Paul teaches us that “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” And of course, I’ve always believed that the “word” he was referring to was the Bible. But then the Lord showed me that at the time of his writing, most of the New Testament was not yet written, and certainly not put together and arranged in the book we now recognize as our Bible. So naturally I wondered, if there was little written word of God available to people at that point in time, what is “word of God” that Paul was referring to? The Lord then suggested the better question would be; who is the Word of God? I immediately remembered John referring to the ‘Word’ that was made flesh, and dwelt among us…full of grace and truth.
So, the Word was made flesh, and our Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. But how do I hear the Word? Looking up the word for ‘hearing’ in the Greek (akouo), I found that part of the definition really meant to ‘give ear to a teaching or a teacher‘. There it was…an illustration was born: College students enroll in courses and they buy corresponding text books for their classes. Then they will attend classes and meet with professors who will, hopefully, bring greater insight to the required text book readings. Often times, students can even visit with the instructors after class or during office hours for extra one on one attention. Good professors will even group them together in smaller groups so that they can better learn from one another and apply together what he taught them in class through lab experiments or real life projects.
Jesus was the instructor of the truth and His apostles were His students. Their classroom was the relationship they shared as they walked together through the classroom of their lives in this world. Now we are invited into that same intimate relationship with Him, much like the one He had with His own apostles through the classroom of our own lives. We can hear the same truth, which the apostles were taught…not just from a book…even the Bible, but directly from the mouth of the living Word Himself…Jesus. Does this mean we throw out the Bible? Of course not. Do students throw out their text book when they take a class? With the help of his Holy Spirit, Jesus can reveal the true meaning of the Bible to us.
Furthermore, Jesus would like to join us in our assemblies, so that we can share and apply what we learn from both the enlivened pages of the Bible, as well as the Biblically sound new revelation inspired by the Holy Spirit. We can then walk out those truths in our lives by living as Jesus lived; teaching others what the Lord showed us, sharing the good news of Salvation with others, and yes…even allowing His Holy Spirit to heal all manner of sickness and disease among us and through us.