1) “You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” (3:3)
2) “He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (3:6)
3) “Not the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (3:17)
This last verse is especially interesting to me, for the following reason. Jesus is Lord, and Jesus is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the Lord. The Lord is (by definition?) the one we must obey. But we cannot say that Jesus is the Bible, or that the Bible is the Lord, even if God uses the Bible to speak to us. Jesus is the Word of God (Jn 1:1), but the Word of God (eternal, one with the Father, instrument by which all things were created…) in that sense is not equivalent with Scripture, which is nevertheless also the word of God. The Bible is not itself God, a lesson the Israelites had to learn in a rather hard way (1 Sam 4:3-11). I want to be clear I’m not denying that the Bible is God’s word – I believe it is! But I think even the Bible can be an idol if we stop there instead of coming to the Lord through it.
I think this is a huge and hugely interesting topic and am excited for more on this. One thing I’d really like to know is what does it mean to fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Let me just say that if it is possible to fellowship with the Holy Spirit (e.g. commune with the Holy Spirit as you would with another person – only this person is the living God!!) then shouldn’t we be pursuing this as much as possible? What on earth could be greater than intimate fellowship with the Spirit of the living God? Some further references: 2 Cor 13:14; Phil 2:1.
]]>Therefore, I believe that if a “spirit” ever says something contrary to the written Word, that spirit is not from God. 1Cor4:6 says, “Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.”
Later John wrote, ” …whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.” So from these and others, it seems apparent that the real question we should be asking ourselves is: Is my understanding of the Word, the same as the Spirit’s (and of course the author’s) intent?
Joe, I am curious about what example in the early church you were talking about in the second to last paragraph of your article? Could you explain it a little more? Thanks
]]>My reading of Acts 2 is that the Holy Spirit is a gift to the Church. Not to some special, super-spiritual and holy believers, but to the whole Church. To interact with the Spirit, we have to be willing to look for his diverse work in all parts of the Church, within UBF and outside of it. The Spirit works powerfully when there is unity among Christians. I believe that is a main point of Acts 1-2.
]]>I agree with you that the bible mentions events, in which the guidance and the leading of the Holy Spirit clearly contradicted the understanding of Scripture of certain people. I have to think of Peter who had a deeply rooted animosity against non-Jews and thought of them as unclean people, presumably because of his understanding of OT Scripture. It was the Holy Spirit by means of a three-fold vision who corrected Peter’s attitude.
Now, my question is: how would we know if the Holy Spirit clearly wants to correct us where we have gone amiss with our scriptural interpretation? I assume that most Christians of our time did not receive visions as Peter did. What would the practical implications be?
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