This is the sixth and the last lesson book of this series of six lesson books for the summer school of the truth. The first lesson book showed us God’s full salvation concerning how God saved us, the tripartite beings, in three stages for His purpose, the church. The second lesson book showed us Christ’s person and work and the Triune God. The third lesson book showed us the Holy Spirit and the human spirit, how the two are mingled, and how to live by the mingled spirit. The fourth book showed us the eternal life that we have received and how to experience it. The fifth book showed us the church universally and locally and how the church is to be built. This book explains what the Bible is, who wrote it, how it was written, the subject, the central thought, and the key sections. It also shows us that the Bible is proven to be the Word of God. The major portion of this lesson book reveals the Bible’s content, including the main topics and the content of each book. Finally, this book shows us what our proper attitude toward the Bible should be and how we may enjoy the Bible for our Christian life. We pray and hope that you will be helped to know the Bible and to know how to enjoy it.
[To edify a person spiritually, we must help him to know the Bible. In the past two thousand years, Christians all acknowledge that no one can truly know the Lord without knowing the Bible. We human beings are not merely a spirit. Although we have a spirit, we are not merely a spirit, but a human being. If we were a spirit only, then God would need to give us only His Spirit and not the Bible; however, since we are not a spirit only, He must also give us the Bible.
The spiritual inheritances God has given us are the Spirit which cannot be seen and the Bible which can be seen. Inside of us is the Spirit, and outside of us is the Bible. Christians throughout the ages can testify by experience that a proper Christian must be fully balanced in both respects—the Bible without and the Spirit within. These two aspects must be absolutely balanced. Any bias towards one side will result in serious problems. Among Christians throughout the ages, some have leaned toward the Spirit within which has resulted in great errors. Still more lean toward the Bible without. Seemingly they have not erred as much, yet among them there is a very serious condition of death. In other words, if there were only the Spirit within and not the Bible without, man would easily commit errors. Conversely, if there were only the Bible without while lacking the Spirit within, man would become extremely dead, altogether lifeless, and without any vitality.
Christians can be likened to a train. There needs to be the fuel inside as its energizing power. But a train needs to have tracks outside as well. If there is fuel within but no tracks without, the train would not be able to run. Even if it runs, problems will arise. However, if there are only the tracks without, but not the fuel within, the train may be on the right track, but it cannot move. Therefore, for a train to run, and to do so smoothly, there must be the coordination of two aspects: the inner aspect and the outer aspect. Outwardly, there must be the regulation of the tracks; inwardly, there must be the energizing of the fuel.]
[Therefore, we must put equal emphasis on the Spirit and the Bible; we must not neglect either matter. We must not overlook the Spirit within, neither can we despise the Bible without.]