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It's good to be home. While getting a break and spending time with family and friends is enjoyable, there's just something to getting back into a routine to feel more productive. Likewise, for some odd reason, it just seems easier to get into a routine/get more done in a given day at home.

I still have too much on my plate, but that's normal.

The Role and Work of the Holy Spirit, II: The Spirit and His Revelation

(Part I can be accessed here).

Let us continue our analysis of the role and work of the Holy Spirit. We recognize that since the Spirit represents one of the Persons of the Godhead, much is unknowable about Him. Nevertheless, we can strive to understand what can be understood through the revelation He has provided us.

Previously we considered the relationship of the Holy Spirit and the believer. Let us continue by considering the role of the Spirit in the revelation of God's will.

Preliminary Consideration: The Word of God

Before we begin considering the Spirit and God's revelation, we must make clear what has often been confused. We read constantly about the "word of God," and normally equate that with God’s revelation. Since the Spirit is the one responsible for revealing God’s message to mankind, many have equated the role of the Spirit with that of the Word.

But the Word of God is not, preeminently, the book revealed by the Spirit. John 1 is quite clear about the Word of God: He is with God and is God (John 1:1), all things were made through Him (John 1:3), and He became flesh and dwelt among us as Jesus the Christ (John 1:14). Therefore, when God said, "'let there be light', and there was light" (Genesis 1:3), that is the Word of God coming forth from the Father and creating. Later on, the Spirit reveals the information regarding the Word to inspired authors, which becomes the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:21).

Therefore, the word is really about the Word. The Scriptures are there to provide the contours of the Word of God so that we can understand about God and His work, but the Bible is thus not an end to itself: instead, it points to the substance of what is revealed, to the Word of God and His interaction with men (John 1:1-14, 1 Corinthians 10:1-5), and how one can "abide" in the Word (cf. 1 John). It points you to faith in Jesus Christ; it is up to us to have that faith (Hebrews 11:6).

The Spirit and His Revelation

While Jesus is the Word personified (John 1:1-14), Jesus is neither a book nor a letter. Instead, when God communicated to mankind through various persons, He did so through the Holy Spirit:

For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21).

We see here the process: men did not prophesy by their own will, but God "moved" them by the Holy Spirit to speak. Thus we have the common phrase in the Old Testament, "the word of the LORD that came to x prophet." The communication is spoken by the prophet or person according to their own language yet the substance is guided by the Spirit for God's ends.

In this way countless persons have spoken God's will, from prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah to kings like David and even people like Caiaphas (cf. John 11:49-51)! For many generations, such is the only way that people would hear a message from God!

But there were always people who pretended to speak a word from God, but God did not inspire them to do so. Such is why God intended for all prophets to be tested: they were truly from God if their message came true (Deuteronomy 18:19-22).

Meanwhile, many of the inspired statements uttered by those prophets were collected and written down. God was also inspiring other people through the Spirit to write history and prophecies that would eventually make up the Scriptures, as is revealed in 2 Timothy 3:16-17:

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness. That the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

As the Kingdom of God was inaugurated through Jesus Christ, He promised His disciples that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, would be given to them so that they could teach the people regarding the new covenant (Matthew 18:18, John 14:16-17, John 15:26-27, John 16:12-14, Acts 1:8). This was powerfully fulfilled on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit was poured out on the disciples, and they spoke in tongues and testified regarding Jesus (Acts 2). Through the laying on of hands, the Apostles could provide similar abilities to those who believed (Acts 8:14-17, Acts 19:1-6). It was through these means that the Christians of the period of the New Testament spoke regarding Jesus and encouraged each other.

It was also through these means that God inspired the creation of the New Testament, written by the Apostles and their associates by the Spirit's direction (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Such was the situation in the first century. After this period, there is a marked difference in the attitude of Christians toward their own abilities and that which came before them. They no longer testified by their own authority; they preached and spoke in the name of what the Apostles and others had revealed in the New Testament. No one was claiming the same prerogatives of inspired revelation. There were clear distinctions between what came before and what existed then.

Such was predicted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:8-10:

Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.

