"In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory."
Ephesians 1:13-14
The second thing to be said about the living Word is that it is life giving because it is the vehicle of the Holy Spirit's operation. He, the Spirit, is the Presence of Christ in the Word; and without Him all is in vain. 'The letter killeth', says Paul, 'the Spirit giveth life'. And here, particularly, we see the mystery of grace: He who is the Spirit of life, 'the Lord and Giver of Life', is present in the word of our salvation, and it is He who imparts life to our souls. The wonderful story in Acts 10 of the wonderful conversion of Cornelius the Centurion illustrates this: we read there that 'While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the Word'. The words of a man became the Word of God to these people - the living and life-giving Word - for that word brought the Holy Spirit upon them, and it was the coming of that Spirit that brought them into a state of grace, creating faith within them so that they believed the Word of salvation spoken to them by Peter, and received Him of Whom he spoke. And the message he spoke was that of the anointing, life, death and resurrection of Christ - Christ crucified and risen - and the proclamation of forgiveness through His Name. It is a wonderful picture. One can almost see the dawning of the light on their faces as they listened and their hearts began to burn within them.