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The Living Word – Spirit, Soul, & Union with Christ • Jun 01st 1969

How the Word of God Becomes Spirit and Life

Fellowship New Testament Old Testament Organic Church The Gospels

What did Jesus mean when He said:

“The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life.” (John 6:63)

In this deeply practical and theological teaching, Gene Edwards explores how believers are meant to approach Scripture — not merely with the mind, but with the human spirit.

The burden of this message is simple but profound:

The Word of God can either kill or give life.

2 Corinthians 3:6 declares, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” The same Bible, the same words, can be received in two completely different ways. When taken into the mind alone, the Word becomes knowledge. It may impress the intellect, but it does not impart life.

But when the Word is received in the human spirit, it becomes Spirit — and therefore life.

This message walks carefully through:

  • John 6:57–63 — eating and drinking Christ
  • Hebrews 4:12 — dividing soul and spirit
  • 1 Corinthians 15:45 — the last Adam as life-giving Spirit
  • 1 Corinthians 6:17 — one spirit with the Lord
  • Ephesians 6:17 — the Spirit as the Word of God
  • Jeremiah 15:16 and Ezekiel 3 — eating the scroll

The question is not whether Scripture is inspired.

“All Scripture is God-breathed.”

The question is: How do you receive it?

You cannot feed on Christ with your intellect alone. The soul cannot discern spiritual things. The mind may analyze, compare, and study — but life is received in the spirit.

The Word of God is not merely information.
It is Christ Himself.

When you come to Scripture, you are not merely reading a text. You are coming to a living Person. And that living Word becomes Spirit within you when received by the Spirit.

This message also addresses a common struggle among believers: confusion between soul and spirit. Many sincere Christians serve God out of human energy, mental effort, and religious zeal — yet lack the sense of inward life.

Hebrews 4 tells us the living Word divides soul and spirit. It discerns thoughts and intentions. It exposes what is merely human and what is truly of God.

But this is not meant to produce introspection or anxiety. It is meant to lead us into rest.

“You labor to enter the rest.”

The solution is not to obsess over whether something is soulish. The solution is to turn to the Spirit and receive the living Word as life.

Scripture can be eaten.
It can be sweet as honey.
It can become inward nourishment.

When the Word dwells richly within you, you are filled with the Spirit. When you are filled with the Spirit, the Word dwells richly in you. The two are not separate realities.

This message calls believers back to a simple but transformative practice:

Come to the Word in your spirit.
Receive it as life.
Feed on Christ.

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For the first time, let’s not turn to Genesis, okay? John 6.

John 6:57 – As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life.

Now then, if I were to ask anybody in this room to say to me, What is the main thing in this passage of Scripture, I believe you would say spirit and life. Because the Lord Jesus came upon this earth as a higher life, and he came into us as that life in spirit, and we are to feed upon his life in our spirit. If you remember John 4:4, it said, Jesus speaking to the woman in Samaria, a new age has come. Man will no longer worship on the mountains of Samaria, nor will man worship in Jerusalem, but in the future, and even now, he that worship the Father will worship him where? In spirit.

Now, does that mean whoopee kind of spiritual? No. What does that mean? That is a geographical location. They will worship Him in spirit. God is a spirit. And those who worship Him will worship Him. Show me real quick. Where? Show me. Right there. All right. Thank you, sister. They will worship Him in spirit.

Now, the burden that we have tonight is how can we touch that spirit? Where is the switch? Well, we have said that the switch is the human spirit. And all day long, we have got to learn to switch on. We have got to learn to turn to the spirit. But the question is, where is it? Alright, it’s down there somewhere. But how can we really feed on Christ? How can we worship him in our spirit? He in our spirit?

Well, brothers, there is another word in this verse. We’ve been using it now twice. Twice. Last month and this month. There’s another word in there. What is that word? Can you see another word? An important key word. What is that word? The word. Word.

The words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life. The words which I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life. Now the Lord Jesus came, according to Genesis 1:1 and John 1, He came as what, He came as the Word. Alright, brethren, tonight we have to really see something of the Word. The Word. Okay, I need some help. Alright, let’s see.

John 7:37, okay? Matthew 15:26. II Corinthians 3:6. I Corinthians 15:45. And I Corinthians 6:17. Now that’s our first batch of scripture. Okay, are you ready? Let’s hear them.

John 7:37 – Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.” Alright, He said, of the drinking, let him come to me and drink. Now, in this passage, he said, Let him eat. Now, somewhere in here, there is a difference in the drinking and the eating.

Alright, we’ll go on. Go ahead, sister.

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