Among Paul’s Epistles, 2 Corinthians stands out as the book that reveals more of his spirit than any other book. Other Epistles tell us the revelations that Paul received, but this Epistle reveals to us the very person Paul was. Other Epistles speak of his ministry, while this Epistle speaks of his person. It shows us the riches, purity, and meekness that lay within his spirit. He was more misunderstood by the Corinthians than by any others. The Corinthians were uninhibited in saying all kinds of things about Paul. Yet what clarity and purity we find in the spirit of Paul’s word to them. We can say that Paul’s spirit was more released through the Corinthians’ misunderstanding than through his trials which he faced in the last chapters of Acts. If we read through 2 Corinthians sentence by sentence, we will understand not only Paul’s thoughts but also his spirit. We will notice that even when he was rebuking, his spirit was not provoked. Only those who are full of love can rebuke others. If our spirit cannot match Paul’s spirit in 2 Corinthians, we may take his boasting to the Corinthians as a kind of complaint. But we should realize that while the words may be the same, the spirit can be totally different. Two persons can say the same thing and mean the same thing; they can even use the same terms. But their spirits can be very different.
We have listed only two examples. Throughout the Bible we can detect such a spirit. Some places are more obvious, while others are less obvious. Either we should give up reading the Bible altogether, or we have to bring our spirit up to the level of the spirit of the Bible. Moses went through many trials. If we have not entered into the spirit of these trials, we will not understand these portions. The book of Psalms is much deeper than the book of Jeremiah. If our spirit does not match the spirit of the psalms, we cannot understand them. The same holds true for the New Testament. If our spirit does not match the spirit in the books of the New Testament, we cannot understand them. Therefore, we have to learn some basic lessons before the Lord. We must be a spiritual person before we can read the Bible. We must be consecrated, and we must not be subjective, careless, or curious. We must have impressions of the facts, and we must enter into the thoughts of the Holy Spirit. After we have all of these, we still need more. Our spirit has to be up to the standard, and we have to be dealt with by the Lord to the point that we can identify with the spirit behind every portion of the Word. We must have this kind of spirit before we can understand God’s Word. If we do not touch the spirit, we will only have letters. We may even misunderstand God’s Word or turn the meaning all around. When a father speaks to his children, his children must touch the spirit of their father’s words. If they do not and then spread his words around, they may end up saying something entirely different. There is a spirit behind all the words of the Bible. If we neglect this spirit, we will not understand the feeling and the motive behind the words, and we will run the risk of missing the content of the speaking altogether. Let me repeat: If a man has not been dealt with by the Lord, it will be hard for him to read the Bible. We have to remember that the way to study the Word is to have our being dealt with by God.
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