant and reliable source of direction and inspiration for so many years. What is it about this relationship with the Word that makes it so … so alive? Memories about my earliest experiences with this living word came back. I also remembered a time when the Bible was simply a religious book to me – of no real interest or value. There are so many teachings and attitudes toward the scriptures that rob people of this most beautiful encounter. So in this place of being overwhelmed with gratitude and simultaneously disgusted at how wrong attitudes have given the scriptures such a bad image for many, I knew I had to write about discovering His living voice within these writings.
“He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit produces life.” 2Cor 3:6
The word ‘spirit’ can be used in many contexts. One can speak about the spirit of a person, or the spirit of a meeting. Spirit refers to the essence; the core. For instance, a major sporting event will have a spirit of anticipation in the crowd. In this case spirit refers to the one essential quality that defines the event. In the Hebrew and Greek languages the same word is used for ‘wind’ and ‘spirit’. Wind is an unseen influence – we can see the effect of it, but not the wind itself. In the French language ‘spirit’ also means ‘concept’ or ‘mind’. Can you see from these descriptions how ‘spirit’ refers to the unseen essence, motivation, concept and influence.
Paul speaks about two types of messages and ways of ministering or imparting a message. Both these messages can be based on the same Scriptures, but one produces death while the other produces life. A key difference between these messages is that one is focused on the ‘letter’ while the other is focused on the ‘spirit’ or as we saw, the essence. One of the trademarks of dead religion is nitpicking the details; obsessed with the details of the Law. Jesus once said to the religious leaders: “There is far more at stake here than religion. If you had any idea what this Scripture meant—’I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual’—you wouldn’t be nitpicking like this.”
Let me illustrate this further: Imagine a person who has never seen a sparrow before, but would love to learn as much as possible about the bird. What would be the most effective way for us to help this person learn about sparrows. One way would be to supply him with a specimen and the necessary equipment to dissect the bird. One can gain a lot of information about a sparrow by dissecting it. All manner of interesting facts can be gained by this method, such as the size of its heart, the location of its stomach, the weight of its lungs. Unfortunately one kills the bird in this process.
Alternatively, we could teach this person about sparrows by taking a live one and setting it free. Observing this sparrow flying and being what its designed to be would impart much more accurate knowledge about it.
Studying the Bible can so easily become a type of dissection that kills the very message within it. If one loses sight of the essence; the spirit of the Word, and carve up the message into categories, analysing each word and letter, then the end result is lots of information … without much life. Doctrine that is based on these dead letters does not have the life to inspire action, rather it needs to be enforced through rituals to have any influence. The fact that the scriptures were divided into chapters and versus promotes such a segmented approach to reading the scriptures. Such an approach is very common partly because of religious pressure to ‘read your Bible often!’ The result is that people dutifully performs this chore … but the chore is much lighter if one can chop it up into little parts like chapters and versus.
Much of the rhythm … or spirit of the writing is lost through such an approach. I have found it to be of tremendous benefit to take a book like ‘John’ and read it in one go. (It’s actually not that long). One can sense the movement, the soaring, the unseen wind of the Spirit in a way which is not visible when dissecting the scriptures. This approach is as different as observing a bird in flight as apposed to studying a feather. It is good to keep in mind that most of the scriptures were not written by academics, but by ordinary people that encountered the extraordinary God. The essence of what they had to say is remarkably accessible! But even more importantly: the One who originally inspired these writings is still active and ready to reveal Himself. This should give you more than enough confidence to read and understand.
The Challenge.
I can continue writing about this, but I want you to experience for yourself what I, rather clumsily tried to express. So here is the challenge: Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts in a week; no academic study of single words or sentences, rather allowing the rhythm and spirit of this message to transport you into this wonderful world of God’s story. For this type of reading I suggest the ‘Message’ translation. Let me know who is up for it – leave a comment or send an email. Shall we make this a collective experience – starting on this Saturday, 4th October.
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Tagged with: bible • event • focused • Jesus • letters that kill • mind • obsessed • scripture • scriptures • spirit • the message • wind • Wordpress • words of life
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14 Responses to Words of life & letters that kill
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While reading this, I was so aware once again of the character of our loving Father, who desires mutual encounter. Who doesn’t force some sort of obligatory surrender to His will, but rather gives His life in demonstration of the greatest surrender of all…we only love, because He first loved us. When we discover the depth of this conversation in these living letters, we discover the depth of our lives hid in Him.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks Andre ! Just read this & was blessed ! …”My beloved is mine and I am His. He feedeth among the lilies.” Songs 2:16 (…beware of The Message as a translation, altho refreshing perceptions. 2 Peter 1: 20,21 “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” AV) …Oh SO BEAUTIFUL is our God ! …We worship HIM, not ourselves, – for if we do, His light is not in us.
