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At first we thought that this article was going to provide some useful and edifying information, but as we read we discovered some deep flaws.
The author manages to quote only a snippet of a single Scripture. This is a Bible teacher, mind you. A Bible teacher who barely quotes Scripture.
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Many people come to faith in Jesus Christ long before they are able to articulate the theology of regeneration and conversion. Slowly, we realize that what seemed a “simple” act—trusting in Christ—was in fact a complex experience of divine activity. The Holy Spirit needed to be secretly active, since “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3).
Woven into this work of grace, then, is the unnoticed activity of the Spirit as He persuades us that the Scriptures—our ultimate source for knowing Christ—are the Word of the God. Coming to this conviction also seems simple and straightforward. But when examined closely, it reveals a similar complex of marvelous divine activity.
In the case of faith in Christ, the pattern is:
(1) the incarnation of the Son;
(2) His revelation of His identity;
(3) His multifaceted corroboration in words and works;
(4) illumination in the hearts of believers.
All this results in our seeing who Jesus really is and trusting Him.
Thus, the Spirit persuades us about Jesus entirely on the basis of Jesus Himself. Yet this persuasion arises because the Father has sent Him, because Jesus gives evidence of who He is, and because the Spirit opens our blind eyes to recognize Him. As with Peter, our conviction is not a flesh-and-blood matter (Matt. 16:16–17); like Mary in the garden, we may not at first recognize who Jesus really is (John 20:14); like the disciples on the Emmaus Road, our eyes need to be opened (Luke 24:31).
However, our only access now to the knowledge of the Living Word (Jesus) is through the written Word. (This is clearly false. Our access is via the direct testimony of the Holy Spirit, who not only enlivens Scripture, but testifies to our spirits that Jesus is Lord.
It always surprises us that folks expounding on the Bible are so reluctant to quote it. Jn. 17:20: My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message... That is, the message they carry, the Gospel, will go forth into the world with saving power. It is Jesus' words, echoed first by the apostles and then in every generation since, that is the gospel.)
Unsurprisingly, therefore, the process by which we are convinced that Scripture is God’s Word has an underlying structure similar to faith’s conviction about Christ:
(1) The inspiration of Scripture—it is God-breathed.
(2) The revelation of Scripture’s identity in its internal claims to be the Word of God.
(3) The corroboration of Scripture’s authority in the evidences that it is God’s Word through its message about God’s character, His saving works, fulfilled prophecy, and its effects in the lives of God’s people.
(4) The illumination of Scripture’s message through the Spirit’s softening of hard hearts, bowing stubborn wills, and opening blind eyes as we read and hear its message.
Question: Why, then, do conversion to Christ and conviction about Scripture as God’s Word seem to us so simple: “I believe in Jesus Christ” and “I believe Scripture is the Word of God”?
Answer: Because in both instances, the object we trust is the final reason for our trust. Thus, the Spirit does not add new information about Jesus. He simply opens our eyes to see who He really is: “You are the Christ.” (No documentation of this assertion is provided. Scripture itself contradicts it:
He doesn't add new Scripture, because "Scripture" and "information" are not synonymous.)
Nor does the Spirit whisper directly and personally to us, “The Bible is the Word of God.” (Undocumented claim. No Bible verse supplied. But we shall do so:
No, His testimony comes through the Scriptures themselves.
He enables us to see Scripture as it really is when we read or hear it. He causes our hearts to burn when we experience that, in Scripture, God “addresses you” (present tense; Heb. 12:5).
Thus, the Spirit convinces us about Scripture ultimately from Scripture itself. (Now comes a handful Bible examples about the word, yet the Scriptures did not yet exist....)
This was Timothy’s experience. God “breathed out” the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16). They claimed to be the Word of God (v. 15). Timothy was confronted with the evidence (including the changed lives of his mother, grandmother, and spiritual father; vv. 10, 14). Timothy was convinced (v. 14).
This was the Thessalonians’ experience. Paul carried the Word to Thessalonica; it was spoken as the Word of God; it gave evidence of its identity; the Thessalonians “accepted it, not as the word of men, but as it really is, the word of God” (1 Thess. 2:13). This persuasion was the Spirit’s work (1:5). This is the doctrine of the internal testimony of the Spirit expressed in its simplest form.
This is our experience, too. The same testimony of the Spirit is experienced whenever anyone comes to faith in Christ and trusts Scripture as God’s Word. Someone will experience it today. Pause, and thank God for it.
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Many people come to faith in Jesus Christ long before they are able to articulate the theology of regeneration and conversion. Slowly, we realize that what seemed a “simple” act—trusting in Christ—was in fact a complex experience of divine activity. The Holy Spirit needed to be secretly active, since “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3).