For the purposes of the new covenant, God's revelation was complete. The Spirit was not going to be revealing any new information. The focus of the Christian was now to understand what God had previously revealed through the Holy Spirit and apply it to his life.

But does the work of the Holy Spirit in terms of His revelation end with the end of the first century and the completion of the New Testament?

Based upon what Paul reveals in 1 Corinthians 2:10-16, it would seem that the Spirit does still have a role in assisting the believer in understanding that which has already been revealed:

But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God. But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual words. Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, and he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Many might say that Paul is writing to a first century audience, and because the Spirit is not providing the gifts of speaking in tongues, prophecy, and knowledge in 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, this passage is not applicable today.

This view, however, is problematic. Yes, it is true that "knowledge" is listed in 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, but this by no means can mean the abolition of all knowledge. We still have the repository of that which has been previously revealed, and God would certainly still have us to know of it (2 Timothy 2:15, 3:16-17). 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, therefore, indicates that the Spirit is not providing new knowledge. This is not a hindrance to the Spirit helping the Christian understand that which already has been revealed.

Many of the promises enumerated in 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 still apply today. Christians receive the gift of the Holy Spirit today (Acts 2:38-39). As we have seen previously, Christians still receive "spiritual gifts" from God through the agency of the Spirit, as seen in Romans 12:3-8, 1 Corinthians 12:12-28, Galatians 5:17-24, and 1 Peter 4:10-11. And, from 1 Corinthians 2:12, we see that by having the Spirit, we may understand the things God seeks to reveal to us in His word.

Some may protest and say that since God has revealed all things to us in the Bible, the Spirit does not actively assist in understanding the Bible. Yet this view would seem to get Paul's logic backwards. Paul says that by having the Spirit we understand God's revelation, not that we understand God's revelation because of what the Spirit did.

We again return to the issue we spoke of beforehand. We recognize that it is sheer folly and presumptuousness to say that everything we have we have gained by our own power and strength. We saw previously how it would be sheer arrogance to say that we, by our own power alone, have inculcated all the character attributes that God would have us demonstrate. Is it not the same to say that we have understood the Bible based entirely on our own intelligence, insight, and understanding?

Some may say that the Bible is so straightforward that we do not need any help in understanding its message: it is plain as day, and that is sufficient. If it were so straightforward, why is it that many sincere people entirely disagree on how to interpret it in many instances? Yes, I recognize that many times it is based in one's own lust and to justify oneself, and there are times when people have distorted perspectives based on deceptive teachings, but that does not answer every disagreement that has ever existed. As Paul himself said, God's message is not comprehensible to those with carnal mindsets-- to have the mind of Christ you have to have the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10-16). To have spiritual understanding, it must be guided by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10-16, Galatians 5:17-24)!

Human beings, according to their own designs, are led into all kinds of error (cf. Jeremiah 10:23). Why, then, would we presume that we understand God's revelation entirely based upon our own insight, wisdom, and understanding?

Objections likely abound. If the Spirit does guide people in some way, why do so many people disagree? To this we must recognize that the Spirit is not accountable to us, and that the Spirit is working according to the will of God. After all, Paul says that God's truths must be discerned spiritually (1 Corinthians 2:10-16), and one must have the Spirit in order to be led by Him (Galatians 5:17-24, Romans 8:1-10). Perhaps those who disagree either do not have the Spirit or do not heed His voice. The Spirit, after all, will not coerce someone to believe anything they refuse to accept.

Perhaps the biggest objection and concern involves how "Spirit guidance" is abused among denominationalists. We must recognize that truth is truth, and if truth is abused, that does not mean that in our reactions we should forsake truth. It is true that the idea of the Spirit guiding the believer is abused among many in denominations. Many will make statements about how "God spoke to them" and "God said this to me" and "the Spirit told me this." Did God speak to them? Only He would know.

