Reference: II Corinthians 3:6
In the sixth verse of II Corinthians and the third chapter, which is our text above, the apostle Paul is making adistinction between the letter of the word and the spirit of the word. I amafraid that most people today has been receiving the letter of the wordthinking they have been receiving the spirit of the word.
Now Paul tells us that the letter of theword killeth, but the spirit maketh or giveth life. The letter of the word willkill, meaning that it will not quicken you and give you spiritual life. Thewritten word by itself cannot give a person spiritual life simply because itwill only give a person a mental knowledge of what is being said and will notperform a spiritual work and transform your life in the least.
Just to receive the letter of the word isno different than reading a newspaper and remembering what you have read. Theletter of the written word of God will only give you a carnal knowledge of whatthe Bible says, but this knowledge is not the knowledge that the Bible speaksabout that will have a spiritual transforming effect on your life.
Now the Bible makes statements that theaverage person cannot understand. One such statement is found in John 8:30-32 which says thatif we continue in God's word, then we would know the truth and the truth wouldset us free. Now what Jesus meant by knowing the truth is not understood but bya very few today. To know the truth that will set a person free is not just knowingwhat the Bible reveals about a certain subject such as the truth concerningwater baptism or any other subject that the Bible teaches. A person can hearthe truth being preached, but just to hear it will certainly not set them freeand justify them. We are told that the hearers of the word will absolutely notbe justified, but rather it's the hearers and the doers of the word that willbe justified.
Now according to this statement a personcan be a hearer of the word alone and not being a doer of the word. Now if youare a hearer of the word only this simply means that you are hearing the truthpreached, but you are not doing what the word tells you to do.
There are three types of people that theword of God describes. One type are those who not only hear the word, but theyalso do what it says. The other type are those who hear it, but fail to do whatit says. The last type are those who are hearing and receiving the letter ofthe written word.
Those that receive the letter of the word are those who may have a very goodknowledge of what the Bible says, but this does nothing as so far as changingtheir life spiritually. All that the letter of the word will do for a person isto give them a mental knowledge of what the Bible says, but it cannot convertthem and spiritually transform their life.
Those who hear the truth, but fail to be adoer of the word are those who may be able to tell you what the Bible teachesabout a certain subject, but they themselves are not being spirituallytransformed by the renewing of the mind.
When Jesus said that we would know thetruth if we continue in his word, he meant that the truth would set us free ifwe are doers of it. The truth of God's word will have no effect whatsoever on aperson if they do not possess the Spirit of God in their heart.
A person may be able to hear the truthwith their natural ears, but unless the Spirit of God quickens that word totheir heart and mind then the word will absolutely profit them nothing. If youattempt to tell a person what the Bible says without them being a trueconverted person that has the Spirit of Christ in them you might just as welltalk to a brick wall.
Now I would say that there are many morepeople that are receiving and hearing the letter of the word preached thanthere are of those who are hearing the truth being preached. There are manypeople confessing to be a christian in the denominational churches that are notfully following what their church teaches. These type of people are hearers ofthe letter of the word and not doers of the word simply because the letter ofthe word does not instruct the people what to do.
The letter of the word is mostly made upof what Jesus did or said, but there is no life giving substance whatsoever inthis type of preaching. Listening to the average preacher or Bible teachertoday and all you can hear are things concerning what Jesus did or what he saidor else what the apostles did or said.
You won't be able to find a people thatactually teach and preaches Christ, because to preach Christ means the same aspreaching the truth. To teach and preach the truth means to proclaim therevelation of the word and not the letter of the word . The revelation of theword and the letter of the word are very much two different things altogether.
The letter of the word is what the naturaleye can see and what the natural ear can hear, but the revelation of the wordis what only the spiritual ear can hear and the spiritual eye can see. Jesustold Nicodemus that a man cannot see the kingdom of God unless he is bornagain. To see the kingdom of God can only be seen and known by the spiritualeye and the spiritual mind.
The letter of the word must be studied,but it's the Spirit that must reveal its truths to you or else you will nevertruly know the truth, which is Christ. Christ can only be revealed to you bythe revelation of the Holy Ghost as he reveals this to you after you have readand studied the scriptures. The average preacher today reads the letter of theword attempting to teach its meaning thinking that the Spirit gives them aspiritual understanding to what they read. This is not devine revelation, butit's rather an interpretation of the letter of the word.
The reason why people take and rely on theletter of the word is simply because they can't see the truth about howsalvation is received in a progressive manner as the Spirit reveals it to themfrom the scriptures. Paul tells us that we wait for the hope of righteousnessby faith through the Spirit. (Galatians 5:5)
Waiting for the hope of righteousnessthrough faith and the Spirit simply means that it will be revealed to us afterwe have studied the scriptures. Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:13 thatwe are sealed with the holy Spirit of promise "after" we hearand believe the truth of the gospel.
Just knowing what the Bible says hasabsolutely nothing to do with salvation whatsoever. You may be able to quotehundreds of scriptures, but this doesn't prove that you are a christian andtruly know Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Theonly way a person can know Christ in a personal way and experience the Spirit-filled life is to hear the truth and obey it. Your hearing and walking in truthwill eventually bring to reality that Christ is in you the hope ofglory.
Most people today just believe with themind that they are born again christians, but their life has not been changedin the least. This is a dead and blind faith and all they know is what theletter of the word says, but they don't know the truth and they won't take issuewith anyone that does know the truth.
The truth will not be received by mostpeople today simply because they think a person is a fanatic if they stress allemphesis on doctrine. All you can hear today is "just believe"...... Believewhat?