Woven into this work of grace, then, is the unnoticed activity of the Spirit as He persuades us that the Scriptures—our ultimate source for knowing Christ—are the Word of the God. Coming to this conviction also seems simple and straightforward. But when examined closely, it reveals a similar complex of marvelous divine activity.
In the case of faith in Christ, the pattern is:
(1) the incarnation of the Son;
(2) His revelation of His identity;
(3) His multifaceted corroboration in words and works;
(4) illumination in the hearts of believers.
All this results in our seeing who Jesus really is and trusting Him.
Thus, the Spirit persuades us about Jesus entirely on the basis of Jesus Himself. Yet this persuasion arises because the Father has sent Him, because Jesus gives evidence of who He is, and because the Spirit opens our blind eyes to recognize Him. As with Peter, our conviction is not a flesh-and-blood matter (Matt. 16:16–17); like Mary in the garden, we may not at first recognize who Jesus really is (John 20:14); like the disciples on the Emmaus Road, our eyes need to be opened (Luke 24:31).
However, our only access now to the knowledge of the Living Word (Jesus) is through the written Word. (This is clearly false. Our access is via the direct testimony of the Holy Spirit, who not only enlivens Scripture, but testifies to our spirits that Jesus is Lord.
Jn. 14:16-17 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you for ever — 17 the Spirit of truth.
Jn. 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.
Ro. 8:5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
Ro. 8:14 ...because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
1Co. 2:12,14 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us... 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1Jn. 3:24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.Faith in Christ depends upon Scripture’s divine character and testimony. We come to Christ through the Apostles’ words (John 17:20). (No, we come to Christ through the Word of Christ. That's what the apostles preached. It's what every evangelist has preached over the centuries. It's what we preach today.
It always surprises us that folks expounding on the Bible are so reluctant to quote it. Jn. 17:20: My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message... That is, the message they carry, the Gospel, will go forth into the world with saving power. It is Jesus' words, echoed first by the apostles and then in every generation since, that is the gospel.)
Unsurprisingly, therefore, the process by which we are convinced that Scripture is God’s Word has an underlying structure similar to faith’s conviction about Christ:
(1) The inspiration of Scripture—it is God-breathed.
(2) The revelation of Scripture’s identity in its internal claims to be the Word of God.
(3) The corroboration of Scripture’s authority in the evidences that it is God’s Word through its message about God’s character, His saving works, fulfilled prophecy, and its effects in the lives of God’s people.
(4) The illumination of Scripture’s message through the Spirit’s softening of hard hearts, bowing stubborn wills, and opening blind eyes as we read and hear its message.
Question: Why, then, do conversion to Christ and conviction about Scripture as God’s Word seem to us so simple: “I believe in Jesus Christ” and “I believe Scripture is the Word of God”?
Answer: Because in both instances, the object we trust is the final reason for our trust. Thus, the Spirit does not add new information about Jesus. He simply opens our eyes to see who He really is: “You are the Christ.” (No documentation of this assertion is provided. Scripture itself contradicts it:
Ep. 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.The Spirit always adds new information. New information is information we did not know before.
He doesn't add new Scripture, because "Scripture" and "information" are not synonymous.)
Nor does the Spirit whisper directly and personally to us, “The Bible is the Word of God.” (Undocumented claim. No Bible verse supplied. But we shall do so:
Ro. 8:16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
He. 10:15-16 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: 16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts..."The Holy Spirit has much to say to us, contrary to the assertions of the author.)
No, His testimony comes through the Scriptures themselves.
He enables us to see Scripture as it really is when we read or hear it. He causes our hearts to burn when we experience that, in Scripture, God “addresses you” (present tense; Heb. 12:5).
Thus, the Spirit convinces us about Scripture ultimately from Scripture itself. (Now comes a handful Bible examples about the word, yet the Scriptures did not yet exist....)
This was Timothy’s experience. God “breathed out” the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16). They claimed to be the Word of God (v. 15). Timothy was confronted with the evidence (including the changed lives of his mother, grandmother, and spiritual father; vv. 10, 14). Timothy was convinced (v. 14).
This was the Thessalonians’ experience. Paul carried the Word to Thessalonica; it was spoken as the Word of God; it gave evidence of its identity; the Thessalonians “accepted it, not as the word of men, but as it really is, the word of God” (1 Thess. 2:13). This persuasion was the Spirit’s work (1:5). This is the doctrine of the internal testimony of the Spirit expressed in its simplest form.
This is our experience, too. The same testimony of the Spirit is experienced whenever anyone comes to faith in Christ and trusts Scripture as God’s Word. Someone will experience it today. Pause, and thank God for it.
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