© Copyright Steven Ring 1994 - 1998 all rights reserved.
This document is copyright and should not be stored, copied or duplicated in any form without the prior permission of the copyright owner in writing.
Author: Steven R. Ring B.Sc.
Email: (Can be constructed as follows:) 'steven' then a dot, then 'ring' and then '@ieee.org'
Various versions of the bible are referenced by mnemonics in the text. Prior copyright rights are gratefully acknowledged as follows:
[NIV] New International Version, as follows: Scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission.
[NASB] New American Standard Bible, as follows: Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 Used by permission.
[AV] Authorised Version, rights owned by the British Crown, Crown patentee.
[RSV] The Revised Standard Version, Copyright 1946, 1952 and 1971 National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. As follows: Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[THE MESSAGE] Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996. Used by permission of the NavPress Publishing Group.
These books have been written over many years. They contain the fruits of my experiences as well as many hours of thought and careful study. My objective in this project has been to strip away the traditional man-made 'decoration' that obscures much of the truth contained in the scriptures. Over the last twenty centuries, many parts of the scriptures have been 'forgotten' because they did not fit with the thinking or practice of the day. From time to time over this period, 'forgotten' scriptures have been 'remembered,' during revivals, reforms and great spiritual awakenings. Unfortunately, these truths were remembered only to be forgotten once again. The trouble with large amounts of forgotten scripture, is that plenty of non-scriptural ideas and traditions have been pasted in to fill the gaps. As a result, our ideas about the Personality of Christ, His mission and the substance of many of His teachings have diverged significantly from the record that we still have, but largely fail to understand. Old - school 'realist' painters were taught to avoid problems of perception and to paint what they saw, not what they knew to be there. Largely, we see what we know to be there, and no questions are asked about what might really be there. I have allowed myself to be puzzled by the scriptures that I have read. I have tried not to ignore the nuances of the text that seem to be strange or out of step with my own time. I have thought long about the puzzling things I have seen and prayed to understand them. Also, I have wondered at differences of experience between the characters that met Jesus long ago, for they were all differently affected by believing in Jesus. I have also striven to understand my own experiences of real life as a Christian today in the light of their lives long ago and the teachings of Jesus Christ. Though, as I said, much thought has been sunk into this work, these writings are not merely an intellectual thesis. Thinking can be a spiritual as well as an intellectual faculty, and most of what I now understand was not taught by men, (Jeremiah 31 v 33 - 34, 1 Corinthians 2 v 10). Instead, this work is a devotional work dedicated to the honour of Jesus Christ and in veneration of His continuing words and life. This work will have succeeded only if it honours Jesus and correctly reflects His word. No work honours Him otherwise.
The Christian faith is not a religion and Jesus never intended it to become one. The essence of Jesus' message is that He is God, come to achieve what religion and more especially, what religious behaviour cannot possibly achieve - real moral change and salvation for individuals. It has not been easy to make the modern Christian religion out of Christ's teachings. Christ's teachings contain few clear moral instructions, making it difficult to construct a rule system. Instead, Christ's teachings emphasize internal moral change achieved by God himself with the active consent of the individual. The lack of a structured moral code is immediately a problem for the DIY religion-builders, because a clearly defined moral code is fundamental to any effective religion. A moral code is necessary to provide disciplined structure to the lives of believers, to provide distinctive religious identity and to recognize those who must be excluded from the religion on moral grounds. Also, Christ's teachings put God firmly in the driver's seat and specifically forbid the formation of a human command hierarchy. This is also very inconvenient for the DIY religion builders, because a human command hierarchy is a particular factor necessary for the leadership and cohesive organization of any human religion.
English law illustrates the pain and difficulty that awaits anyone who tries to make a rule system or a religious moral code out of the teachings of Jesus. For example, in English law it is difficult to define clearly when a man and woman can be considered to be legally married. This remarkable legal difficulty contributed to the progress of the Reformation, the English split with Rome and to the many wives and murders undertaken by Henry VIII and to the murders that are being perpetrated today as part of the sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. This important legal ambiguity exists due to a conspicuous lack of clarity about the definition of marriage in the New Testament. This is not a failure of the New Testament, or of its transmission over time, it is our failure to understand the mission of Jesus.
