“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life....“Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes. If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. But since you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”
In Jesus day, many religious leaders searched and studied the Scriptures. They had a high regard for Scripture. They believed and taught that Scripture was given by God and inspired by God. So, they memorized Scripture and quoted Scripture and argued Scripture. They immersed themselves in Scripture -and yet, they missed something vital that ended up condemning them instead of saving them. They missed that the entire Old Testament was pointing to the coming of Messiah (Jesus). As a result, they rejected Jesus, and having rejected their one hope of salvation, were by default condemned. A sad plight.
Today, many Christians have a similar issue with the presence and ministry of the Holy Spirit. Believing that all we need is Scripture, they immerse themselves in Scripture, memorize Scripture, argue Scripture, quote Scripture, and yet still deny what the Scriptures themselves tell us concerning the Holy Spirit. Nobody reading Scripture could ever come to the conclusion that all we need for effective ministry and godly living is Scripture -the Scriptures don't teach that. The Scriptures teach us and show us about lives lived in intimate communion with the Holy Spirit, receiving intimate and personal revelation through prayer, healing the sick through the laying on of hands, living in the everyday prophetic -words of knowledge and wisdom and insight, etc. This is all part of what sets Christianity apart from every other world religion. This is the difference between religion and relationship. The Holy Spirit actually indwells us -lives in us. Why would any Believer want to deny the awesome, intimate power that is inherent in the reality of God in us?
Scripture is wonderful. It is God's word. It is a gift from God. It is useful for such things as teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. Scripture is from God, but it is not God. It is not incidental that God's plan for His people includes the Holy Spirit in us ministering to us and through us. This reality makes it possible for us to literally be the Body of Christ.
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