[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you oh so very much for sharing your testimony, dear brother in Christ, and thank you for those fascinating excerpts from Matthew Henry’s commentary, especially this:

The same Spirit that breathed reason into us breathes revelation among us: For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men spoke as they were moved or carried forth by the Holy Ghost, 2 Pet. i. 21. The prophets and apostles did not speak from themselves, but what they received of the Lord that they delivered unto us.

And I perceive additional insight from our dear brother in Christ, Mad Dawg:

I'd say there's a gap between being God-[in]breathed and being God's Breath.

I reckon both of you have been Christian for a long time as I have and have likewise experienced epiphanies now and again, when Scriptures become brilliantly clear owing to a new insight. I also reckon you’ve experienced the subsequent “deer in the headlights” look as you try to explain that insight to others. LOLOL!

This last year I experienced one such epiphany which was slowly building over many years of engaging atheists and agnostics on this forum with my dearest sister in Christ, betty boop. Though ringing with clarity to me, I fully expect a "huh?" reaction from lurkers.

It began with the realization that any living thing is a message (DNA) being communicated. Whether daffodil or man, a particular DNA is the message which describes what/who the living thing specifically “is” or was. When that message is no longer being communicated, the thing is dead even though the message itself survives, e.g. forensics.

That understanding serves as a good definition of what mortal or physical life ‘is.” And the message of ordinary physical life was communicated here:

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. - Genesis 1:20

The message of life peculiar to man (living soul) was additionally communicated in Genesis 2:

And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. - Genesis 2:7

Likewise, I perceive that we Christians, born anew in the Spirit, are a message (word of God) being communicated.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: - John 10:27

Why do ye not understand my speech? [even] because ye cannot hear my word. – John 8:43

So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. - Romans 10:17

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life. – John 6:63

And again,

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. - John 3:5-7

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. – John 1:12-13

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life. – John 6:63

And again,

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. – John 5:24

Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. – Luke 10:38-42

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life. – John 6:63

And again,

And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles: Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. - Deuteronomy 29:2-5

Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. - Matthew 13:9

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned. – I Cor 2:14

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life. – John 6:63

And again,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. – John 1:1-4

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him [was] called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes [were] as a flame of fire, and on his head [were] many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he [was] clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies [which were] in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on [his] vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. – Revelation 19:11-16

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life. – John 6:63

And finally,

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. – Matt 4:4

Give us this day our daily bread. – Matt 6:11

I am that bread of life. – John 6:48

Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. – 1 Cor 10:1-4

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life. – John 6:63

I am convinced that God’s adopted children – we Christians – know the words of God when we hear them. They are alive in us or conversely, we are alive in the Word of God.

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. – Colossians 3:3

The reader has no doubt noticed that I keep repeating John 6:63. That is because the words of God are not like the words of men, they are spirit and life. We who have been given "ears to hear" cannot be deceived.

To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. – John 10:3-5

For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. - Hebrews 4:12

To the original point, Paul’s certification and the Torah, I hear the words of God in Paul’s manuscripts as surely as the Gospel of Matthew and the Torah. I hear the words of God in John’s manuscripts as surely as the Psalms and the Prophets.

To God be the glory, not man, never man!

[betty boop]

Whether daffodil or man, a particular DNA is the message which describes what/who the living thing specifically “is” or was. When that message is no longer being communicated, the thing is dead even though the message itself survives....

This is such a profound insight, dearest sister in Christ. It rings with clarity for me, too!

Thank you so very much for your outstanding essay/post!

[Iscool]

To the original point, Paul’s certification and the Torah, I hear the words of God in Paul’s manuscripts as surely as the Gospel of Matthew and the Torah. I hear the words of God in John’s manuscripts as surely as the Psalms and the Prophets.

Exactly...As we hear the writers of the scripture, we hear God...