Despite difficulties in its construction, modern Christianity is a formidable world religion. It has been constructed by human hands and contains many ideas of human origin mingled with genuine threads from Christ's teaching. The later human inputs were thought necessary to make the religion understandable in purely human terms and so that Divine interventions would not be required to make it work. The religious effectiveness of modern Christianity has been achieved at the cost of the fundamentals taught by Jesus. Most of Christ's teaching is irrelevant to modern Christianity because His teaching was never intended to be understood within the framework of human ideas that make up modern Christianity. Also, those who have adopted the modern Christian religion can find it hard to understand the Bible, because what they read in the Bible is as alien to modern Christianity as modern Christianity is alien to the teachings of Jesus. Do you have difficulty making sense of the Bible, despite going to church and practising your faith? Have you ever wondered why? These books will provide you with some exciting and unexpected answers!
For the reasons stated above and others elaborated upon within these books, modern Christianity bears only a superficial resemblance to the teachings of Christ. The modern Christian religion retains just enough resemblance to usurp the credibility and glory of Jesus Christ, but no more. It is not difficult to scratch the thin veneer of the modern Christian religion to see how superficially it resembles Christ's teachings, just as I have started to do above. The DIY religion builders even made a muddle of the many basic historical details in the New Testament to do with the life of Jesus Christ. Take the modern church calendar for example: Jesus was probably not born on 25th December, the best evidence we have indicates His birthday was in early spring. He was certainly born before 0 AD, no later than 4 BC and most likely in the spring of 6 BC. Jesus was crucified and died on a Wednesday afternoon, certainly not on a Friday. The time of Jesus' death had nothing to do with the pagan festival of Easter but happened during the time of the Jewish feast of Passover. Even the date of 'Easter' was an early DIY religion-building problem - today there are different dates observed by the Western churches and the Eastern Orthodox churches. Dig deeper and the differences between ancient fact and modern fiction start to become more obvious - and digging deeper is the substance of these books. In these books I have set out issues of significance to folk who truly want to follow Jesus and who simultaneously wish to avoid or escape from the muddle of the modern Christian religion that can sometimes obscure His greatness.
What Jesus taught was truly new, and there has never been anything like it since. He compared His teachings to new wine that could not be contained in old wineskins. He challenges us to place His new wine in new wineskins, that is, to understand and practise His word from the perspective and the powers supplied by a completely new kind of life - a life that only He Himself can give to us, (Matthew 9 v 14 - 17, Mark 2 v 18 - 22, Luke 5 v 33 - 39, John 1 v 12 - 13).
Since many of the things that God has made reflect His glory and eternal nature, I like to compare the study of scripture with the study of astronomy. The cosmos contains a diversity of features. From intricately detailed smaller features, like planetary nebulae and multiple star systems to wondrously beautiful large features like our view of our own Galaxy. There are bright stars that can be readily seen with the naked eye. There are also beautiful faint nebulae that contain various colours, but require patience to observe with a telescope and a camera. There are other features like vast but very distant clusters of galaxies that can barely be detected even with the largest and most advanced telescopes. Like the universe, the scriptures are of seemingly infinite depth and complexity - and there are many features in the scripture like there are in the universe that we cannot adequately explain. The teachings of scripture are the most obvious features that we can see when the bible is read. They are like the bright stars of the constellations that we can see with the naked eye. However, there are less obvious classes of objects in the 'universe' of scripture, one of which is appropriately called 'mystery,' (Ephesians 1 v 9). These mysteries are the subject matter for the books I have written. If I were to attempt a brief definition of a 'mystery' from scripture, it would be based on Ephesians 1 v 9: The mysteries are the purposes of God that underlie His teachings in scripture.