Yet, in the New Testament, we see how the Spirit works, and the Spirit does not work in this way. The New Testament authors do not make a statement and say that it is true because "the Spirit says so." Such a claim is not falsifiable and not inherently persuasive. Instead, in Acts 2, Peter stands up and proclaims Jesus as the Christ by his own personal testimony to the resurrection, the common knowledge of the works of Jesus Christ, and by demonstrating from the Scriptures how it was so. He even quotes Joel to demonstrate why it is that they are filled with the Spirit! In Acts 13, Paul stands up in a synagogue and proclaims Jesus as the Christ through the Old Testament Scriptures. In Acts 17, Paul stands up before Athenians and uses their own literature to attest to the One True God. Throughout the letters of Paul, Peter, James, and others, truth is spoken forth freely with proofs and demonstrations. "Do this because the Spirit says so" is not seen.

This is because God's truth is open for examination. God's truth stands on its own merit, and does not depend on subjective appeals. The Spirit would not all of a sudden change and act differently in the modern era.

Therefore, anyone who would say that a particular claim is true "because the Spirit says so" represents a red flag that something is seriously wrong. If the Spirit is aiding Christians in understanding that which He previously revealed, He will show that truth in ways that can be sensibly and persuasively proven on the basis of the text itself, just as He did through the Apostles and others so long ago. The Spirit will not require mentioning.

It should also go without saying that the Spirit is not going to compel us to understand without us engaging in the pursuit of God's truth. Just as the fruit of the Spirit is not manifested solely by the Spirit's work, but by the believer striving to obey God and thus assisted by the Spirit, so the Spirit, if He is going to assist in our understanding, will only do so based upon our study and deliberation on His revelation (Deuteronomy 6, 2 Timothy 2:15). The description of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter, or Helper (parakletos, John 14:26), is apt, and on what basis can we say that He still does not provide comfort and help to believers today?

Believers should always have a good dose of humility in regards to their lives and how God works with them. On the one hand, if God indeed is working in our lives, or if we are gaining understanding by the Spirit, we should glorify Him for it. On the other hand, we do not know exactly how God operates, and we ought not presume that we understand a given truth because of the Spirit or that certain events that took place definitively did so by God's hand. We do not know exactly how God is operating today-- but we firmly believe that He still does work in our lives.

We ought to thank God that He has revealed to us His will through the Scriptures by the agency of the Spirit. We also should be open to the possibility that our understanding is not based merely on our own knowledge and effort but might be assisted by the Spirit. This ought not become a prop for an argument, and it should not provide an opportunity for an inflated head in the belief that a given idea "must be right" because we are "sure" that it came from the Holy Spirit. We must always "test the spirits" (1 John 4:1), to see if what we are believing is from God, from our own lusts, or from the evil one. The humble servant of God (Luke 17:7-10), diligently striving to be approved (2 Timothy 2:15), in the midst of study of and devotion to the Scriptures, might just have an idea pop in his or her head that makes good sense of the passage. Is it possible that said idea just bubbled forth from their unconscious? Of course. Yet why is it impossible for the Spirit to be the one behind that thought? According to 1 Corinthians 2:10-16, it is not impossible in the least. It is, in fact, part of the work of the Spirit in the life of the believer.

It is quite inconsistent, and perhaps even blasphemous, for us to recognize our dependence on God for our position in life but to deny that He has any active role in how we understand His revelation to mankind. Let us at least be open to the idea that we can be guided by the Spirit to a better understanding of that which He has revealed.

May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits.

