The Spirit and the Word

There's a book I've had in me to write for years.  I've started a couple of times, but never finished it. But every time I do, I get off on something else.  Nevertheless,  every time I start to look around at the things of God, I see that book staring me in the face.  It's like those people who see Jesus' face on toast or doorknobs.  I keep running across the central idea.  The Spirit and the Word are everywhere.

The essence of the book is basically that God reveals His will to us in two ways--through the Word and through the Spirit, and that all people, especially all of us Believers, tend to see God better through one of those two channels. It's like being left handed or right handed, or left brained or right brained. We are either Word oriented or Spirit oriented.  We may be one or the other, but both sides ar equally necessary.

I could get Biblical about this , of course. There is a lot to be said Biblically and Theologically about the differences and complimentary relationship between Spirit and Word, but I would rather at the moment look at it semantically.  What is a Word, and what is Spirit?

A word is a sound of symbol which defines a position in the logical matrix of life.  It is like a gps tracking point,  a latitude and longitute.  A word defines a person, object, or idea as being different from all others, uniquely itself. 

Take, for example the word "chair".  That word has a specific meaning to us,  that separates it from all other thoughts.  The actual sound of the word may be different in different languages, of course, as might the image the word produces in the mind, but the essential truth is that it defines a spot in reality,  which separates it from all other  ideas.  A chair is a place we sit. It is not a place we lie down, or that we stand  upon. It is a thing made for sitting.  

We might add other words to it to separate one chair from another-the  "green chair",  the "comfortable chair" the "small chair."  Our modifiers define tighter and tighter ideas, creating more specific pictures in the mind.

Now, what is meant by the Word of God?  To say Jesus is the Word, is to say that He was a walking, talking symbol of God Himself.  He was what God is,  He becomes his walking definition.  Just as we might think of a beautiful woman, and it might bring to mind a famous actress,  or we might think of a wise man, and that brings the idea of a politician, writer, or minister,  so when we think of God, Christ comes to mind.  He is God's expression.

The Word of God, the Bible is much the same thing.  The Bible is a series of words,  each one bringing its own image or symbol, which together bring to mind an increasingly narrow and specific understanding of what God wants in the World. The words become harbor lights and beacons to  keep us on the right path.

Spirit, though is something else entirely.

If a word is a dot in the matrix of what its possible, then spirit is an arrow, a direction of motion.  In the Bible, the Spirit is always on the move.  He moved over the waters in Genesis. He moved Elijah into the wilderness. He pushed Jesus out into the desert.  He is depicted as a flying dove,  a tornado, a raging fire, a mighty wind.  The spirit is the divine in motion.

Now, when we give directions, we must have location and directions.  "Go to the traffic light. Turn left"  "Go to Elm Street. Go right." With location and direction, we can go anywhere.  Without either, we go nowhere.  We need both form and function.

In the Spiritual realm,  we also need both. We need to know the truth, and we need to know what God would have us to do with it.  It is no good having the right theology unless we have the power to do something about it. 

In Genesis 2,  God created Adam out of dust.  Then he breathed into him the breath of life. Which is more important, the dust or the breath?  It would be impossible to say.  Dust without breath is death,  breath without vessel to inhabit is just hot air.