Hi all,
Is Bible study the main way you know the Lord, or is it supplemental to your faith?
If you said Bible study is the main way you know the Lord, your priorities may not be in line with New Testament realities. Even though you said the Bible is the main way you know the Lord, in this study I’ll show you the truth in your life is probably different from what you think. But first….
They had no New Testament in print
On the day of Pentecost the Old Testament was in place. But there was no New Testament to which believers could turn. It was about 10 years before Matthew was written. Paul’s letters weren’t written until the 50’s and 60’s. The gospels of Mark, Luke, and Acts came around the time of Peter and Paul’s deaths in the early 60’s. The gospel of John, his 3 letters, and The Revelation were written between the years 90 and 100 – at least 60 years after Pentecost.
Our New Testament wasn’t organized into what we have today until the year 393 at the Council of Hippo. 393AD was 360 years AFTER Pentecost. (Hippo is a city in Algeria, North Africa. Remember, the gospel went to Africa before it went to Europe. Acts 8: 27-40. It is not a ‘white man’s religion)
How did believers grow in the Lord during those 360 years without a New Testament? The letters from Paul, Peter, James, John and Jude were circulating in the Roman Empire in the first 100 years after Pentecost, but this was before the printing press. Individuals did not own scripture. On the few occasions it happened, someone with part of one of the letters might come to their (house) church.
Think it through – no New Testament, no study of the New Testament.
They had no means of learning about the Lord other than the Old Testament and the few bits and pieces of stories of those who had either been with Jesus or knew someone who had been – and that for only part of the first century before all died.
They didn’t know the Lord through scripture.
They knew Him by His presence in their spirit. They had been trained to first perceive His Spirit in their spirit. “The Holy Spirit bears witness with our Spirit we are the children of God.” Romans 8:16.
They had to walk with the Lord in their daily lives. Conversational prayer. Times set aside for prayer. They had to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit in their spirit. It is no wonder Jesus said in John 17:3:
“This is eternal life. To know you the only true God, and your son Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
Do you know your Father and Lord? Or do you know ABOUT them? Consider that it was in this time of no New Testament that Christianity spread to saturate the Roman Empire. They were extremely successful without a single New Testament!
This is why today we have solid believers afraid for their salvation. They read a verse and they are afraid they will be rejected. Someone comforts them and shows them they are born again, and they have peace for a time – until they find another verse to feed their fear. IF they laid their Bible down for a few weeks and focused on knowing Christ in them, knowing the Spirit of God within, their fear would have no foothold. No opening. Why? Because they can then say to the fear, “I know Him! I know I am saved and won’t be rejected. I know Him and have His peace in my spirit!”
In the first 360 years they didn’t need a chapter and verse to turn to in leading someone to the Lord. They didn’t pray with someone and then give them a Bible. There weren’t Bible studies focused on the New Testament to bring that new believer to. They knew the Father, knew the Lord, and shared how the Spirit of the Father had transformed their lives. Additionally, because they met in homes in relationship based faith, miracles which proved what they were saying about the Lord, were common:
“When the Lord does miracles among you, does He do it by the Spirit through faith or the hearing of the Mosaic law? Galatians 3: 5 (Written at least 20 years after Pentecost, miracles were still common in far away Galatia (modern central Turkey). Miracles are common in house churches today as well!
They shared with each other what the Living Word, the Person of Christ in them was doing in their lives. They grew through relationships with others who knew Him. These people shared how to walk with God in their daily lives.
Have you ever had a situation in which you or someone you heard about, were led by the Spirit to do the things in scripture even though you or they did not know the chapter and verse at the time? You were just simply following the Lord’s leading and later learned you were following chapter and verse? It happens all the time. That’s how they lived – following the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Today most Christians around the world do not own a Bible.
American Christians often think THEY are the body of Christ. Reality is very different. American Christians are only about 10-13% of Christians in the world. The vast majority of Christians in our time do not own a personal New Testament or full Bible. (Links to some statistics below)
Most Christians in the world today must know Christ in them, and are growing that way, without owning a New Testament. Where the gospel is spreading the most, is in areas where the Bible is either outlawed or otherwise not available. So why do so many in the west think scripture is so important to their growth in the Lord? What if we emphasized knowing the Father and Lord instead of ‘getting into the Word’ to know them?
If you have been a believer for very long, you know the body of Christ is told over and over again to ‘be in the Word’. Christians think the printed Word is the #1 way to know God. I submit that revelation in the printed page flows from first having a relationship with the Father and Lord.
Many know about the Lord more than they know Him, because of the emphasis on the Bible.
And that is where we start next week.
Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
ChurchTrac.com says 20% of Americans go to church weekly; 30% identify as born again. VIEW ON WEBSITE
Barn: VIEW ON WEBSITE