ELDV


	(108 older comments)
preacherdavetx	ted to read and understand. Paul writes "And by referring to this (what he wrote before in brief), when you read you can understand..." Clearly the Bible is God's revelation to man, for man to read and understand and apply - II Timothy 3:16. But again, going back to the point of "What part of the scriptures do we need the Spirit's intervention to understand and what parts don't we?" Starting at the beginning, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." (Gen. 1:1) I am assuming based upon your writing that you believe you are one who has the Spirit's special understanding / revelation of this verse? What is the special revelation you receive of this verse that some random person I pull of the street would not be able to understand? And not understand because of their heart's condition as the parable of the Sower addresses, but their lack of understand because of the lack of the Spirit which you possess? Who is to go through the Bible and seperate what verses, or chapters, or words we can understand on our own vs. what we need the Spirit's intervention for? But then there is another problem. If you answer we don't need the Spirit for some, then that means we don't need the Spirit for any. Which means you must choose the answer that we need the Spirit for all. If that be the case, then how can we discern if we have the Spirit or not? How can we discern if the one teaching us is truly inspired of the Spirit or not? That answer turns ALL the revelation into subjective judgment and leaves one with NO objective test to determine truth.
slave_of_jesus_jdb	You say, "There is clearly an expectation for people to not only read, but to remember, and understand." Um, thats true, but I don't know why you think I've rejected that. People are supposed to understand and the truth be revealed to them, which means they have a responsibility to have faith and receive God's Spirit. But those who don't do that don't understand and God doesn't write his law on their hearts. There needs to be both activity and receptivity/passivity in reading God's word.
slave_of_jesus_jdb	Who decides all that? God, not me. I'm only promoting a discussion of 1 Cor 2 here. I don't pretend to know all the ins and outs of how this all works out. Your quam is with Paul, I suppose, not me. I'm not saying there is a special spiritual message per word or per verse of Scripture or know just exactly how that works. I don't know that Paul claimed to either.
slave_of_jesus_jdb	All God's people are called to be spiritual, so I'm certainly not advocating a clergy/laity class distinction to help us. Paul himself says in 1 Cor 14:37 "Whoever thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things I am writing are the commandment of the Lord." The idea is that the whole church should be "of the Spirit" as he says in 1 Cor 2 to recognize the things of God in what he writes.
slave_of_jesus_jdb	Your complaint has a lot to do with episteomology and certainy about knowing. What if you just had to settle for less certainty? That has exactly been one of my points, that calling the Bible "God's revelation" has been used to create radical overconfidence and abuse by preachers being the tale that wags the dog. Once claiming that we can simply objectively go from reading to understanding in one step and then claiming "This is what God's word says" instead of "This is what I think God means in this passage" they sit in the seat of God. A lust for certainty drives the understanding of Biblical revelation when perhaps we should not be as certain as we claim to be. Instead of claiming you have an "objective" test, you should settle for spiraling in on the correct understanding, getting closer and closer without claiming to be there and understand it all. God has not revealed all to you or anyone else, but many of us keep getting closer and closer. Do you really claim to have the keys to objectivity in gaining God's revelation? Can the church hire you to stand over its shoulder and write all of its commentaries to extract God's revelation from the Bible?
preacherdavetx	If I can't know right from wrong; how can I please God? Why has God created me to be righteous, and yet not given me the capacity to know/do what is right? If God has given me the capacity to know; can I tell others without being accused of sitting "in the seat of God"? Again, what passages do I need "The Spirit's" direct intervention to "know" or "understand", and which ones can I get on my own? Can I claim the written word is the key to objectivity in gaining God's revelation? If it's not, then what is? If there is no key then how can anyone understand? You speak of some of you "getting closer and closer"; what is the point of getting closer if you can never get there? Is it possible to get there? How do you know when you are there? Is there an objective standard of measure to know you are there; or do you just subjectively know? Don't Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Pentacostals, Catholic Priests, Charismatics all say they are "there"? How can they all be there if they all believe and understand different things? Is it good enough that they are all just getting closer? How can I, the outside observer, know which group or individual is getting closer or not to the truth? What is the purpose of the Bible, if it does not reveal a definitive truth; and one which anyone can know they have attained?
