In the four Gospels the disciples received the Word, but they did not yet receive the Spirit. It is after the four Gospels, in the Acts and the Epistles, that they received the Spirit. This means that the Word which the disciples received in the four Gospels was transferred into the Spirit, whom they experienced and contacted in the Acts and the Epistles. By this time the disciples dealt not only with the Word but also with the Spirit.
At the time of the Gospels the disciples did not have the New Testament. However, they still had and dealt with Christ as the Word. First John 1:1 says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life.” At that time, what Peter, John, and all the disciples heard, saw, handled, and dealt with was the Word. In his first Epistle, John did not say that they had seen the Son of God or Jesus Christ. Rather, they saw, heard, looked upon, and even handled the Word. This Word was not a composition written in black and white letters. This Word was a living Person, whom the disciples “read” day by day. This Person is the Triune God who was incarnated to be a man by the name of Jesus. This Jesus had many “stories” for the disciples to read. John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.” Peter, James, John, and all the early disciples beheld the glory of this living Person, and in this way they “read” Him.
From the time Peter, Andrew, James, and John were called, they started to “read” this living Person. Wherever they went with this Person, they beheld this Person and what He was doing. In this way they “read” Him for three and a half years. Once on the sea they experienced a violent storm. They were frightened by that storm, but this living Person as the living Word lay there still asleep (Matt. 8:24-25). When He awakened, He simply gave the order to the air and the water for the storm to stop (v. 26). Then the disciples marveled, saying, “What kind of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (v. 27). What they were doing at that time was reading the living Word.
Later, Peter, James, and John went to the mountain with the living Word, where they beheld Him further. All of a sudden His face was shining like the sun. Peter said, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You are willing, I will make three tents here, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah” (17:4). Peter did not read the living Word clearly, so he began to speak foolishly. Then a voice from heaven said, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight. Hear Him!” (v. 5). Moses and Elijah disappeared from view, leaving Jesus Himself alone. This was the way Peter read the living Word.
When they came down from the mountain, those who took up the temple tax came to Peter and asked him whether or not Jesus paid the tax. Peter replied, saying yes (vv. 24-25). When he came into the house, Jesus asked Peter, “From whom do the kings of the earth receive custom or poll tax, from their sons or from strangers?” It is as if Jesus said, “Do the kings on the earth collect tax from their own son? Did you not hear on the mountain that I am the Son of God? Why then did you tell the tax collectors that I, the Son of the King, have to pay the tax?” When Peter was corrected by the Lord, he may have wanted to say, “Then I am wrong. You should not pay the temple tax.” However, Jesus agreed to pay the tax, but not in a way that was easy for Peter. Peter had to do something difficult. The Lord said, “But that we do not stumble them, go to the sea and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. And when you open its mouth, you will find a stater; take that and give it to them for Me and you” (v. 27). Peter must have been very troubled. While he was throwing the hook into the sea, he may have said to himself, “I do not know from what direction the fish will come, and it must be a fish with a coin in its mouth. I simply cannot believe this. I have to learn the lesson. From now on I should not say anything. I should keep my mouth shut and not get involved.” It must have been the Lord’s intention at that time to educate the foolish Peter not to say anything when the tax gatherer came. He simply should have said, “Please wait. Let me go ask Jesus. I do not know anything, and I have no ground or right to say anything. Let the Master speak.” In this way Peter read much of the living Word.
According to the four Gospels, Peter may have read the Lord Jesus more than anyone else. After the Lord’s resurrection, when the day of Pentecost came, Peter stood up to speak. After being educated by the Lord, Peter did much talking, not in nonsense but in the Spirit and in life. We all must learn the way to read the Word. We should drop the traditional way of reading. The old way does not give any revelation; it gives only dead knowledge in black and white letters.