Thanks Andre! Tears filling my eyes as I read
As His word is living and active, so is His love as we read! Our treasure is a living hope – an enjoyment that cannot be structured and organised. It’s a life that can never be defined by mere statements but only by the Spirit speaking of a love story that revolves around us and Him. We can never throw away good doctrine (which is important and positive) but it should never become an end in itself.
Instead its only a reference; its only the beginning. Its the rain awakening the real beauty He placed inside!
Thanks for your encouragement Juanita. I understand that the accuracy of translation is important for many. I explored this thought in an article called:
Truth Preserved; Truth Revealed. Hope you enjoy it.
Great idea Andre! Virtual group study! So agree, Mary Anne, Juanita and Dawie! the word is living and active! So WOW how the Lord highlight special parts, just for the specific moment and circumstance I’m in, fresh manna, unintellectual, intimate and personal! Listening to the audio version, …..it really is supernatural, how the HS inside echo’s!! YES YES thats the word writtin on our hearts!
The word confirms everything everyone of you guys have been sharing, and messages we’ve been listening to! One harmonious confrimation and echo of Truth! YES! YES!
Hallo Andre, thanks for sharing this. It is clear form the days of Abraham the Lord showed us that we can freely talk to God and He will listen, respond and even share what is on His mind with us.Because we have fellowship and favor in Him we grow in Confidence.To me it is so comforting when I speak to my hubby without any fear by saying what is on my mind. Now I believe this is the kind of trust and confidence that grow to have a covenant relationship with God.God also communicated with David by the Spirit and to me personally to read the Psalms I can hear his heart and the best is he was a man after God’s own heart..cause in 1 Chronicles 28 Dawid told his son Solomon….all this the Lord made me understand by the writing by His hand upon me….” So personally, I praise God for the greatest miracle to be saved and to believe and to experience His Word in so many ways in our days. The freedom, the unique way and the personal touch that makes us feel so worthy however keep us humble. So I share your joy and Fulfillment in Him cause you have to share it….Lots of Blessings.. M
Magz & Charlene – such inspiring words. Thanks
I want to do this. Thanks for the reminder that the letter kills the spirit gives life.
Don in AZ
That’s great Don. And I want to encourage everyone who still wants to join, not to hesitate or feel that its too late … we’ll probably renew the challenge for next week etc.(I’m only half way through Mark now) I’m thinking of setting up a page specifically for feedback of how this approach to the scriptures have benefited people – what do you think?
[...] those who have not read the previous article, please do. We have a challenge at the end of that article which should be a great benefit to those [...]
Hi Andre, great stuff. The realization of revelation knowledge awakens our understanding to the fact that we are not excluded. The word is alive and active; it cuts deep to reveal hidden truth. The way we choose to participate in it will often determine the treasure we access from it. In the wilderness Moses invited Israel to draw near to God (Ex. 19:17). They saw and heard God speak (v 19-25), yet later even after they had a first hand encounter with God they said to Moses ‘you speak to us, and we will hear, but don’t let God speak with us, lest we die’ (20:19). Their perception of God was distorted by their Egypt mentality. Moses’ wilderness experience outside of Egypt brought him to a place where he related to God in a different manner. A constant awareness of where you came from will not only distract your focus from where you are going but also from the reality of who you are. You will never live a life of victory whilst you hold on to a slave mentality.
Keep up the work, fight the good fight.
Love you guys. Theo
Andre one question Mark 9:1 Jesus said Assuredly I say to you that there are some standingn here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power. Does He refer to verses 2-4?. I dont think the human mind can come to term how huge is the faith of God as he said if you have the faith as a mustard seed, you can move mountains
Hi Danie, I enjoyed your writing on inspired thought. Believe it or not I’m a “Boereseun van God” as well! Regarding your question, I think verses 2-4 is part fulfillment of what he said (the message translation makes it rather plain) But in the same way His appearance to them after the resurrection would qualify … and so would other events.
Look forward to hear from you again.
We share the same Lover and our experience with our Lover is identical… That’s how He called me out from the religious sheep pan.
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.