slave_of_jesus_jdb	I doubt that you always do know right from wrong. The principles are "evident" without the Bible (Gal 5:19-23) and the applications are not always easy to figure out, even when the Bible talks about them. God is pleased when you fulfill the law in love and do the best you can. He has given you the capacity to do what is right and he has ways of finding out the right application to the person who seeks, but they don't always figure it out and God is okay with being gracious. He's got lots of grace, you know. What makes you think that he has to help you figure it out by a statement in the Bible rather than providence and the Spirit within you and guiding your personal judgment? And do you realize that none of this has anything to do with whether or not the Bible is a revelation or just a message that can lead to a revelation? By the way, saying that "the written word is the key to objectivity in gaining God's revelation" seems quite reasonable to me. Bravo. But also there is the Spirit that God puts within us that is intended to be a guide (again Gal 5:19-23). Whats the point of getting "closer and closer" if you never get there? Well, you do get there when you are raised from the dead. Remember how in Phil 3 Paul said he hadn't reach completion/perfection but was aspiring to the upward call? The resurrection? In the mean while, getting closer and closer makes us more and more like Jesus. Thats good enough reason.
slave_of_jesus_jdb	How do you know when you are there? I don't think you can always know with complete certainty or that we are supposed to. I think certainty comes in levels and the farther we get from the more central themes the less certain we ought to expect to be. Where is the "there" that all these people are supposed to be? I don't think they should claim greater certainty than anybody else. "Good enough" is ultimately up to God. But Paul does seem to indicate that apart from believing the gospel we ought not to judge anything before the time (1 Cor 4). We can make more tentative judgments about beliefs we think are wrong and right but they don't always have to be drawing a line in the sand of salvation. Where should the outside observer start for finding a group that is closer than another? "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Does that make you sweat a little? It does me. And yet is an intellectually unsophisticated kind of comment, yet there is hardly another like it in terms of "how to find the right group." The purpose of the Bible is to "reveal a defintive truth." But just because thats its purpose doesn't mean it has already done it. Confidence comes in graduated measures. "Let him who thinks he stands take head lest he fall."
slave_of_jesus_jdb	The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. 1 Cor 8:2
preacherdavetx	Is Paul saying in Phil. 3 that in his getting closer to perfection that is the result of continued revelation, or is it that God's will was already revealed, and he was referring to his living the revelation more pefectly in his life? Also, isn't his reference to perfection speaking of maturity, and not flawlessness?
preacherdavetx	That's interesting you say that regarding I Cor. 4, when in I Cor. 5 Paul makes judgment of a "brother", though he was not even present in Corinth. Paul seemed to make plenty of judgments, was sure of right and wrong, was certain about the future. It seems as though he and the other communicators of the N.T., as previously documented, all held the similar conviction as communicated through the H.S. - That the written word was to communicate with certainty what was right/wrong, acceptable/unacceptable, holy/unholy.
preacherdavetx	relativism and subjectivity has a great appeal amongst the masses for great purpose - because it can make people feeeeeeel good. But how good will it feel when we stand before God and judgment where what we say and have done faces off not against relativism and subjectivity, but against the certainty and objectivity of His revelation - The Bible?\
slave_of_jesus_jdb	Dave, in Phil 3 Paul can't be talking about the "already revealed" will of completed Scripture in any case, since it was nearly completed by anyone's reckoning. The resurrection for Paul means the completion of a lot of things. One thing is the completion of spiritual maturity, as he describes the "spiritual body" in 1 Cor 15. Another is revelation when we see the Lord face to face. Or in the words of 1 John 3:2 "we shall see him as he is." Can you seriously believe that there is nothing left to be revealed after the Bible even when we are raised to new life without the finitude of the human brain to limit our learning? You missed my point about 1 Cor 4. I didn't say we should never make judgments. I said that we should not judge the final desetination of people. What else do you think 1 Cor 4 means by what it says? I specifically affirmed that we do need to make judgments about right in wrong in that very paragraph, so please don't confuse me with affirming relativism and subjectivity. Truth is truth and the right thing to do is the right thing to do. What I have denied is that you can sit down and get 100% certainty about it all because you claim that the Bible is God's revelation instead of his message, as if that is relavent at all to the question of certianty. No, your lack of ability to guarentee you are getting the right understanding for the text doesn't open us up to relativism or subjectivity, it is supposed to open you up to humility.
