There are some things that always go together: a person and her shadow, two sides of a coin, the blades of scissors – and the Spirit of God and the Word of God. It is the Word of God that establishes God’s will in the earth, and it is the Spirit of God that enables, illumines, and empowers that Word.
When God spoke the world into existence, the Spirit was there (Genesis 1:2b). When early Christians were “filled with the Holy Spirit . . . they spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). Words of wisdom and knowledge are given in the Church “through the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:8). And the “sword of the Spirit” is “the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).
When the Bible exhorts Christians to “be transformed by the renewing of their mind” (Romans 12:2), it means learning to think God’s way instead of the world’s way. It means to replace lies with truth. We do that by reading God’s Word, where the Spirit is the means of the transformation. It is the Spirit that gives understanding that leads to changed lives.