![]() ![]() In these chapters, Jesus teaches his disciples extensively about the work of the Holy Spirit. John 14-17 is one of the Bible’s most important sections for giving us a doctrine of Scripture. The suggestion that God’s Spirit is revealing new truths beyond the Bible goes against the grain of what we learn about the Spirit’s role in revealing God and his plan of salvation. Photo by Brett Jordan on The Holy Spirit and the BibleĪllow me to demonstrate my point from the Bible. The Spirit does not however speak new words or words that contradict Holy Scripture. The Spirit unites us to Christ and with each other. The Spirit ministers to our hearts, and affects joy, peace, and love, perseverance. The Spirit illumines the words of God so that we may understand, believe and obey them. I am not denying the active work of God’s Spirit in the lives of God’s people. His word will increasingly draw us into conformity with his Son and not with the standards of our cultural moment. Rather the Holy Spirit sanctifies God‘s people so that we understand and embrace more of what God has spoken. The conversation however is not a dialectical one where we come to the truth by listening to both the Bible and the voices of today. Let me also preface, I am not pretending that the culture we live in doesn’t influence how we read the Bible. It’s for this reason, that people matter, that it’s vital Christians don’t go around playing God and claiming authoritative words from God. We value people by appreciating the questions and fears and longings they feel and express. It is an act of love and respect that we listen to and understand the culture around us. I’m not for a moment suggesting that we only listen to Scripture and that other voices are unimportant. Indeed, when we have a dodgy doctrine of the Bible we shouldn’t be surprised if we take a wrong turn on all kinds of theological and ethical issues.īefore I turn to the Bible I want to clarify a few potential pushbacks. This view of the Spirit and God’s speech is one that ignores the Spirit’s own testimony through Scripture and it is one that often leads to all manner of pastoral issues. After all, how can we say no to an idea if the Spirit has spoken?! This is, however, a misleading and dangerous notion. The claim is often used to justify ideas and decisions we want to make. Stories of the Spirit speaking offer powerful testimonies, albeit ones that cannot be verified. The ‘Holy Spirit said to me’ has become a popular belief particularly among pentecostal and progressive Christians. The idea that God has new things to say and that the Holy Spirit speaks to people outside of Scripture is a common understanding among some religious circles.
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