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You are quite welcome, dear brother in Christ, and thank you for that beautiful passage from John and for sharing your insights!

Following are a few more Scriptures to underscore the point that the words of God are not merely text on paper (or papyrus.)

For one thing, Christ replied "it is written" to each temptation wrought by the devil (Matthew 4) and the devil did not question the authority of the words of God.

For another, the words of God, unlike the words of men, are Spirit and life.

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

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

And again,

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

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

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

His words being Spirit and life can only be heard by those who have the gift of "ears to hear." In the following passage, the people Jesus is addressing are physically hearing Him but they cannot spiritually hear Him:

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

But His sheep know the difference and cannot be fooled:

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

The following passage makes the point early in Scripture. The evidence was right there before their eyes, even on their feet and their backs - but because they did not have "ears to hear" it went right over their heads:

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

And again,

Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 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 Corinthians 2:14

God's Name is I AM.

Thanks for expanding on the topic with more pertinent and timely Scriptures.

The Gospel of John is close to my favorite part of the Bible.

It was while reading it that I became a Christian.

When the pages dried out they were all wrinkled...

There is no more powerful experience one can have then Jesus Christ revealing Himself to you through the Word via the Holy Spirit and bringing you into His eternal kingdom.

Trying to explain the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to the unsaved is like trying to explain light to a blind man.

Someone who is blind can feel the heat of the sun and so know it exists, but cannot conceive of light and color.

Some things in Scripture can be understood by the unsaved, but the rest to the unsaved heart is like light to the blind.

Eyes to see, indeed.