There is a common error—the error of the Pharisees.

It is the deifying of the Scriptures. The error has been termed "bibliolatry."

The Scriptures are not Christ. The purpose of the Scriptures is to lead us to Christ. The life is in Christ, not in the Scriptures. The knowledge of the Scriptures is not eternal life. Eternal lifeis Christ. Heis the Resurrection and the Life.

How often the seminaries make the mistake of associating learning with godliness!
True faith is an interacting with the living Jesus, not a knowledge of the Scriptures. The Scriptures are our guide to a knowledge of Christ if we mix our knowledge of the Scriptures with prayer and faith. The end of the matter is to know Jesus.

Some day you and I will be standing in the Presence of the Man, Jesus. This is where our discipleship is leading us. He is the living Word. In Him we are becoming the living Word. In Him is life and the life is the light of men. It is not the knowledge of the Scriptures that is faith or light. It is Jesus Himself who is the Light, the Understanding, the Word of God.

The perennial error of the religionists is to confuse their knowledge of spiritual facts with the eternal life of God.

To "know" spiritual truth is not to possess God. The psychics know certain spiritual facts but they do not possess God (as in the case of Balaam).

One will say, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." That is the truth. True faith is an interaction with God, and "hearing" has to do with inner spiritual perceiving and laying hold on, not with the registering of sound waves on the human ear and intellectual understanding of the content. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Hebrews 10:38 repeats the declaration of Habakkuk that "the just shall live by his faith." Then the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews defines faith.

We do not have to read far in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews before we come to the conclusion that the righteousof all ages (not just of the Christian Era) have pleased God by faith, and that "faith" is not a statement of doctrinal belief but an interaction with God.

Whether we are speaking of Noah, or Abraham, or Moses, or Joseph, we see that scriptural faith is not referring to knowledge of the Scriptures. Faith is life lived in communion with God, in obedience to His revealed will. This is what biblical faith is.

Noah was not moved with fear to reassert his belief in a catechism or a confession of faith. Noah’s faith built a ship. Abraham’s faith lived in tents instead of costly, permanent dwelling places. Moses’ faith removed him from the luxuries of Egypt and exposed him to the rigors of the desert. Joseph’s faith fled from Potiphar’s wife and endured patiently in prison.

The eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews is a long definition of faith—faith that is revealed by the works thatalways follow true faith.

We understand, therefore, that the scriptural definition offaith, the faith that saves us, that delivers us from sin and brings us into union with God, is a moment by moment looking to the living Jesus and interacting constantly with Him, obeying Him in every detail of personality and behavior. Faith and obedience are closely related in thought and action.

It may be noted that true Christians are not divided on this fact. All saints and servants of the Lord recognize that a simple looking to Jesus is the one essential element of Christianity. The only reason we quarrel among ourselves is that our knowledge of spiritual facts differs one from the other. Yet, such knowledge contains no saving grace.

Saving grace is found only in genuine faith, in looking to Jesus and interacting with Him. Knowledge divides and is lifeless. Walking with Jesus brings us together and causes an increase in eternal life in our personalities.

It is our carnality that provokes us to become angry with those who do not believe in the theological positions we hold. If our opponent is having fellowship with Jesus, and we are having fellowship with Jesus, why should we quarrel? If one or the other (or both of us) is not living in Jesus, no good fruit will proceed from the discussion. It is foolish to argue over a position regarding spiritual truth when such mental knowledge is neither faith nor eternal life.

The purpose of the Scriptures is to keep us on target in approaching the Lord and having fellowship with Him. The knowledge of the Scriptures brings no eternal life. It only is as the Scriptures bring us to Him who is the Lord of Life that we gain eternal life.