Perhaps you are wondering what I mean when I say that the Bible is the only language that the Holy Spirit speaks. If you are not wondering, you ought to be! Because such a statement is potentially quite contrary to ideas appearing all over the so-called Christian world. And, somebody is wrong. Either I am or these others are. It could be desperately important to our eternal life.
But, you might say, what does it matter?
If we just love Jesus and worship Him, won’t grace cover it all? No. If I am even close to right, the words of the Bible are to be central to all Christian experience. Jesus says it very simply, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (John 14:15 ESVi)
The Holy Spirit is here to remind us of these words! “Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." (John 14:24-26)
There is an intimate relationship between confessing love for Jesus, obeying His commandments and constantly accessing the remembrance of those words from the Word of God in the hands of the Spirit of God.
What then are some of the conclusions that I draw when I say that the Bible is the only language that the Holy Spirit speaks? Here are a few to chew on.
The Bible is complete. The Holy Spirit is not growing the revelation from God in the Bible, He is reminding us of it, instructing us in it, and where we allow, applying it to our lives. This is one of His roles. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. (2 Tim. 3:16 ESVi)
The other words that come from us in response to ideas, thoughts and reflections about the Bible are incomplete and too often dangerous. They are not inspired. Sermons, songs, books, poems, skits, plays, “visions“ of a new something, “words of knowledge,” etc. are all our interpretations of what we think God said and meant. The closer they stay to the actual words of Scripture the more reliable they are. The more they are driven by our subjective and emotional responses, the more precarious they can be.
The visions we have about what we think God is saying to us are incomplete. When we can trace a more direct line between what we say “came” from God, and the actual words of Scripture, the more we can be assured that God the Spirit is indeed leading. Where there are few direct lines from the “visions” we ascribe to God and demonstrable righteous living in His people, the more we should wonder: whose word is it?
The most important tool in the life of the true Christian is the Bible. God the Spirit uses it, providing alert to danger, encouragement for disappointment, calls to righteous obedience, healing from the power of the flesh, and especially, directions for the many decisions that we make daily.
Without it we are adrift in a world that sees life upside down from God. Without it we are adrift in our daily battle with the flesh. Without it we wonder why our spiritual life seems so dry. Without it we miss all of the intimate moments with the Father. Without it all other words are dangerously spurious and powerless. Without it our hope is fragile.
Copyright
Dwight Smith, March, 2020
Comments