In my previous post, “The Bible wasn’t written to you” I was arguing that in order to understand what the Bible means to us we must first understand what it meant to them, that is, the original recipients of the Law, the gospels, epistles, etc. If a message has any objective truth at all it must be true in context. Sure, you can use out-of-context information any way you want, and we often do. But for people who hold the Bible as a sacred text, as the inspired Word of God, we must use it with care. Why? Because there are many others out there that are using the Word of God to promote a version of the truth that is miles away from the original author’s intended message. Contextual Bible study is a guard against that.
But Bible study is hard. It makes my head hurt. I don’t have time to do all that study. And anyhow, the Holy Spirit will help me to understand the Word. Isn’t that in the Bible somewhere? Yes, the Holy Spirit does have a role in helping us understand the Word of God, but it isn’t a substitute for study. Paul instructs Timothy several times to be a diligent student of the Bible. And he contrasts that dedication to study with others “who have wandered away from the truth.”
I don’t want to minimize the “inner voice of the Spirit” that speaks to us as believers but I do want to warn against the misuse of phrases like “The Holy Spirit told me.” If the Holy Spirit told you something that contradicts the written word of God, then you’re listening to another spirit. If the Holy Spirit has told you something new that has been completely absent from the accepted understanding of Christians for 2,000 years, then beware. If the Holy Spirit has told you something that benefits you personally, or results in you participating in sinful, or “borderline” activities, you might want to think again about which spirit is really speaking. “The Holy Spirit told me” is often a logical fallacy that we use as an appeal to authority. The Theopedia article on Illumination of the Holy Spirit provides links to several articles on this topic and several of them explain this topic far better than I could.
As I consider Paul’s writings, it seems to me that he was constantly battling against personal inspiration and insisting on the inspiration of the written Scriptures. I think it is because he won that battle that Christianity is a religion based on a book rather than an atomized dispersion of religious fanatics hearing the voice of God in their heads.
Scriptures cited: 2 Tim. 2:17-18
This post was originally published on June 6, 2006.
Paul is hardly “battling against personal inspiration” in 1 Corinthians 14, where he writes “I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy” (v.5, TNIV) and, concerning church meetings, “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said” (v.29, TNIV). Here Paul is battling in favour of personal inspiration and prophecy, while also insisting that it is tested against the written Scriptures. He also wrote: “Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject whatever is harmful” (1 Thessalonians 5:20-22, TNIV). We too should not treat prophecy with contempt by trying to present it as unbiblical or not for the church today, a position which has no support in the New Testament.
Lingamish, I don’t think you are trying to argue for a cessationist position on prophecy, although I would like clarification on what your position actually is on this. For a convincing argument against cessationism, see Adrian Warnock’s series on this.
Peter,
You’re on the right track. This post is not making a comment on cessationism but rather on people using “the Holy Spirit told me” as a magic wand to justify their behavior. Maybe the term “personal inspiration” isnt’ very clear there but in my thinking it is in contrast to true inspiration by the Spirit.
We’re getting on a plane and heading your direction today! Say a prayer for us.
Thanks. That certainly clarifies your meaning. Inspiration by the Spirit certainly needs to be genuine, and that is why it should be tested, as in the quotes above.
Have a good trip. Sorry again I can’t meet you, too much to do before my own trip next week. Expect a reasonably warm and sunny day in London tomorrow, 22 degrees maximum, as the weather doesn’t seem to have noticed yet that summer is supposed to be over.
Peter,
We had a super day in London. The weather was comfortably warm. We were able to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. The kids squeezed right up to the front and had a great time. We also walked through St. James Park, sat on a lion at Trafalgar Square, and visited the pirate park in Kensington Gardens. It was very tiring in a way because of course all of this was taking place during what was for us the middle of the night.
Our flight to South Africa went off without a hitch and we are now settled in at a guesthouse for a week before flying up to Mozambique.
Hope your trip is great.
Thanks. I’m glad you took some of my tips. South Africa – that explains why you are back to blogging so soon, I hadn’t expected to hear from you for a long time! I hope that helps you acclimatise or whatever.
One of the reasons I’m back to blogging so soon is that WordPress allows you to “post date” your posts and I had it sending out posts while I was gone. You had asked once about possible reasons to switch over to WordPress and that might be one. It really allows you to post more consistently without having to be constantly baby-sitting the blog.
I had a good night’s sleep last night, thanks in part to sleeping pills! A couple more days and I might have my days and nights sorted out.