Elaborating on this brief definition a little, the mysteries;
provide a coloured background for all the more visible 'stars' of biblical teaching - they help us to interpret God's teaching more fully and more accurately.
are useful to see how God's word fits together - they provide a kind of framework.
help us to understand more about God Himself, through a better understanding of His purposes and will.
Often, more than one of God's purposes relates to a single passage of scripture. The text refers to more than one mystery at the same time. When several mysteries overlap behind a single biblical text in this way, they give much power and many dimensions of connected meaning to the text because of the different underlying purposes of God. These unique properties of the scripture make it easy to read and profound in meaning at the same time, accessible and yet rich in depths of wisdom and power. An example of this property is given later in this introduction.
The significance of the mysteries as a framework upon which to hang the teachings of scripture is that the mysteries come from the bible itself and therefore carry the same weight and authority as the rest of scripture. Part of their purpose is to provide a purely biblical framework for the harmony, order and cohesiveness of all scriptural teachings. On the other hand, the study of theology is merely intellectual - mankind trying to understand God on mankind's terms, trying to understand the supernatural with natural means. Theologies are necessarily non-biblical, frameworks invented by men for the interpretation and understanding of the scriptures. In my view theology is not a sensible way to approach the scripture. To approach the scripture with a theological viewpoint denies the central importance of the scriptures before the book is even opened. Because, if the scripture is God - breathed, (and it is) we cannot interpret it adequately from a human viewpoint. How can a creature understand the Creator? He made us, therefore He is necessarily far greater than we are. For us to try to comprehend the Creator's thoughts with our inferior reasoning is quite frankly absurd and doomed to frustration. Somehow we must get God's viewpoint to understand God's word. I am not advocating unreason, just that we can only reason about God with our spirit aided by the Holy Spirit. But first you need a spirit. Unless Christ has created a new spirit inside you, you will not have a spirit. Jesus is the only one who gives this new spiritual life to men as is explained later in this introduction and in much more detail in my book called 'The Mystery of Man.'
Beyond doubt, scripture is one of God's revelations of Himself. Since the greater part of God is beyond our ability to understand, it is no surprise that the scriptures contain great depths of wisdom and knowledge as well as the more easily understood truths. Mysteries are hidden in the depths of scripture, but they are only hidden in the sense that they are revealed by the Holy Spirit. According to the apostle Paul, it is the heritage of all believers to understand the mysteries and to comprehend biblical teachings in the light of them;
"we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification" [RSV](4) 1 Corinthians 2 v 7. See also 1 Corinthians 2 v 12 - 13 and Ephesians 3 v 18.
The books have been written to impart the secret and hidden wisdom of God, so far as He has shown it to me. These things are not only for me, but for the benefit of my brothers and sisters in Christ. I am sure that there is much more that could be revealed and I hope that my brothers and sisters will be encouraged to ask our God for more. If you are already a Christian, it might excite you to know that we are encouraged to keep our enquiring minds and to use them!
The mysteries of scripture are divided into clusters around major scriptural themes. Their purpose is to provide richness and depth of meaning to these central messages. For example, from the opening verses of John's gospel;
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." [RSV](4) John 1 v 1 and 14a
Taken simply, these statements proclaim the central messages about the divinity of Jesus and the fact that he became a man. Along with these simple messages, the Lord through His apostle John, was obviously building in more meaning about the nature and divinity of Jesus, but he does not precisely spell these out in this one quotation. However there is a mystery of the Person and nature of Christ that is more clearly understood from many hundreds of texts from all over the scripture. John both invokes this mystery and conveys elements of its profound meaning along with the simple truths he is announcing without burying the simple truth in detail and ruining its impact. As a result, the full meaning of this simple passage is hidden and its full treasures are dispersed throughout the rest of the bible. It is impossible for the unaided human mind to accurately and consistently decode these treasures of meaning, since to discover these meanings involves recognizing the key scriptures and associating them correctly. The recognition and association of scriptures in this way is not possible without the help of the Holy Spirit who authored them in the first place. God has deliberately organized the scriptures in this way, and has said as much in the scriptures themselves, (Luke 8 v 10 and 1 Corinthians 1 v 21).
