And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
Hebrews 8:11
Our brothers and sisters in the 1st century Church were the most radical Christians in all of history. They sold all of their possessions; they spread throughout the world; they lived for the Kingdom. But you know what? They didn’t get together like this and study Hebrews, because Hebrews wasn’t yet written. They didn’t study the theological implications of Romans because Romans wasn’t written. They didn’t scrutinize the teachings of Jesus as recorded in John’s Gospel because John’s Gospel wasn’t written.
They didn’t have the written New Testament — but they did understand the reality of the New Covenant. They obeyed what the Lord was writing in their hearts — and they turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). Then, when the New Testament was written and began to circulate through the Church, it was a confirmation of what they were already doing because it was the same Lord who had been writing His will for them upon their hearts.
Today, sad to say, many don’t understand the New Covenant. Our Trinity is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Bible. We’ve lost touch with how the Holy Spirit speaks to us moment by moment because we’ve replaced His voice with the written word. Many churches, and organizations study the Bible and are right in their theology — but they’re dead right because theirs is knowledge for knowledge’s sake.
The New Testament was never intended to be an esoteric, intellectual, theological trip for people who like to fill notebooks, answer questions, and work on workbooks. That was never the intent of the New Testament writer. What was the intent? To provide a way believers could be confirmed or corrected in what they were already living out as a result of obeying the still, small voice of the Spirit.
The person who’s really used by the Lord is one who simply says, ‘You’re going to tell me moment by moment what I should do, and, Lord, I will just say Yes to whatever You say.’ A whole lot of people have made the New Testament writings the new Law. Like Pharisees searching for jots, tittles, and interesting insights, they fail to see that the Word was written to nudge them along in their walk and to confirm the voice of the Lord in their heart.
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