Dwelling place

"The Father who sent me has testified about me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word DWELL in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you posses eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." John 5:37-40

Synonyms for dwell are: reside, stay, have your home, inhabit, settle. So, the passage says, the word " resides" in you, the word "has its home" in you, the word "inhabits" you, the word "settles" in you. Now, I have only lived 22 (and 1/2) years, but I have yet to see something dead "inhabit" or "settle" or "have its home" in anything. Things that are dead don't need a place to reside. The dead have no home.
The bible is just a book. It is ink and paper set by man between bindings of leather. It contains only words, just words. Symbols and sounds put together by man as a means of communication. We say, "I LOVE you" but that is just a 4 letter word.....what does it mean? What does it look like. The letters in themselves mean nothing, they are dead. The essence of spirituality is that it is something outside of our understanding, outside of our definability, outside of our vocabulary. Jesus wants his people so desperately to see that the Scriptures are just words. It is possible to study them, to know them inside and out, to memorize entire books, even books about Jesus and still not find yourself "alive." Why? The bible will always remain only words to the reader until the author of all life makes it come alive inside. The word can only dwell if it is alive, if it comes and makes its home. This is the distinction between knowing and believing, between merely existing and living, between emptiness and fulfillment. "God" is only a 3 letter word. It means nothing until it is the force alive inside of me moving my very existence. This is Jesus, the waker of the dead, the breath of life. Without him the bible is merely empty words.