Coming back to John's words, quoted above, to unpack some of the hidden meaning of this scripture. The structure of the text is deliberately similar to the structure of the first part of the creation account in Genesis. This connection is further reinforced by the Greek word logos that John uses, usually translated as, 'The Word' in English versions. This word does mean word, but it also means 'the reason why'. Using this Greek word, John is asserting that Jesus was the Speaker of the creation words, 'let there be ...' and that Jesus is the reason that everything came into existence. To take this a step further, the Hebrew words in Genesis, translated 'let there be... ' are derivatives of the Hebrew verb 'to be' that God adapted to form His own name 'I am that I am..' that He gave to Moses when He appeared to Moses in the burning bush. When God said this to Moses, He was identifying Himself as the Creator who spoke the 'let there be ..' words to create everything. John is boldly identifying Jesus as the very same One who spoke the words to create the universe and who spoke and revealed Himself to Moses. And so, I have begun to unpack some of the mysterious contents of the scriptures at the beginning of John's Gospel, but I could go much further. In this example, I have started to unpack a single scripture. However, the books that follow do not contain a great deal of exegesis, (many others have published exegetical works, and I am not trying to do the same). Instead the books reconstruct the mysteries of scripture, pieced together from large numbers of scriptures, sometimes appealing to the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek languages.
A careful search of the scriptures yields seven groups of mysteries. A catalogue and brief description of these is given below:
The mysteries of the Person and nature of God, including of the Father, His Son, Jesus the Christ and the Holy Spirit. This is called the mystery of Christ in the scripture, (e.g. Ephesians 3 v 4, Colossians 2 v 2 - 3, 1 Timothy 3 v 16).
The mystery of the gospel, and in particular of Christ as the mediator of God's salvation, (e.g. Romans 16 v 25 - 26, Galatians 1 v 11 - 12, Ephesians 6 v 19, and Colossians 4 v 3).
The mysteries of the person, nature and transformations of man. In particular the scriptures refer to the mystery of Christ in us, (e.g. Colossians 1 v 26 - 27) and of the hidden operation of the kingdom of God within a man, (e.g. Matthew 13 v 31 - 33, Mark 4 v 1 - 25).
The mysteries of the Church, called the 'Great Mystery', (e.g. Matthew 16 v 17 - 18, Ephesians 5 v 32, Revelation 21 v 10 ff..).
The mysteries of Lawlessness and the Man of Lawlessness, (e.g. Matthew 24 v 24, 2 Thessalonians 2 v 3 - 12, 1 John 4 v 3 and Revelation chapter 17).
The mysteries of Israel, (e.g. Romans 11 v 25).
The mysteries of the second coming of Christ, (e.g. Revelation 10 v 7 and 11 v 14 - 15). This includes the resurrection of believers, (e.g. 1 Corinthians 15 v 51 and Romans 8 v 19) and the new heaven and earth, (e.g. Isaiah 65 v 17 - 25, Romans 8 v 22, Revelation 21 v 5).
