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Thoughts From A.W. Tozer

Dear Friends,

I read a book by A. W. Tozer recently, entitled “The Root of the Righteous,” in which he asks a good question: “Is there a difference between being Bible taught or Spirit taught?” It is a question worth considering, since as Tozer goes on to show, it is possible to be instructed by one and not the other. In fact, if you have experience in churches you will likely see his words ring true. Enjoy.

“It may shock some readers to suggest that there is a difference between being Bible taught and being Spirit taught. Nevertheless, it is so. It is altogether possible to be instructed in the rudiments of the faith and still have no real understanding of the whole thing. It is possible to go on to become an expert in Bible doctrine and not have spiritual illumination, with the result that a veil remains over the mind, preventing it from apprehending the truth in its spiritual sense. (I Cor. 2:10a-16 / II Cor. 3:12-18).

Most of us are acquainted with churches that teach the Bible to their children from their tenderest years, give them long instruction in catechism, drill them further in pastor’s classes, and still never produce in them a living Christianity nor a virile godliness. Their members show no evidence of having passed from death unto life. None of the earmarks of salvation so plainly indicated in the Scriptures are found in them. Their religious lives are correct and reasonably moral, but wholly mechanical and altogether lacking in radiance or joy. They wear their faith as persons in mourning once wore black armbands to show their love and respect for the departed.



Such people cannot be dismissed as hypocrites. Many of them are pathetically serious about it all. They are simply blind. From lack of the vital Spirit they are forced to get along with the outward shell of faith, while all the time their deep hearts are starving for spiritual reality and they do not know what is wrong with them...

It has been said this way, ‘The Scriptures, to be understood, must be read with the same Spirit that originally inspired them.’ No one denies this, but even such a statement will go over the heads of those who hear it unless the Holy Spirit inflames the heart. The charge often made against [people who hold tightly to the Bible] by [those who do not], that we are ‘bibliolaters,’ is probably not true in the same sense as is meant by our detractors. But candor and self-analysis will force us to admit that there is often much truth in their charge. Among religious people of unquestioned orthodoxy there is sometimes found a dull dependence upon the letter of the text without the faintest understanding of its spirit (I Cor. 13:2). The truth is that in its essence the spiritual must be constantly kept before our minds if we would truly know the truth.


Jesus Christ is Himself the Truth, and He cannot be confined to mere words, even though – as we ardently believe – He Himself inspired the words. That which is spiritual cannot be shut in by ink or fenced in by typeset and paper. The best a book can do is give us the letter of the truth. If we ever receive more than this, it must be by the Holy Spirit who gives it.

The great need of the hour among persons spiritually hungry is two-fold: First, to know the Scriptures, apart from which no saving truth will be graciously given by our Lord; the second, to be enlightened by the Spirit, apart from whom the Scriptures will not be understood.”

The Pharisees often had large portions of the Scriptures memorized. They could often quote them extensively – especially the commands and laws. But the hearts of many were cold, callous, and devoid of compassion toward others – especially ‘sinners.’



What Tozer speaks of may, in large part, be what Jesus was speaking about when He said, “Your righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees” (Matt. 5:20). Or again in John 4:24 where He says: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” In fact, this appears to be the point Jesus so powerfully impressed upon the Scripturally knowledgeable Nicodemus (a teacher of Israel who should have known it): “You Must be born again” or “born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:3-5). The Word, apart from the inner enlightening and transforming work of the Holy Spirit, will always fall on deaf ears and hard hearts. Only the Holy Spirit can change hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, make blind eyes see, deaf ears hear, and dull minds understand.



So, to the question, “Is there a difference between being Bible taught or Spirit taught?” the answer is yes. Without question. The second is absolutely imperative, for the first by itself will leave one ‘lifeless’ in this present life, and eternally lost in the life to come – something Jesus came to remedy through the Gospel, and the attending gift of the Holy Spirit.

Ask and it shall be given… Luke 11:13, Pastor Jeff

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