Due to their understanding of a number of verses in the New Testament many Christians believe that the Holy Spirit teaches them directly (in one form or another). I have heard people say things like, “Before I was a believer the Bible made no sense to me. After I got saved it was all clear!” This is quite a claim. Either these believers simply do not realize how confused they really are, or they have a clearer understanding than all the great thinkers in the last 2,000 years of church history!It is understandable that a few obvious things might have become clearer – but I doubt very seriously that these well meaning Christians could stand up against a little probing into their understanding. Have they solved such quandaries as the identification of the “sons of God” in Genesis 6? Do they know the identity of “the restrainer” in 2 Thessalonians 2? Can they map out the series of resurrections and judgments of Revelation? Is it clear to them what Paul meant by “baptism for the dead” in 1 Corinthians 15? Probably what became so clear was their pastor’s understanding and nothing more.This idea is not limited to the laity, however. Dr. Robert L. Thomas in his book Evangelical Hermeneutics writes, “Divine revelation and inspiration lie behind the writing of Scripture, and divine illumination functions in connection with man’s ability to understand what is written” (p.52). It is the Spirit’s power that erases improper preunderstandings in the minds of believing readers in order to give them objectivity in their interpretation (ibid.) Ironically, he then lists three different understandings of the Holy Spirit’s role in interpretation. If the Holy Spirit guarantees our objectivity, then how could there be three different views?
Thomas even claims that the “constancy of church doctrine [that] has prevailed through the centuries” proves that the Spirit is keeping watch over our interpretive skills. Has he read church history? While it is certainly true that many of the most important doctrines have never been seriously debated they are far outnumbered by the disagreements over secondary issues (and some primary ones as well – remember the Reformation???). In fact, Thomas’s only answer to all the disagreement is to look at the agreements (p.53). Further, why should anyone need Thomas’s 500+ page book on interpretation if the Holy Spirit’s role is to ensure our proper understanding of the text? Finally, what about those who, like me, disagree with his interpretation of the very passages he cites in support of his view?
The problem is that if the Holy Spirit truly communicates divine meaning to believers then we have a lot of contradictory data to account for from both ancient and contemporary disagreements. Perhaps, though, there is another way to take the verses that give rise to this thinking that can better explain what we actually observe in reality. So what are these verses that cause this idea and is there a better way to understand them?
The most famous is probably John 14:26 – “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
Some take this verse to mean that we can expect the Holy Spirit to teach us and even help out our memory then we run into problems but this does not seem to be the case. First, this promise is being made by Jesus to His disciples – not us. John chapters 14-16 are Jesus’ last words to His disciples, and trying to read “us” into them rarely works out well. Second, what is to be remembered is what Jesus spoke to His disciples, not what they reported to us. Third we have the ever present problem of this simply not occurring. True, some give God the credit for a useful verse popping into their heads at times – but can they remember everything? What we know from this verse is that the disciples were promised that once Jesus was raised He would send the Holy Spirit to be their guide. There is no reason to apply this verse to us today. What the disciples remembered and understood through the Holy Spirit was written down and explained by them in Scripture for us. Now that these things are recorded the job is done.
Another verse in the same vein is John 16:13 - “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.”
Reading the whole chapter instead of just one verse delivers the same kinds of results as the previous one. Placing “we” into the “you” sections of this chapter make it quite clear that we are not in view. Are we being put out of synagogues (vs.1 – see also Luke 12:11, a parallel verse)? Were we with Jesus from the beginning (vs. 4)? Further, who among us has been guided into all truth? Again, it seems clear from the context that these promises were for the disciples who were in charge of recording and explaining Jesus through the New Testament after He was raised.
In 1 Corinthians 2:9-11 Paul writes that “just as it is written, ‘Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him.’ God has revealed these to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the things of a man except the man’s spirit within him? So too, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.”
This is, oddly, one of the most misapplied verses in the New Testament. I do not think I have ever heard it cited correctly in a sermon. Usually “what no eye has seen, or ear heard” is taken to be referring to Heaven, but it clearly is not. The previous verse says, “None of the rulers of this age understood it. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” What is “it” that the world did not know? What awaits Christians in Heaven? No, this makes no sense here at all. It seems more likely from the context that Paul was referring to God’s previously unknown plan to overcome death via Jesus’ death and resurrection (see 2:2-8). In other words, the mystery of God’s plan could not have been discerned through human wisdom – people needed the Spirit of God to explain to them what had happened. Then they wrote down what they now understood in the New Testament.
Getting back to John’s writings we have 1 John 2:20 & 27 which state, respectively, that “you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. . . . Now as for you, the anointing that you received from him resides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, it is true and is not a lie. Just as it has taught you, you reside in him.”
At least in this verse it is not the disciples that are in mind – the recipients of John’s letter were the church or its leadership. This does not necessarily mean that this is a promise to us though. Often it is proclaimed from the pulpit that if something was written to believers then we can all read it as though it was written to us. This is simply false. These letters were not written to us, although they were written for us. This means that we can gain wisdom and knowledge through proper application – but this involves much more than simply reading ourselves into every line. The verses between 20 and 27 provide more context to these promises that seems to limit them in scope: “I have not written to you that you do not know the truth, but that you do know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist: the person who denies the Father and the Son. Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. The person who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, what you have heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. Now this is the promise that he himself made to us: eternal life. These things I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you.” This language is very localized and the knowledge that the recipients no longer needs to be taught seems to concern confession of the Son and the Father – not Bible knowledge in general.
At the end of the day, if any of these passages meant that believers do not need to be taught by anyone besides the Holy Spirit then why are the authors of these verses teaching believers through their writing? Why do they instruct teachers or expound on the gift of teaching in the New Testament Church? In fact, why is there a Bible at all? These problems should call into question any understanding of the text that seems to remove the need for teachers on earth today. Better questions to ask would be those that get around the problems that this sort of interpretation brings. For example, could not the Holy Spirit be teaching through humans or the Bible? Or, could He be teaching the application of the texts and not their meaning? Either view is possible, both better fit the context, and both avoid the problems mentioned above. It seems best, then, to say that the Spirit’s role in illuminating Scripture is not to teach meaning (even non-believers know what “the grass withers” means!). Rather, His role is to open people’s eyes to the truth of the meanings – to make them see that God’s word is true and good and applies to them in a real way. This is the difference between saving and non-saving knowledge (e.g. Mark 1:24; James 2:19).
