The Bible is unique among all books in that it is living and active. “You received the word of God, which you heard from us…” says Paul to one of his churches, “not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). The Bible is living and working within believers because of the unique ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Before his ascension, Jesus promised that “when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). In fact, what the Spirit would bring is so good and so important that Jesus could actually say, “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you” (John 16:7).
The promised Spirit has come, and one of the great helps this Helper performs is a kind of tutoring. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth says it well: “Unlike any other book that has ever been written, the Bible is alive; and it comes with a personal tutor—the Holy Spirit, who lives in us.” After taking up residence within us, the Spirit illumines the truths of the Bible to our minds and hearts so we can know them, so we can understand them, and so we can joyfully do them.
