Word and Spirit Together
Pastor Dave Monreal, Lead Pastor
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”
2 Peter 1:3-4
When I was young there was a commercial for Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups. It would have two people walking in opposite directions bump into each other. One person would be carrying a plain chocolate bar and the other (strangely) would be walking around with an open jar of peanut butter. When they bumped the chocolate bar gets plunged into the peanut butter and one would exclaim, “you got your chocolate in my peanut butter!” To which the other would respond, “You got your peanut butter on my chocolate!” They would each bite into the concoction and exclaim, “Delicious.” The announcer would chime in, “Two great tastes that go great together!”
My goal is not to talk about cringy old commercials or to say that Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups are delicious (they are!) but remind us that there are some things that ought to always go together and never be separated from one another. We believe in the inerrancy, necessity, clarity, and sufficiency of the Bible. That is to say that the Bible is without error when God communicated to the authors to write down his words. The Bible is also necessary for all of life and godliness. God has given us everything we need to know him, to walk with him, and to organize his people as the church. It takes effort to rightly understand it, but he has spoken clearly to us and does not contradict himself. Finally, the Bible is sufficient to answer all the questions we might have either directly by precept or in logical and necessary inference by principle.
We can only do this rightly when we are being led by God’s Holy Spirit to guide us in the right understanding of the word. Paul says, “For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:11) It is the Holy Spirit that knows the mind of the Father and he leads us and communicates that truth to us through the word. Jesus said, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17) God most often and most clearly speaks to us through the word by the Spirit. In this way we have clarity and certainty on the mind of God.
Word and Spirit should always go together and never be separated. If you seek the Spirit of God apart from the word of God, you will find yourself seeking after “signs” and falling into emotionalism. Sometimes people lean on impressions or feelings to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit without any consideration of Scripture. Without the Scripture’s guidance we have no certainty if what we felt is God’s leading or our own emotions. If you see the word apart from the Spirit, you will end up in a dry and dusty dead orthodoxy without life or vitality. We can be all head knowledge with no heart passion. Further, it is impossible to live out God’s word without the power of the Holy Spirit to give you strength. We err if we focus on one to the exclusion of the other because God intends for the Spirit to lead us into the truth of his word and the truth of his word to be lived out by the Spirit’s power.
One can debate whether chocolate and peanut butter taste better together. As followers of Christ, we must never separate word and Spirit but always see them together and in harmony. The Spirit will never lead you contrary to the word and the word will always be applied by the Spirit. The mature Christian will have both his head filled with the truth of the word of God and his heart set aflame by the Holy Spirit. The heat of God’s word (passion) and the light of God’s word (truth) should always be in proportion to one another. It is word and Spirit, always together, never apart.
