What we mean by Word and Spirit

Jesus pointed out that the so-called religious leaders of his own day spent their lives poring over every word in their scriptures (what we call the Old Testament), but failed to recognise him, the Saviour promised in those very writings (John 5:39,40). So it is quite possible to know the bible well and yet not understand who Jesus is.

We believe that God’s ‘Word’ only comes alive to us through the work of his Holy Spirit. Jesus told his followers that, when the Holy Spirit came to live within them, he would lead them into all truth (ref). Just before he left them to return to heaven, Jesus also told them to wait until they were ‘clothed with power from on high’ (Luke 24.49). This is why, in our Sunday gatherings we always take time after the Word is proclaimed, to invite God’s Spirit to minister to us; because we believe that everyone can experience what one of the writers of the New Testament described as having the Word of God living in us richly.