The life-giving Word

Jesus was called ‘Rabbi’ eleven times in the Gospels. But He wasn’t like any other rabbi. Rabbis quoted others, but Jesus said, ‘Truly, I say to you…’ In the gospel of John, He said it twice: ‘Truly, truly, I say to you…’ The reason Jesus wasn’t like any other rabbi was because He was God manifested in the flesh. And Paul says, ‘Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’ (Colossians 2:2-3 NKJV). The early church fathers had a favourite saying: ‘The Gospels are a river in which a gnat can swim, and an elephant can drown.’ The Gospels – the record of Christ’s life and teaching – have impacted the world so much that they have been translated into 2,527 languages. The second-most-translated book, Don Quixote, has been translated into about 60 languages. To this day, the Bible remains the bestselling book of all time. In the academic world, scholars keep score of how often any articles they write are cited by other scholars. By this year’s secular score, Jesus’ intellectual impact is unprecedented. Why is this? Because when everything else fails, God’s Word works. Jesus explained it this way: ‘It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.’ If you are a teacher, you know that the number-one question in any class is: ‘Will this be on the final exam?’ If you want to pass your final exams and hear, ‘Well done!’ from the teacher, get into God’s Word each day and get God’s Word into you.© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.