slave_of_jesus_jdb	No doubt, the inspired words of scripture are there to help us come to proper convictions about right and wrong. But it is a critical process that takes time and it doesn't all come in one lump sum. It requires great humility as we all go from states of, hopefully, less confidence to greater confidence. We can have great confidence about some things but probably ought to have less confidence about most things and certainly never complete confidence about everything. And the limitations aren't with the book, which you seem to have thought I have been saying (but I haven't, the book does what its supposed to as God's message). Rather, the limitations are with you. Quit making the book something its not. Stop pretending like the toaster is a refrigerator and you'll probably be more likely to accomplish what its supposed to do.
slave_of_jesus_jdb	You seem to confirm what I already suspected. The reason you've just gotta have certainty about everything is because you feel that your salvation is pinned up in every little aspect. The whole standing before the judgment seat thing. Not condemning other people for what they believer or practice isn't always about thinking "they're okay, I'm okay." Sometimes its about realizing that while you think they are wrong your own basis for what you think you true is not perfect and subject to error, leaving humility to allow them to practice what they believe is true and let them stand before their own maker. Or, as Paul says, to judge nothing before the time.
slave_of_jesus_jdb	You seem to confirm what I already suspected. The reason you've just gotta have certainty about everything is because you feel that your salvation is pinned up in every little aspect. The whole standing before the judgment seat thing. Not condemning other people for what they believer or practice isn't always about thinking "they're okay, I'm okay." Sometimes its about realizing that while you think they are wrong your own basis for what you think you true is not perfect and subject to error, leaving humility to allow them to practice what they believe is true and let them stand before their own maker. Or, as Paul says, to judge nothing before the time. It certainly follows that if we have less basis for claiming certainty than God has less basis for being nitpicky. Fortunately, I don't think God is nitpicky. I'm sorry if you do. I did but stopped believing that a few years ago. Its much more peaceful and gives me the freedom to use my new found liberty, not for indulging the flesh, but for serving others the way I think I was supposed to all along. Though God has still a lot of work to do on me, of course. I've decided to start with the verse I'm still sweaten' over this verse: "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
preacherdavetx	Can't one be certain about something and still be humble? Jesus Christ would certainly know all revelation and be certain in all things yet still be humble. It seems as though you make being certain of something incompatible with humility. If your not saying that, then it is my misunderstanding of what you have written, but it seems to be a centrail theme. I don't think anyone has made the claim that the Bible reveals all things. It doesn't. It would need to be a lot bigger for that. But it does reveal what we need, and that's all that matters. Perhaps providing and example would clear things up, instead of toaster ovens and refrigerators; neither of which I totaly understand. Take homosexuality as an example. It seems defintivea and certain to me based on scripture that homosexuality is wrong, and that noone who is unrepentant in that behavior will inherit the kingdom of God ( I Cor. 6:9; etc.). There are others who believe they are led by the Spirit, and God has revealed to them, that they can be homosexuals - in fact; that God created them to be such - and that they can attain eternal life. So my question is, using that as an example, can you illustrate what you are talking about? If you don't like that example fine, use another one. But based on what i have gathered from our conversation you believe the following. 1. That I can't definitively say it is wrong because the Bible is not the complete revealed will of God for man I should not warn this person of hell, or say that they or others like them would even go there; but rather, encourage them to read the scriptures and pray for the Spirit to reveal to them the truth That if I was to speak against homosexuality to that individual, and to say with certainty it was wrong and warn them of the consequences, I would arrogantly be seating myself in the judgment seat of God Now I say that to say, that what I understand you to be saying is obviously not correct. So if you walk me through the example, then perhaps I will better understand your point of revelation and the message; and how those things play out in what we are supposed to do or not do.
deusvitae	I am tired of the hangups on words. In terms of "the revelation" being "God's disclosure of His message," yes, that was completed in the first century. Ever since, people have looked back to that authority. When discussing spiritual matters, the authority that is cited is the Scripture. The only other concepts that are deemed "authoritative" by anyone over a consistent stream of time is "tradition" or "the church." Only the Orthodox would claim actual inspiration for the fathers, and they have all kinds of problems trying to reconcile all the various discrepancies among the eastern patristics.
