John 1:1 mentions two great items—God, and Christ as the Word. Verse 4 says, “In Him was life.” John 6:63 says, “It is the Spirit who gives life.” The Spirit and life are two more great items. Of these four great items, three are the Triune God—God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Spirit—and the fourth is the Triune God being life to us. Moreover, God is Christ (v. 1), God is the Spirit (7:39), Christ is the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17), Christ is life (Col. 3:4), and the Spirit is life (John 6:63; 1 Cor. 15:45; Rom. 8:2). Thus, God, Christ, the Spirit, and life are all one. These four items are invisible, abstract, and mysterious; however, they are all embodied in the word of God in the Bible, which is visible and tangible. In order to find God, Christ, the Spirit, and life, we must go to the Word.
To explain how the word is the embodiment of God, Christ, the Spirit, and life, we may use the illustration of electricity. Electricity, which is powerful and mysterious, is brought into buildings through wires. Wherever the wires go, there is electricity. Just as the wires embody and transmit electricity, the word conveys God, Christ, the Spirit, and life. If we read a few verses with an open heart and a spirit of prayer, we will sense something within. What we will sense is God, Christ, the Spirit, and life.
Christians need to daily contact the Lord, be touched by the Spirit, and receive more life. We can do this by touching the Word, just as we can receive and apply electricity simply by switching on a light or an appliance. Once wires are installed in a building, we do not need to call the power plant every time we need electricity. We only need to use the switch to receive the electricity. How wonderful that today God in Christ as the Spirit is embodied in the Bible. The divine word in the Bible is the “wire” that embodies and conveys God, Christ, the Spirit, and life. The Bible as God’s breath (2 Tim. 3:16) conveys God, Christ, the Spirit, and life into our being, just as a wire conveys electricity into a building. We need to daily take in the word in the Bible to have it “installed” and “switched on” so that God, Christ, the Spirit, and life may be transmitted into our being. Many of us can testify of experiencing the wonderful fact that God, Christ, the Spirit, and life are embodied in and conveyed by the Word.
The Bible is the divine revelation, but it is also more, for it not only allows us to see God but also conveys God into our being. Jeremiah 15:16 says, “Your words were found and I ate them.” God’s word is edible; it is our food (Matt. 4:4). The Bible is not only for us to know and understand but also for us to eat. We do not need to fully understand our food before eating it. Whether or not we understand God’s word in the Bible, we need to eat it, for it is rich food that embodies God Himself. The Lord said, “I am the living bread which came down out of heaven,” and “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (John 6:51, 57). In order to live by food, we need to eat it, not understand it. We live by our food when our whole being is revived and energized after we eat. We are nourished with spiritual riches and supplied with life by eating the word in the Bible.
The Bible, which is good for food, is composed of three basic elements—Christ, the death of Christ, and the resurrection of Christ. The entire Bible is constituted with these three elements. Whether a portion of the Bible appears to be a history, a psalm, a parable, a type, or an exhortation, the main elements are always Christ, His death, and His resurrection. Whether we read a chapter from Genesis, Psalms, Matthew, or Ephesians, we will receive Christ, the cross, and resurrection.
If we do not eat healthy food, germs will multiply in our body, and we may become sick. First Corinthians 1:18 mentions the word of the cross. The word of the cross is the killing element in the Bible that destroys the spiritual germs in us. The word of the cross kills our flesh, our natural man, our temper, our disposition, our self, and our selfish intentions. The whole book of 1 Corinthians is the word of the cross, because Paul wrote it to deal with the many problems in the church in Corinth. For example, 1:12-13 was written to deal with dissenting, divisive thoughts.
Healthy food also contains a nourishing element. The nourishing element is the supply of vitamins. The Bible is both a killing book and a nourishing book. Philippians 2:16 mentions the word of life. The word of the cross is the killing element, and the word of life is the nourishing element. Philippians is a book of resurrection, full of the nourishing word of life (1:20-21a; 3:10-11; 4:13).
When we read the Bible, we should receive not mere knowledge, teachings, or doctrines but the basic elements of Christ, His death, and His resurrection. For example, we may pray-read Colossians 2:6-8. Christ, His death, and His resurrection are all in these verses. Verse 6 says, “As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him.” To be under the light that we should walk in Christ is to receive the killing element. We may be convicted that we have been walking in the self much more than we have been walking in Christ. If we pray-read this verse in the morning, we may be reminded throughout the day to walk in Him. The phrase walk in Him kills our flesh. Perhaps our desire for a certain kind of entertainment will be killed. We may be inwardly convicted for talking too much. This is not an outward admonishing but the receiving of a killing element from God’s word. The proper reading of the Bible is not simply to gain some understanding but to receive a killing word.
Verse 7 is a nourishing word full of resurrection: “Having been rooted and being built up in Him, and being established in the faith even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” Verse 8, another killing word, says, “Beware that no one carries you off as spoil through his philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ.” The more we pray-read this verse, the more of the killing element we will receive. Philosophy, empty deceit, the tradition of men, and the elements of the world will all be killed by this word. Verse 8 ends by bringing us back to Christ. Thus, when we read Colossians 2:6-8, we receive Christ, His death, and His resurrection.
Our reading of the Bible should be not merely to learn doctrines and teachings but to receive the basic elements of Christ, His death, and His resurrection. When we come to a meal, we do not come mainly to read menus and recipes but to eat the food. When we come to the Bible, we should not use only our mind to acquire knowledge; rather, we should exercise our whole being to take in Christ, His death, and His resurrection. In this way we will receive the killing and the nourishing elements in the word.
Receiving the killing and nourishing elements in the word produces a healthy spiritual metabolism. Physical metabolism includes a breaking down, called catabolism, and a building up, called anabolism. Likewise, our spiritual metabolism functions to break down, or kill, the old things and to supply us with new life. The killing element in the word tears down, and the nourishing element builds up. We will have a healthy spiritual metabolism if we daily come to the Bible to receive the healthy word.
Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.” The word dwell means “make home.” In this verse the words teaching, admonishing, and singing modify the verb dwell, indicating that the way to allow the word of Christ to dwell in us is by teaching, admonishing, and singing. The more we teach, admonish, and sing, the more the word of Christ will make home in us.
Ephesians 5:18-19 says, “Be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord.” This verse shows that our speaking and our singing should be not from our mind but from our heart and our spirit. Letting the word of Christ make home in us is a matter not of remembering with our mind but of exercising our spirit.
Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:18-19 show that our reading of the Bible should become our singing. The highest way to enjoy reading the Bible is to sing the words with a spontaneous melody. This is a sweet experience. Instead of merely memorizing the words of the Bible, we should sing them.
Eating the word in the morning by pray-reading and sing-reading verses will result in a healthy spiritual metabolism for the whole day, killing the negative things in our being and nourishing our inner man to grow and be empowered. The proper way to live the Christian life is to contact the word in the Bible, which embodies God, Christ, the Spirit, and the divine life. We can read, pray, and sing the word to receive the elements of Christ, His killing death, and His nourishing resurrection. As a result, we will walk with the Lord and in the Lord, always experiencing the killing and the nourishing, the operating of death and life (2 Cor. 4:12). This is the Christian life.