[The Spirit and the Bible are two sides of one matter. Similarly, in knowing the Bible, there are also two sides. Almost everything God ordained in the universe has two sides. For example, there is the heaven and the earth; there is male and female; there are two sides, the inside and the outside; there is the top and there is the bottom—these are all two-sided. For a person to know the Bible, it is the same. There is the need for the mind, and there is the need for the spirit. No one can know the Bible properly by neglecting either aspect of this. To know the Bible, one must be trained in the mind; he must also be exercised in the spirit.]
[Therefore, brothers and sisters, if we really want to know the Bible, we must be balanced. We must understand properly the letter of the Bible and must properly use our spirit to sense the spiritual meaning in the Bible. To read the Bible well, we must train our mind for this and, perhaps even the more, exercise our spirit for this. To train the mind is for the purpose of understanding the Bible. To exercise the spirit is for the purpose of touching and contacting the Bible. One is a matter of the mind; the mind has to understand the Bible. The other is a matter of the spirit; the spirit has to contact the Bible.
With the matter of electricity, to understand it is one thing, and to contact it is quite another. Understanding electricity is a matter of the mind, whereas contacting electricity is a matter of the body. Many times there is electricity, but a board insulates the body from it. Under such a circumstance, although a person’s mind may understand electricity, his body cannot contact it. In contrast, some people do not understand electricity at all, yet their bodies have actually contacted electricity. They are able to contact electricity because electricity is there, and because their bodies are not insulated from it. Once they touch it, they come into contact with it. This is a good illustration. Our relationship with the Bible is the same. For our mind to understand the Bible is one thing, and for our spirit to touch it, to contact it, is quite another. Perhaps your mind understands the Bible, but your spirit has not yet contacted or touched it. We must not only use our mind to understand the Bible; we must also use our spirit to contact it. It is not sufficient merely to understand the Bible with the mind; we must also contact and touch the Bible with the spirit.
Nevertheless, while we need to touch and contact the Bible with the spirit, it is also necessary to have the understanding in the mind. We must realize that the reason we want the mind to understand the Bible is so that our spirit can contact and touch its words. One thing is sure: it is difficult for our spirit to touch the words in the Bible without the words first passing through the understanding of the mind. This is true with the words in the Bible; it is also true with the word that is preached. Even the words in this chapter cannot touch your spirit without first passing through the understanding of the mind. Suppose I am here preaching in Chinese, and there is one sitting here who cannot understand Chinese. Nothing will get into this person’s mind. How can his spirit be touched? The truth must be grasped by the mind first before it will reach the spirit and touch the person. If there is a person here who is illiterate, and he opens up the Bible to read it, how can his spirit be touched? For his spirit to be touched by the Bible, he must put in some effort to first learn to read with his mind. He must at least be able to identify the words in the Bible before he can read it and be touched by it in his spirit. If we do not understand the words in the Bible, even if we pray for three hours with much inspiration, it will still be impossible for us to understand or be touched when we read the Bible, because its words cannot get through our mind. We must spend much time to learn the language with our mind before we can come to read the Bible. Only then will the words be able to get through our mind to touch our spirit.
Furthermore, the Bible itself is not that simple. One may know every word in the Bible but still not be able to understand its meaning. There are passages in the Bible that cannot be apprehended just by mere reading. The Bible has its own distinctive features and its own background knowledge. Many people with doctorate degrees and much learning open up the Bible to read it, only to find that, though they know every word, they cannot understand some of the passages because they do not comprehend the background knowledge or the special terms of the Bible. Since they do not understand them, it is difficult for them to be touched. Of course, there are certain passages, such as John 3:16, which present no technical difficulty in their wording. As long as one understands the words, a mere reading will be sufficient for the mind to grasp. However, there are many other places in the Bible that contain special problems in their wording. For example, there are specific names of people and places, there is the problem of the dispensation, the types, and the prophecies. In addition to these, there are numerous other matters such as numbers, allegories, and symbols. The ability to understand these specific expressions and terms definitely does not belong to someone who is merely literate or learned in worldly education.
This can be likened to the fact that though I am literate, I am entirely lost when presented with a book on electricity. I can read the words, but I do not understand their meaning because of the many specific terms. To understand a book on electricity, we must first study some of its special terms.
In the same principle, the words in the Bible may be quite common, yet they are very specific and contain many particular terms. If we have not been properly trained in these specific terms and technical matters, we will have a hard time understanding as we read. For example, John 1:17 says that the law was given through Moses. “The law” is a special term, and “Moses” is also a special name. Without a background for these two terms, even a hundred Ph.D.s put together would not be able to understand their meaning.
Hence, in order for a saved person to understand the Bible properly, he must spend time in the specific terms and wording and must be trained in his mind. With the training, the reading would be much facilitated. There would not be any difficulty when one encounters words such as “the law,” “Moses,” or “the shedding of blood for the remission of sins,” because one would already know these special terms. As soon as one reads them, they will be readily understood. The words of the Bible will immediately pass through the mind and will be touched by the spirit. Therefore, this time we will spend much time to look into the specific terms and wordings of the Bible. This aspect of training the mind is a preparation in helping us to use our spirit to contact and touch the Bible.]