Statement: The Holy Spirit can tell me to do something which is forbidden in the Bible.
Fortunately, only 16% of respondents agreed with this statement. 52% strongly disagreed, but there were 32% that were either not sure or only somewhat agreed. That number goes up to 36% in the 18-34 age group.
We, and the majority of respondents, agree that the Bible is the ultimate authority for what we should believe. Here is what Paul says about Scripture:
All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Peter also wrote regarding Scripture:
knowing this first of all, that no prophet of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20-21)
Since the Holy Spirit moved men to write the Bible, he would not contradict it. That would conflict with his nature.
One of the attributes of God is his immutability. He does not change. All three members of the Trinity share his attributes. Therefore, the Holy Spirit does not change. Times change, but he does not. So, the truths of the Bible, being God’s word, remain unchanged as well.
We have to remember that has a plan, his will, for creation. He works toward a goal from beginning to end. Ephesians 1:11 tells us that, in Christ, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will”.
The Lord seeks to establish his kingdom across the whole earth and to dwell with his people. He created human beings in his image to rule and order creation to accomplish this.
For example, God gave Adam and Eve, our first parents, a command or commission to accomplish this. They were to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, extending the garden over all the earth. (Genesis 1:28) They were to exercise dominion over creation. They were to work the garden and keep it. (Genesis 2:15)
And God dwelled with them. We see him walking with the in the garden in the cool of the day. (Genesis 3:8)
Since they were image bearers (made in the image of God), the would be filling the earth with image bearers as they were fruitful and multiplying. As image bearers, they would reflect God’s glory. Therefore, they were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:17)
As humans spread over the earth as image bearers, they would establish and expand God’s kingdom over all the earth.
We know that Adam and Eve failed in this mission and, rather than expand the garden, were excluded from it.
But God continued to work to accomplish his purpose and will. He signaled that intention when he cursed the serpent\Satan and said one would come in the future who would defeat him. (Genesis 3:15)
God gave Israel rules. We call it the law.
Fast forward to the time of Christ. God’s plan entered its last phase, bringing about the new creation. When we come to Christ, we become a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Our commission is to evangelize the world, to be fruitful and multiply in the spiritual sense. Because God is still working toward the end of filling the earth with people who love and worship him and with whom he dwells.
Jesus reflected God’s purpose in the Model Prayer. The first request in that prayer is this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. your kingdom come, your will be one, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9-10)
So God’s people were and are always to live in such a way that we reflect the glory of God as his image bearers. To accomplish the, God gave mankind laws and rules to live by. These rules are for our good and for the accomplishment of God’s purpose.
So, he gave rules to Adam and Eve. They disobeyed them. He gave rules to Israel. They disobeyed them. He gave rules to new covenant believers.
Since he is God, he has the right and the power to do so. Since we, as believers, want to please God and bring glory to him, we study God’s word, the Bible, in order to know God and his will. Peter admonished believers to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”. (2 Peter 3:18)
He also gave us the Holy Spirit to help us know, understand, and obey them. To be holy as God is holy.
God made men and women in his image. (Genesis 1:26) We are to reflect God’s character and his attributes. God is holy. The Bible tells us this. (Leviticus 19:2)
We should be too so that we reflect him. He said this to Israel:
Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. (Exodus 19:5-6)
And again he said “you shall be holy for I, the LORD your God am holy”.
The Bible applies that same standard to New Covenant believers. (1 Peter 1:15). He also gives the same promise that believers are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, and a holy nations. (1 Peter 2:9)
All of that comes to fruition in the new heavens and earth that we see in Revelation 21 and 22.
This is the long way around to make the point that the Holy Spirit has been involved in every step along the way to accomplishing God’s purpose. The purpose has not changed. The Spirit has not changed. He does not change to fit the times. Therefore, he never contradicts himself. He never contradicts his word which he has given us in the Bible.
In addition, there is complete unity among the members of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit will not tell you to do something Jesus said not to do and vice versa. They never contradict each other.
Jesus spoke about the work of the Holy Spirit in John 16. He called the Holy Spirit the “Spirit of truth”. The Spirit will never lie to you. Instead, Jesus said he will guide you into all truth. This is because he does not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears from the Father and Son he will declare. (John 16:14)
Jesus further said the Spirit “will take what is mine and declare it to you”.
Knowing this, what is happening if you feel like the Holy Spirit is telling you something that contradicts Scripture. There are two options. First, it may be that your own desire to do a thing is so strong it makes you want to find a way around the prohibitions of Scripture.
Here is an example. A person is tempted to commit adultery. He or she knows the Scripture says not to. (Exodus 20:14; Matthew 5:27-28) But someone says “doesn’t God want you to be happy? Of course he does. So do what makes you happy.” So the person goes ahead. His or her desires outweighed Scripture.
The second option is that it is not the Holy Spirit talking to you. The best example is Eve in the garden. Satan said to her “did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?”. (Genesis 3:1) Whenever you think this way, or think you hear this way, or a friend talks this way, think of it as the hiss of the serpent. It is not the Holy Spirit.
In addition, we should be wary of those who seek to redefine God or his word. For example, be on guard when someone takes the plain words of Scripture and contradicts it, saying “well, I don’t think it means that…”.
Another one is, “Jesus never said that we could not…”. Jesus may not have addressed every issue directly, but he does address some issues indirectly and he also never contradicts the Old Testament.
Peter also wrote:
And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. (2 Peter 3:15-18)
And, finally, if you are faced with a conflict over what the Scripture says or means, seek out a mature Christian who knows his or her Bible and ask them. “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” (Proverbs 11:14)
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