It is a property of the Christian faith that no participation is possible without an initial act of faith in Christ and that understanding largely comes after that act. This applies as much to our initial response to the good news as it does to our last act of obedience to Christ before we die. Anyone who wants to remain personally 'in control' without Jesus as their personal Lord would be dysfunctional in the kingdom of God, because operating within God's kingdom means submission to the wisdom of Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ requires that we put him first and follow Him and put our 'need to understand' in subjection at His feet. Yes, this does mean that the rationalism that is everywhere in our society and accepted without question in many churches is utterly incompatible with faith in Christ, for;
"For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe." [NIV] 1 Corinthians 1 v 21
But this does not mean that to become a Christian is to embrace unreason, far from it. Unreason is also incompatible with faith in Christ. It also says somewhere else:
"But the wisdom from above is first pure; then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy." [NASB] James 3 v 17
And;
".. but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." [NIV] 1 Corinthians 1 v 24
Becoming a Christian involves literally receiving Christ. And as we found out earlier, Christ is the 'reason why' everything exists and He has within Himself all truth and all wisdom about everything (The Greek word logos means 'the reason why', see John 1 v 1 where logos is usually translated into English as 'The Word'). With Christ we receive spiritual life and the ability to reason with our new spirit and the counsels of the Holy Spirit. Far from losing reason, we lose our old reason and gain a new one with every ability to reason better and from God's eternal point of view! But the new reason we receive is different to the reason we leave behind, quite different. The reason we leave behind is uninformed and futile. The reason we gain from Christ is informed and full of consideration for others, confidence in God and peace. The two 'reasons' are separate and distinct as James teaches in the wider context of the above quotation from his letter, (James 3 v 15 - 18). That there are two types of mind and two types of reason and the possibility of transformation from one mind to another is beyond dispute in scripture, for some more examples;
"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." [NIV] Ephesians 4 v 22 - 24
And:
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." [NIV] Romans 12 v 2
The discovery of an alternative way of reasoning with an alternative mind is one of the most momentous 'forgotten' scriptural teachings. It means that we are not limited by natural reason - we also have the possibility of supernatural reason through receiving Christ as Lord. One of the first things I need to point out is the reason for including this 'forgotten' teaching in the general introduction to my books about the mysteries of scripture. The reason is this; The mysteries of scripture cannot be apprehended by natural reason, and even if they could be understood in part, they are of no value to anyone who does not believe in Jesus and who is without the Holy Spirit. As Paul said;
"We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." [NIV] 1 Corinthians 2 v 12 - 14
In Christianity, Christ is king! An understanding of the Christian faith depends on the Person and will of Christ, (John 14 v 6). For example; it is possible to accept that the sayings of God in the scripture are true even if at first we do not understand them. It is possible and reasonable to accept them, because we can decide to trust and rely on the integrity and faithfulness of the One who speaks. Furthermore, starting from such faith we can ask God for an explanation and expect to receive one. Provided we trust and rely on Him, God has promised not to reproach or deny anyone who asks Him for an explanation! When we receive explanations from God, the bible calls this revelation. However, for those who doubt God, there is no way to understand the substance of anything in the Christian faith, for:
"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." [NIV](9) James 1 v 5 - 8. Interestingly, the Greek word translated 'double-minded' actually means 'two souled'. The significance of this is discussed further in the 'Mystery of Man' book.
Secondly, it is important to realize that knowing about God based on faith and sincere enquiry is not the same as knowing him personally. Employing trust and reliance on God again, it is necessary to progress forward from revelation about Him to knowing God personally. However there is a problem, our sins make this impossible! (Isaiah 59 v 1 - 2) It is irrelevant how we feel about the goodness of our lives. It is what God thinks that matters, because He will be the judge! (Revelation 20 v 11 - 15) In fact, God knows our sins. He knows that our sins will damn us to hell, (Ecclesiastes 7 v 20; Romans 3 v 23). He also loves us to excess, (John 3 v 16). He decided to show that love by shedding His own blood and by dying on a Roman cross so that we might have a way to have those sins of ours forgiven, (Romans 5 v 6 - 11). God has given a specific Way forward for those who wish to know Him personally and experience His grace in forgiveness, conversion and salvation. The Way is;
To repent, (Matthew 4 v 17). Repentance is an active word [1] and refers to two vigorous and forthright actions. Firstly repentance is all about coming to Jesus on His terms, not ours. Repentance means to understand the gravity of our sins from the cross of Christ and to acknowledge that our past deeds and beliefs, (both good and bad! Isaiah 64 v 6) have been wrong and unacceptable to God and to ask His forgiveness for our past life spent serving our own lusts (1 John 1 v 9). Secondly, repentance means to grasp our inability to achieve true holiness by our own efforts and to ask Jesus to change us inside and reform our behaviour and beliefs in accordance with the will of God and to give us a hunger for His righteousness, (Isaiah 57 v 15 - 19, Matthew 5 v 6, Romans 5 v 10).
