Page Three

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THE WORD OF GOD IS A LIVING THING
"For the word of God is living and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the division of soul and spirit,
and of the joints and marrow,
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
And there is no creature hidden from His sight,
but all things are naked and open to the eyes
of Him to whom we must give account."
Hebrews 4:12-13

The Greek word translated 'living' is a form that can be either literal or figurative. The natural man will read the Scripture and to him the words are figurative, open to question, and without power. He does not understand that, being unredeemed, he can not understand what he is reading. (1 Corinthians 2). The natural man will read 1 Corinthians 2, and he will fancy himself insulted by it because it says that there are people who not only know things which he doesn't know, but which he can not know. He overlooks the fact that he hasn't asked to know. James, the half brother of Jesus, tells the natural man that he does not have because he does not ask, or that he asks and does not receive because he asks wrongly, to spend it on his pleasure. (James 4).
The natural man also doesn't realize that the words that so insult him now will be his judge when he stands before God to give account of himself. Only the "thoughts and intents of the heart" will matter then, and the living word will cut him to pieces.

On the other hand there are those who have asked. They have recognized themselves for what they are: sinners with no hope whatever apart from the grace of God. They have confessed and repented and turned to God for healing, and God has done for them just as He said He would do: He has justified them through the blood of His dear Son and imputes (i.e. assigns) to them the righteousness of His Son, and He gives them new eyes, and new ears, and a new heart. For them the words on the page are no longer inanimate, but are truly alive. They surge out of the Scripture and infuse the believer with the knowledge of the things of God. The words no longer speak only to his brain, but to his heart. The believer will be cut apart by the word just as the unbeliever will be, but for the believer it is a surgical cutting. All that is worthless will be trimmed away so that in the great judgment the Word of God will be his advocate, not his judge.