This essay continues a sequence. Read the previous one here.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
— KJV, John 1:1
Just like we are spirits in a material body, The Word is Eternal Truth in human words. Hearing or reading means appreciating only Its covering; living It is what brings understanding.
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Truth Must Be Encased In Human Words
As already discussed in earlier essays, The Word is in God i.e. in its real sense It exists infinitely far above our level.
Therefore The Word, which is Divine Truth, has to be translated into human words in order to become comprehensible to man.
This translation is Christ’s Message – the human words that Christ used while on earth. That is how we access The Word.
To this end was I born,
— John 18:37
and for this cause came I into the world,
that I should bear witness unto the Truth.
Because of the Source of these words, their essence is different from words used by mere mortals.
They may sound like everyday words, but together they transmit spiritual knowledge that cannot be immediately grasped by the human brain.
Even with human words we distinguish between the essence of words and their linguistic meaning. Thus we pay attention to the tone of a speaker, or how someone said something.
If the speaker is Christ, this effect is vastly more far-reaching.
Human Words vs The Living Word
When we listen to Christ’s words, we will know the words but not The Word. We will have learnedness but not knowledge.
It is just like the difference between merely recognising a person by his face, and actually understanding the nature of that person through intense interaction with him.
It is only when we put The Word into practice that we will begin to experience the essence of It.
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This is so because of the nature of The Word:
The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life.
— John 6:63
Life can only be appreciated by the living of it.
Human words are not alive – they do not contain life of themselves. They can be immediately grasped by the brain, which also does not have life of itself.
But Christ’s Word contains life, and therefore is not primarily grasped by the brain but by the living spirit of man.
This speaks to a principle of Homogeneity, which we shall address further at an opportune time.
But our spirits fully grasp such living words only through living them, experiencing them i.e. living activity.
In practicing our growing understanding we will gain life experiences.
These life experiences will give us true knowledge and allow The Word to work in us, refining our inner nature. This is a process of becoming born anew.
If any man will come after me,
— Luke 9:23
let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily,
and follow me.
When we allow these life experiences to educate us and to refine our innate nature so as to make us more spiritual beings we can be said to “know” The Word, and not merely the words.
Today’s Resolution
- We shall seek to understand The Word, not only by book study but by daily application.
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