To believe in Jesus, (John 6 v 28 - 29). To believe is also an active word. To believe in Jesus means to be convinced of the power of His sacrificial death on the cross to take away your past sins and to rely upon the forgiveness He bought for you and His power to change you. If you keep coming to Jesus and keep asking Him, He will progressively sanctify you and change your life from the inside out by the power of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus will send into your soul, (Luke 11 v 11 - 13, John 14 v 15 - 17). Thus, faith in Jesus consists of both credence and reliance. It involves both believing the word of Christ, and relying on the power of His Holy Spirit.
To become a disciple of Jesus by being baptized into Jesus, (Matthew 21 v 28 - 32, Romans 6 v 1 - 4). To be baptized into Jesus is described by Paul as being baptized into his death, (total immersion [1]) and to emerge to live Christ's resurrection life with him. [1] By being baptized, you ask God to clear your conscience from the guilt of past sins. God will free you from that guilt by His own power! But how? For those of us whose sins were paid for by Christ's death on the cross, God demonstrated our forgiveness when He raised our Saviour, Jesus from the grave after three days! (Romans 4 v 24 - 25)
If you do progress from a revelation about God to knowing Him personally, then you are not alone! You will have joined a community of people that God calls His Church, (Hebrews 12 v 22 - 24, 1 Peter 2 v 1 - 10). It is very important to get in touch with other believers who can teach you and help you make further progress in the Christian life, (1 Peter 2 v 2 - 3). The Church can be distinguished from its many imitations, as a living community whose life and practice are based squarely on Christ's actual presence and His constant provision of grace through the Holy Spirit to each member of the Church, (1 Peter 2 v 4 - 10). It is very important to carefully and humbly test a church to verify whether Christ is truly at the centre of its life or not. Remember; what is done by a church and the attitude of the people towards each other are always more reliable indicators of a church's true condition than the written beliefs it professes.
Thirdly and finally, the scriptures teach that knowledge can tend to make us arrogant, (1 Corinthians 8 v 1). But if scriptural knowledge does cause arrogance it is because we have tried to understand without the aid of the Holy Spirit. Without the love of God in our souls, all such knowledge is completely useless, (1 Corinthians 13 v 2). It is also written, (James 4 v 6) that God opposes the proud and instead gives grace to the humble. So that if we truly seek the aid of the Holy Spirit then the Lord has promised to give His grace for us to understand the scripture. The prophet Daniel is an example of a believer who became wise through humbling himself and asking questions of God. God answered his questions:
'And he said to me, "O Daniel, man greatly beloved, give heed to the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent you." While he was speaking this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, "Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your mind to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words." ' [RSV] Daniel 10 v 11 - 12
Becoming someone of wisdom and knowledge, who can understand the depths of truth therefore involves knowing Christ and communing frequently with Him. It involves humbling ourselves to be taught by Christ and then living according to the light that He gives us, (James 1 v 23 - 25). If others then choose to imitate us, they will not fall into a pit with all the other blind experts and teachers of the law. And along with all the wisdom of Christ, they will have His love, His meekness, His faith and all the fullness of God.
Speaking to some 'blind guides' and experts in the law, (that is, experts in the Old Testament, mainly the first five books of the bible), Jesus emphasised the importance of knowing Him. He said,
"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." [NIV] John 5 v 39 - 40
So that eternal life is not in knowing the scripture, but in knowing Jesus Christ. Many today make the same mistake as the people Jesus was speaking to. They emphasize scriptural book work rather than its application to find Christ, and there is nothing more important in the universe than knowing Christ our Creator. Studying the testimony of the scripture is only beneficial to us as long as we act on that testimony. By acting on the testimony in the scripture we cross the great divide separating this present age from the kingdom of God, the divide separating spiritual death from spiritual life.
"Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words"; Vine, W. E., Publ. MacDonald ISBN 0-917006-03-8