If you focus on only what the Bible says, are you making the Bible your ultimate authority instead of making Jesus your ultimate authority…? It is Jesus, not the Bible, which is the ‘Word of God’ ~ most eloquently expressed in John 1. ‘The Word’ became flesh and lived amongst us ~ but if we focus only on what the Bible says, are we are in danger of turning ‘the Word’ made flesh back into a mere word again…? Instead of incarnation, do we become guilty of decarnation, of turning God’s ‘Word’ from something living and personal to something dry and propositional…?
On one hand, Jesus appears quite happy to put the authority of His own words above the authority of the words of Scripture: “You have heard it said…but I say to you…” (Matt 5.21–37). On the other hand, Jesus made it clear that the whole point of the Scriptures is to point to Him. “You search the scriptures because you ‘think’ that in them you have life. But it is these that testify about Me” (John 5.39).
In other words, if you get too obsessed with what the Scriptures say, it’s like standing in front of a signpost studying it rather than following where it is pointing.
You are using the Scriptures to try NOT to use the Scriptures.
The original Biblical texts were inspired, for sure (I believe that). But if you’re not inspired to receive the spiritual message then you can easily miss it. The truth can be very subtle, and when the truth takes the form of written text then our fallible minds can miss the subtleties that require “ears to hear.” The message can transcend the words that describe it.
Such is the nature of spiritual truth. God can easily get conceptualized by trying to describe Him with words. He said for us to
be still and know that He is God. Gotta be careful not to get too scriptural, and miss being spiritual.
Some folks have traded in the Spirit for a book, chapter, and verse. They come across as being scriptural, but not spiritual, at all.
