The Holy Spirit & Revelation (vi)

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

(II Tim.3:16-17)

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

(II Pet.1:20-21)

It is one thing to say we are conformed into the image of Christ – but how do we know who this Christ is? We confess that we will need the Spirit to show us, but how will He do so? As we keep reminding ourselves in these studies, the Spirit does not bypass the means and agencies that He has established, but rather works through them. And the means He has fashioned to convey to us a full and reliable vision of Christ is the Scriptures. And as in all works of the Spirit, the focus is Christ (John 5:37-47). His desire is to fix our eyes on Him, to inspire our love for and devotion to Him. The role of the Scriptures then holds an unrivalled priority in our Christian life. If we don’t really know who Jesus is, how authentically Christian is our response to Him? The less we know the more vulnerable we are to receiving a different Jesus, a different Spirit and a different Gospel, albeit unawares (II Cor.11:4).

Both the life and ministry of the Son is linked to the Spirit, but also the recording and proclaiming of that life and ministry in a faithful and accurate manner. The inspiration of the Scriptures is a humbling of the Spirit similar to the Son (Phil.2:8), a limiting of the Spirit to human capacity of speech. Yet the Spirit’s superintendence of the Bible ensures that while it is so limited, it remains unerring and trustworthy. In our Creeds we confess that the Spirit ‘has spoken through the prophets’. This is compelling and unambiguous, and resonates deeply with the Bible’s own view of itself. When the prophets speak, the Spirit speaks (see e.g. Acts 4:25; Heb.3:7; 10:15). Whilst recognising the integrity of the human authors, the Bible sees itself as a human book only in a radically secondary sense. The Church has always confessed the Scriptures primarily as the work of the Holy Spirit. In speaking of the Bible in this way, the Church is following the teaching of the Lord Himself. Jesus understood the Scriptures to be the result of the direct ministry and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In Mark 12, for example, Jesus introduces a citation from Psalm 110 with the words, ‘David, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared…’

But the Spirit’s work doesn’t stop once the inspiration of the Scriptures is completed (e.g. Jn.16:12-15). It isn’t even finished in preserving those Scriptures. He is at work in us as we read. We need Him to confirm to us that the Scriptures are in fact what they / He says they are. Whilst there are many intellectual and historical arguments that uphold the integrity of the Scriptures, it is only the witness of the Spirit through the Scriptures that can truly convince us. As Westminster Divines put it: The authority of the holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the Author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God (Chap.1, iv).

Then we need illumination to understand and to accept what is written. Our mind, and the faculties of our understanding – like the rest of us – remain damaged from the fall. The Spirit must open our minds, and support them and guide them if they are to recognise and navigate the truth about Christ that is held within the pages of the Scriptures. Indeed, our ability to recognise and engage with the inspired truth of the Apostles is the defining characteristic of the work of the Spirit (I Jn.4:5-6, also I Thess.2:13).

And finally we need His work in us to shape our response to what is written. One of the most dangerous things we can do with the Bible is read it, but not act on what we have discovered there (Matt.7:24-27; Jas.1:22-25). But as we have seen in earlier studies, our capacity to respond to, and to obey the teaching of the Spirit is utterly dependant on the Spirit.

All of this should give us pause for thought. We ought to be so grateful as we reflect on the Spirit’s grace as He works with us through the years. We ought to be humbled as we acknowledge our dependence. We ought to be prayerful as we read the Word of God. Prayerlessness is the articulation of presumption… of self-reliance. Such an attitude would prove deadly in our reading.

Questions

How did Jesus know who He was, and what it was the Father had sent Him into the world to do?

What would you conclude about a Church that didn’t want the Bible taught, or that claimed they couldn’t understand the Bible when it was taught? how could the situation be remedied?

Do you think education is important in our ability to understand the Bible?

Read I Cor.2:6-16

Read through I Cor.1:18-2:5. Paul has been contrasting the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world. What strikes you from that passage? How does it set up what Paul has to say about the wisdom of the Gospel in 2:6f?

Why has God hidden His wisdom from the world (2:7)? Wouldn’t it make more sense for Him to display it publicly?

Paul is claiming that not just what he teaches, but also the very words he uses to teach are ‘taught by the Spirit’. Do you think this is true for all the Biblical authors? If so what should be our attitude to the Biblical text? Do you think this is something that characterises MIE?

Why does Paul say we need the Spirit of God to understand the things of God? Do you agree with him? Based on this passage, what would you say to someone who said they didn’t understand the Bible?

Why does Paul think we are not subject to ‘merely human judgements’? What does he have in mind? How can we become more convinced about this for ourselves?

Why does Paul think ‘we have the mind of Christ’ (2:16)? What does he mean by this phrase?

Memory Passage:

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. Be good to your servant while I live, that I may obey your word. Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

Ps.119:11-18

For further reflection:

What happens when we read the Bible without this context of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit? The result is error. It is always a problem when Christians believe the wrong thing, but it become a hugely significant issues when those Christians get into pulpits. Peter addresses this head on: [P]rophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies… Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute (II Pet.1:21-2:3).

There is a long history of false prophets in the Bible. The LORD exposes and disowns them (e.g. Jer.23:21), and warns us that they will continue to plague the Church throughout this age (Matt.24:24, note the use of signs and wonders). As Christians we are called to discernment (Matt.7:15-20), and to avoid false teachers when they are recognised. Pastors are called to confront and silence false teachers wherever they are found (I Tim.1:3; Tit.1:11 etc.). Jude calls the whole Church to join in contending ‘for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people’ (1:3).

Such might seem unpalatable in our contemporary climate. In fact, it has never been fashionable. But it remains a necessary consequence of our Spirit-wrought conviction that ‘This is the Word of the Lord’. It is something of inestimable value, and must be protected from those who would presume upon it, and exploit it for their own ends.