Page 80 - THE REVELATION OF THE THIRD HEAVEN and THE MEAT OF THE WORD

discernment of the Holy Ghost to other passages in the Word (Isaiah 28:9-10, 2
Tim 2:15) indeed to every other word in the one Word (John 1:1, Rev 22:18-19)
which is itself One Person, namely Christ (John 1:1, 14, Rev 19:13-16) or God, the
Son (John 20:28).

The Word of God and Faith

The Word, as God, is omnipresent and as such ever engaged in trying to
communicate to Man (Rom 1:20) and that is why there is faith (Rom 10:17). All
righteous faith comes from this source (Rom 10:17) but faith can also come
through exposure to approximations and derivatives of this one source according to
the mercy of God (1 Cor 5:6, Gal 5:9). Likewise thoughts, words and deeds
prompted, directly or indirectly, by this omnipresent Word will also engender faith
(Rom 10:17). This is not to detract however form the fact that only this one exact
Word, and not approximations to it or derivatives from it, is the Word (Rev 22:18-
19). An inspired translation is the Word of God (Mat 27:46) but a paraphrase can
only ever be, at best, teaching or preaching (Rev 22:18-19). Good teaching and
preaching are necessary and lead to salvation (Rom 12:7, 1 Cor 1:21) and are often
called by Christians "a word" or "the Word" (from the preacher) but can only be so
to the extent that they are an exact recitation of, in the first instance, a portion of
scripture or in the latter instance an exact recitation of all scripture (Rev 22:18-19).
Acts 18:11 is an expression (or parable) for emphasis.

The Word is a Spirit (John 4:24), the Spirit of God (John 1:1), and a Person, the
Person of Christ (John 1:14, Rev 19:13, 16) and as such is continually at work
trying to reach the unsaved from the basic spirit within (Job 32:8, Prov 20:27, John
1:9, Rom 1:17-21) and the Word without present in all languages and across all
time (Psalm 19:1-4, Rom 1:17-21, 10:18). So when for example someone is
converted or a Christian is stengthened in his faith by exposure to an
approximation to the Word it is because this has tapped into the one perfect Word
without it itself being that Word (Psalm 19:1-4, Rom 10:18, Rev 22:18-19).
Meanwhile of course, for the Christian, the Word is itself present on the inside
(John 1:12, 14, Col 2:9-10, Rev 19:13, 16).

Manuscripts

It is not the age or academic provenance of a manuscript that matters but its Godly
inspiration or otherwise (2 Tim 3:16) and the Godly inpiration or otherwise of any
subsequent translation (Gen 11:9, Mat 27:46).

Translation, Paraphrase and Scripture