Quaker

Society of Friends

Friends believe in one God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the living God who is everlasting and who has created all that is. True knowledge of God and of His will cannot be gained by study of earthly words or wisdom or tradition. One can know God only by direct experience of His Spirit and Power in one’s heart. It is this Spirit which inspired the authors of the Scriptures. Only with the help of this Holy Spirit can we clearly understand what the Scriptures mean.

Friends’ experience of Christ and His relationship to God and to humans is confirmed in the Gospel of John, Chapter 1, quoted here at length:

Jo 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Jo 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
Jo 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Jo 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Jo 1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
Jo 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
Jo 1:7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
Jo 1:8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
Jo 1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Jo 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
Jo 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Jo 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Jo 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Jo 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

This passage confirms that God and Christ are one. Christ is the Word of God, not the Scriptures. Christ is the Light the enlightens EVERY MAN (PERSON) who comes into the world. We ARE His own - now! - whether or now we receive Him. If we do receive Him, He gives us Power - His power, not our own - to be reborn of God.