Without realizing it, I have crossed many times a line that's easy to cross for us Christians.
That line is between believing Jesus and believing the Bible.
It's a given that both are extremely important and definitely interconnected.
My point here, though, is that we obtain salvation only thru our faith in Jesus, which is naturally accompanied by belief in the Word.
Sometimes, however, we confuse the idea of believing what the Bible says with salvation through the knowledge of It. We focus on studying and knowing the Bible and not as much on the relationship with our Lord, Savior, Master, our Jesus.
Our focus should be on the relationship with a person not with a book, as sacred and true as it may be. The Word sheds light on the person of Jesus.
The Word is nothing without the Spirit.
Knowledge of the Bible won't save you. It may point (and it should) to the person of Jesus. He's the One who saves.
Let's use the image that is often used to describe the Bible: God's letter to us.
Sure, good example. What we do sometimes, however, is focus on the font the letter is written in, the gramatical correctness, the spacing, the ink used, and the letterhead it's written on.. and we miss the message.
We focus so much on how it was written, that we miss what it was written about.
Who it is written about.
Jesus himself warned us about that danger:
"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me" (John5:39)
May we never forget that we don't "believe" in the Bible. We believe in a God, a truthful (and faithful) God, who gave us a truth-full Bible for our own benefit and to point us to the real Savior.
The One who gave up His life for us.
He is the one we Believe for our salvation.