Articles
Shining Lights
Jesus respected every word of the law of God. He did not teach that man ought to simply heed the spirit of the law or get the gist of it, but said that man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). Every word!
In another place he impresses this same principle when he said that not one jot or tittle of the law would pass away until it was fulfilled (Matt. 5:18; Lk. 16:17). A jot was the smallest letter and a tittle the smallest stroke or marking in writing. The equivalent for us would be the dot of an “i” and the cross of a “t”. Today, whenever someone says, “make sure every ‘i’ is dotted and ‘t’ crossed, we understand them to be saying that meticulous care needs to be taken in doing something. T
The Bible claims that even the very words that comprise Scripture were chosen by the Holy Spirit (God) so that not only a study of the message is important, but a study of the very words of the message, too. Read I Cor. 2:13. In other words, I believe in not only the WORD of God, but the WORDS of God. I do not then approach it as a love letter from God which God never intended me to pour over in close examination, but give careful heed to every jot and ttle. And so I hope do you.
