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Word Gems
exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
The Bible itself differentiates between the
written scripture and the word of God within
return to the main-page article on "Bible"
Preview and Summary: Markings on a page, 22 consonants and 5 vowels, cannot hope to encompass the sum and substance of ultimate reality, the God of the Universe. Jesus' own words, part of what we call the Bible, point out the difference between a written document discussing the concept of God and that to which it points, the actual experience of God.
In the following passage, the Bible itself offers distinction between "scripture" and "God's word" within:
John 5: 37-40 "[speaking to his enemies, Jesus said] You do not have his word abiding in you... you search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life."
Notice the contrast: the written "scriptures" versus "his word living in you," this latter as the "holy spirit," the "purified consciousness," leading and guiding one's thoughts.
Jesus chided his enemies for attempting to find the unfathomable God of Eternity and the Universe in mere written words, little marks on a page: "in them you think you have eternal life" - as opposed to the authentic experience of finding God within one's own soul and consciousness.
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Great spiritual teachers of other religious traditions have taught the same. Consider the first verse, the opening words, of Lao-Tzu's Tao Te Ching:
The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The written words of the Tao, on a page, in a book, are not the true Tao. And the written words of the Bible do not constitute the primary word of God.
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