Oh...I'm just now seeing
I think maybe Satan would prefer that a man have scripture than he have a relationship with Jesus and His Spirit. Satan knows men and he knows scripture and can twist it all sorts of ways to convince a man that he understands it when he absolutely doesn't.
Well, there's an old saying: "Word alone, you dry up; "Spirit" alone, you blow up; Word and Spirit, you grow up." Both the word of God and the Word of God are essential in living out what God encourages us to live. Psalm 119:105--->"Thy word
is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." What it doesn't say is that it is what puts you on the path in the first place. That is by the Spirit of God--and He goes where He wants to go. The word is necessary to keep us from being seduced by "every wind of doctrine" or even the "doctrine of demons". But it is obviously not all that is needed. Otherwise, the religious authorities would not have caused the crucifixion of the Lord of Glory.
Look at all the men who spent their entire lives, even from young childhood, with a focus on Gods written word and yet Jesus told them, your mistake is that you don't know scripture and you don't know God.
Exactly so. You can only really
know Scripture by the Holy Spirit.
Can you imagine devoting your entire LIFE to that study and then to be told that?? And their reaction was to run around, following, harassing and arguing with Jesus and the men who actually DID encounter and intimately know Him. They said, what will we do?? Now everyone will follow HIM instead of our interpretations!
Their hearts were definitely not right before God. They were following their father, the devil--who knows Scripture better than any human and he is VERY skillful at twisting it. He hates God and His word, as well as His Word, who is the Living Word as well as the Light of the World.