ALWAYS SPIRIT

True and false words are exactly the same. Same letters of the same alphabet string together the same words used by the good guys and the bad guys... In fact, even the 'holy writ' can be unholy in the mouth of the unholy. (cf Mt 4:1-11) So the words just carry the spirit of the speaker.
 
For this reason there is no encasement - not the words of the Bible, not a religion, not a leader (1 Cor 3:23) – that secure for us the truth of God. Jesus said that his own words 'were spirit' (John 6:63), that 'God is spirit' (John 4:24), that the 'Lord is spirit'. (2 Cor 3:17)
 
Jesus told the 'rich young ruler' that the 10 commandments were not enough (Mark 10:17-27), and the church in Ephesus that their obedience and hard work was not enough. (Revelation 2:1-5) Jesus was always unpredictable to us, not because he did not know himself or the Father (cf John 5:19), but because we do not know what our own words truly carry, where our spirit really is in relation to God.
 
To one he would simply say yes (Mk 1:41), to another a calibrating challenge (Mk 9:36), to another an apparently abrasive denial (Mt 15:21-28), and on and on, different every time. But always with the same purpose: to get past our words, to our heart, to bring our spirit together with his spirit. (Mt 22:36-40)