Do we truly realize the power of the word of God? Information contained in the Scripture will not find its lodging in our hearts through osmosis or some other "magical method." It is going to take the decided effort on the part of each person to take a copy of the Bible with calculated purpose to try to understand exactly what is said, using the intelligence and abilities for rational thought God gave each of us.

Yet, some say, "I would really accept it if I could hear Jesus say it with His own mouth", or "I would really be convinced if I could hear one of the Lord's apostles teach it personally." While I admit it would be time well spent to be in the audience of Jesus or one of His apostles, such is not necessary to know the thoughts God had at one time in His mind and later revealed them (1 Cor. 2:7-13). Notice what Christ and one of His apostles said about this:

• When answering questions about divorce and remarriage, He said, "Have you not read,..." (Mt. 19:4). He cites what Moses wrote about God's original instructions.
• When silencing the Sadducees in their attempt to confuse Him over the resurrection, He said, "Have you not read that which was spoken to you by God" (Mt. 22:31).

• When explaining to the Ephesians the mystery of God's grace, he said, "When you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ" (Eph. 3:3-4). What they were to read was what he wrote.
• He commonly instructed first century Christians to read his epistles in the assembly, and to even read letters to other churches (Col. 4:16; 1 Thess. 5:27).

Even though Jesus and Paul were physically on the earth, they still made appeals to the written word. It is indeed all-powerful and all-sufficient for man (cp. Rom. 1:16; Jas. 1:21). We contend all religious division would go away if everyone accepted the word of God as an objective standard in all religious matters to be decided.

"Have you not read?"