Bible Reading Part Three
[this series is based on a devotional by Stacy Ortiz entitled 'Why Should I Read the Bible?']
"For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart." Hebrews 4:12 (Amplified Bible)
The Word is full of power. It has the power to cut through my sinful nature and expose me for who I really am. Only by seeing who I really am in light of GOD's holy nature, can I be brought to the place where I recognize my sin and ask HIM to cleanse me from it. Only then can I be made more like CHRIST.
Concerning this verse, Matthew Henry stated that, "The Holy Scriptures are the word of God. When God sets it home by his Spirit, it convinces powerfully, converts powerfully, and comforts powerfully. It makes a soul that has long been proud, to be humble; and a perverse spirit, to be meek and obedient. Sinful habits, that have become as it were natural to the soul, and rooted deeply in it, are separated and cut off by this sword. It will uncover in men their thoughts and purposes, the vileness of many, the bad principles they are moved by, the sinful ends they pursue. The word will show the sinner all that is in his heart. Let us hold fast the doctrines of Christian faith in our heads, its enlivening principles in our hearts, the open profession of it on our lips, and be subject to it in our lives." (Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible)
"For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart." Hebrews 4:12 (Amplified Bible)
The Word is full of power. It has the power to cut through my sinful nature and expose me for who I really am. Only by seeing who I really am in light of GOD's holy nature, can I be brought to the place where I recognize my sin and ask HIM to cleanse me from it. Only then can I be made more like CHRIST.
Concerning this verse, Matthew Henry stated that, "The Holy Scriptures are the word of God. When God sets it home by his Spirit, it convinces powerfully, converts powerfully, and comforts powerfully. It makes a soul that has long been proud, to be humble; and a perverse spirit, to be meek and obedient. Sinful habits, that have become as it were natural to the soul, and rooted deeply in it, are separated and cut off by this sword. It will uncover in men their thoughts and purposes, the vileness of many, the bad principles they are moved by, the sinful ends they pursue. The word will show the sinner all that is in his heart. Let us hold fast the doctrines of Christian faith in our heads, its enlivening principles in our hearts, the open profession of it on our lips, and be subject to it in our lives." (Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible)
posted by melilotnfosco | 3:02 PM
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