deusvitae	How else can the Holy Spirit be a prerequisite to aiding or helping interpretation without conceding that our understanding and the revelation of God's will is at His sovereign disclosure? To say otherwise is to say the carnal unbeliver can simply extract knowledge of God from the text, regardless of God's will. Knowledge of God can be extracted and he can be found apart from seeking and humility and spiritual virtue, etc. Paul is arguing exactly against that. The reason why I oppose your conclusion is the same reason why I oppose Augustine's conclusion that God's sovereignty means that everything has been predestined: it flies in the face of God's relationship to man. What you posit is a modified Augustinianism in terms of understanding the will of God: God makes the sovereign choice of who will understand and will not understand based upon whom He provides the Spirit. But consider the following: For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Romans 1:19-20 Granted, Paul is speaking of the natural world and not His specific message to mankind, but God provided a message regarding Himself through the creation that He expected man to understand. Now, will we say that the only ones who could clearly perceive God in the creation were those to whom He willed it by providing the Spirit?
deusvitae	Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Acts 17:11 I believe this verse militates against your perspective on the Scriptures, because the Jews of Berea hear Paul's message and then compare it to the Old Testament. According to your thesis, the Spirit should have been able to make the text make sense to them without any kind of analysis. Yet the Berean Jews felt compelled to analyze/compare that which Paul was revealing with that which had been previously revealed by God.
deusvitae	I believe your premise is faulty and your conclusion is faulty. The fact that humans can come to God and that God seeks for man to come to Him means that despite being in an unregenerated state, man can learn to seek after God and be cleansed by Him (Hebrews 11:6, Titus 3:3-8). I mean, look at 1 Corinthians. It's being written to a group of people that are confessed to being "carnal." According to what you're saying, Josh, since the Corinthians are carnal, we can have no expectation that they will understand anything Paul writes to them. So why does he bother writing to them? I believe that you've unjustly absolutized Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 2. I do not think that he means at all that the unregenerate or carnal man cannot understand anything about the revelation of God/God's message/the Scriptures, etc. If so, he would not have bothered writing to the Corinthians. What Paul is saying is that Christianity will never really make any sense to anyone who is not spiritual. And, as we've established, to be "spiritual," one must be both walking by the Spirit and to have the Spirit, and both of these are predicated on initial obedience to the Gospel. If any and all spiritual understanding is predicated on God providing the Spirit in order to reveal truth, then God is providing the Spirit to unregenerate unbelievers consistently. Furthermore, God would be open to the charge of injustice, since He provides some with the Spirit and others not.
deusvitae	I, however, can make better sense of all this, because I confess that the Scriptures represent the message of God's revelation, the basics of which can be understood by someone interested in the Gospel. The message must be presented in order to incline the heart of the unregenerate toward God, as Paul makes clear in Romans 10:17. Once the person believes, and is given the Spirit and walks by the Spirit, there may be times when the Spirit assists such a one in their study to better understand what God has previously revealed. The Spirit will not provide such assistance to people who do not "have" the Spirit and/or do not "walk by" the Spirit. Such people's condemnation is just, not because God has arbitrarily kept His message from them, but because despite receiving the message of the Gospel, they have rejected some or all of it for themselves.
deusvitae	Furthermore, what do you do with the examples of apostolic preaching? Did the Jews stone Stephen because they did not understand what he said because the Spirit hindered them from understanding its message, or did they stone Stephen because they precisely understood what he was saying and what he was meaning? When the Jews rejected Paul's message, was it because the Spirit hindered them from understanding the message or was it because the Jews, because of their blind devotion to their traditions, were unwilling to part ways with their means of interpreting the Scriptures? Why are we attributing to the Spirit the sinfulness of man?
deusvitae	Can you have the revelation of God's will and yet God's will not be revealed to you? No. I can have the revelation of God's will yet not consider it. Such, strictly, does not mean that it was not revealed to me, but means that I have not considered it valuable enough to consider. On the Judgment Day, I would not be able to say that I was not responsible because God did not reveal it to me. If I have the revelation of God, I can still distort its meaning. It is not that God has not revealed His message to me inasmuch as my stubborn will refuses to submit to the wisdom God has provided. Or I can have God's revelation and submit to the Lord and follow its message, and at times in my deliberation and study upon that revelation, the Spirit may make something clear. I would consider that illumination, not revelation, because it's not providing something really new or different or exciting. It's just laying out the revelation for what it really is.
deusvitae	So why should we pretend as though God "has" fully revealed himself and his will through the canon of the New Testament when it is obvious that he hasn't? "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." Deuteronomy 29:29
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