“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual”―1 Cor. 2:12,13.
THE Bible not only contains the Word of Gad, but it is the Word of God (John 1a:35; 2 Cor. 2:17; 4:2; Heb. 4:12). That is, it is, throughout, a divinely given revelation of the mind of God, as to man and the world at large, and as to the plan of redemption. This is communicated in the very words that the Holy Spirit taught (1 Cor. 2:13). As we read the Holy Scriptures we may be certain that it is the Lord who speaks throughout, in every book and every chapter. As we study this Word we gain the knowledge of God and learn to know His power and grace as we could never learn them by contemplation of His creation, great and wonderful as it is. To surrender this Word, to turn away from its sure testimonies, is to be left to drift in the darkness without certainty of any kind.
“The Spirit breathes upon the Word,
And brings the truth to sight;
Precepts and promises afford
A sanctifying light.
A glory gilds the sacred page,
Majestic, like the sun;
It gives a light to every page; —
It gives, but borrows none
The hand, that gave it, still supplies
The gracious light and heat;
Its truths upon the nations rise, —
They rise, but never set.”
―William Cowper.