Enjoying Christ as the Living Word in the Written Word

In my most recent post, I presented the central line of the Bible with the earnest desire to live in this central line, and pursue fellowship with those who also desire to know and experience this central line.

The Word of God—the First Item in the Central Line of the Bible

In this post I’d like to take a further look at this central line of the Bible by considering the first item on this line—the Word of God. All genuine believers in Christ realize that without the Bible we would have no way to know God, for who God is and what He has done are all revealed to us through the Scriptures. I would like to do more than simply reaffirm this basic truth of the Christian faith—that the Bible is the unique, divinely inspired, word of God. In this post, I’d like to go further to consider a more mysterious and subjective aspect of this truth—the relationship between the written word in the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16) and the living Word, Christ, who is revealed in its pages (John 1:1; 1 John 1:1; John 5:39-40).

Christ Being the Living Word of God

Concerning the living Word of God, Christ, we can say that He is the living speaking of God (Heb. 1:2-3) not only in what He says but by everything He does. He is the Word of Life (1 John 1:1) from eternity past, being Himself the very definition, explanation and expression of the invisible God. In this One, who is God’s expression, there is life eternal (John 1:4). Hence we must come to Him, if we want to have eternal life (John 5:39-40). Herein lies a wonderful revelation, it is not that the Scriptures of themselves give life, for even Paul said that the letter kills (2 Cor. 3:6). Rather they reveal to us who Christ is and what He has done. Moreover, when we come to the Scriptures with our heart turned to Lord (2 Cor. 3:16) and our spirit exercised to contact Him (John 4:24), we are infused by His Spirit  receiving the spirit and life embodied in His words (John 6:63).

One passage that has impressed me very much is Romans 10:5-8. Here the apostle Paul expounds Deuteronomy 30:12-14 by way of revelation. Moses’ concluding word to God’s people concerned the God’s law being near to them, in their mouth and in their heart, such that it was not necessary to go up to heaven to bring it near nor to go across the sea to bring it to them. However, when Paul expounded this word, he applied it to Christ. That is, we do not need to ascend to into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, referring to His incarnation. He already came down (John 6:33). Nor, do we need to descend into the abyss (the lower parts of the earth into which Christ descended after His death and from which He ascended in His resurrection) to bring Christ up from the dead. He has already been raised (Acts 2:24)! Then Paul repeats Moses by saying that the word is near you in your heart and in your mouth. In so doing he is  indicating that the word is interchangeable with Christ. The word in our mouth is actually the very Christ who has already been incarnated to declare God to us, crucified to redeem us and resurrected to become a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) and who is now in our mouth as both the Word and the Spirit. Hence, He is both the Spirit for us to touch and the Word for us to understand.

My Earnest Desire—to Contact the Living Word in the Written Word

It is now my earnest desire that whenever I contact the written word in the Bible, I would simultaneously contact this living Word, the resurrected Christ, turning my heart to the Him to behold His glory and to be transformed into His image by His Spirit (2 Cor. 3:16-18). May all of our contact with God’s word in the Bible be filled with such a spiritual seeing, beholding, and handling of Christ as the Word of Life  that we may enjoy true fellowship with Him (1 John 1:1, 3, 6)

Let us turn the verses in the Scripture into a living fellowship with the Lord by calling on His name, praying to Him, thanking Him, praising Him and singing to Him so that His words may dwell in us richly (Col. 3:16) and so that Christ may have the preeminence in our lives (1:18)!