It's A Relationship!

Jeremiah 23:

25  I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed!'

26  How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart,

27  who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal?

28  Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the LORD.

There is a certain slogan/catch phrase that has been making the rounds through professing

christianity which says, (more or less), “it’s a relationship not a religion”.

What has become glaringly apparent is that this pious sentiment, in reality, reveals the

hearts of those who do not study the Word, but whose  preferred method of receiving revelation

is based upon their dreams, visions, feelings, and those of others.

The “religion/relationship” polemic is usually given as a response to those who do study and

show themselves approved through the accurate exposition of the Word of Truth, by those who

as a practice, do not. (2 Timothy 2;15)

 How many books have been written by the neo-gnostics and shamans (who are in reality

proclaiming a religion) to whom “Jesus” has appeared and revealed things that He apparently

neglected to reveal to the writers of Scripture?

The truth of the matter is, (to paraphrase another banal modern christian slogan), “No

Word, No Christ-Know Word, Know Christ”

There is no “relationship” with the Author outside of reading His Book; and I do not mean the

Proof - texting, out of context butchery of the Bible that is more rampant today than ever.

The Lord said, when speaking to the pharisees:

John 5:

37  And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen,

38  and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

39  You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,

40  yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

In order to have a relationship with the Son, one must read, and understand, the revealed

witness of the Father. In order to have a parent/child relationship with the Father, we must be

rightly related to the Son. (John 6:44-45; John 14:6-7; John 16:13-15; John17:-21)

Therefore;

John 5:

45  Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope.

46  For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.

47  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"

Christ, the Word made flesh, and the Scriptures, both being the revealed Word of God, are intrinsically linked together, forever.

Moses’ writings, the words of our Lord, Paul’s letters, all that is written; all are Scripture, and all are sufficient in and of themselves. They are all we need; indeed they are all we are given. (Deut 29:29)

There is no extra-biblical revelation of some alleged "new thing".

1Peter 1:

8  Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

9  obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

10  Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully,

11  inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

12  It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look………..

20  He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you

21  who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

22  Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

23  since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

24  for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,

25  but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

So it was from the beginning.

Luke 8:

19  Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd.

20  And he was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you."

21  But he answered them, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it."

Truly, it is a relationship, not a religion. 

Sola Scriptura

Soli Deo Gloria