THE INTERNAL CHARGE
Pursue the Word of God. This charge is two-fold.
John chapter 1 identifies Jesus Christ as the revealed Word of God. In chapter 15, Jesus, himself, declares that apart from Him you can do nothing. You are charged to pursue the revealed Word of God through Jesus Christ as your chief goal.
However, it is not possible to know the revealed Word of God apart from the written Word of God. As Paul instructed Timothy:
(2 Timothy 3:15-17 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.)
As I charge you with pursuing the written Word of God let me warn against the condition called “ministerialism”. In his own words, cautions that “if we should study the Bible more as Ministers than as Christians—more to find matter for the instruction of our people, than food for the nourishment of our own souls, we neglect then to place ourselves at the feet of our Divine Teacher, our communion with Him is cut off, and we become mere formalists in our sacred profession…. It is indeed difficult to determine, whether our familiar intercourse with the things of God is more our temptation or our advantage.”
With this understanding, do you accept the internal charge to pursue the revealed Word of God through the written Word of God?
