robwilkerson.net: sufficiency of Scripture

Is All Prophecy Equal to Scripture? Part 5

Friday, November 22, 2013

In the last post of this brief series I want to summarize what was discovered in the concise surveys presented in Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. I believe that when we start reading the Scriptures and take it at face-value that we cannot come to the conclusion that is known as cessationism.

I have attempted to do this with the subject of prophecy. And my face-value readings on this subject not only called into question the presuppositions I had about the gift itself, but eventually dissolved the very foundation of my belief in cessationism. Eventually it collapsed, giving way to new life growing in the cracks of the rubble which now laid upon the more secure foundation that God is still speaking to His people today like He always has.

A Summary of Differing Types of Prophecy

In summary, there's a qualitative difference in prophecy itself, isn't there?

There is prophecy that is canonical, that is, prophecy that resulted in the Scriptures we have today.

There is prophecy that is not canonical, which is not recorded in the Scripture, even though it occurred during the time the Scriptures were being written.

The first survey of texts indicated that a majority of the prophecy referred to in the Bible was never actually recorded in the Bible, and is therefore non-canonical.

The second survey of texts indicated that a great deal of prophecy was simply practical in nature, and therefore non-canonical. (And judging from what I see there, I personally make the assumption that it probably occurred more than we see in this short survey.)

And 1 Corinthians 14:3 indicates that there is a "one-anothering" type of prophecy that is simply a revelation of the Holy Spirit enabling one believer to strengthen, comfort, and encourage another believer.

Has ALL Prophecy Ceased Today?

Now, there are some cessationists who will argue that all types of prophecy have ceased and are no longer in operation for today. They argue that since doctrinal prophecy resulted in the canon of Scripture that all prophecy, even those of a "lesser" or different quality, including practical prophecy and "one-anothering" prophecy are also out of operation today and not valid. But here's my question: how does one come up with that arbitrary conclusion?

Think about it for a moment. If most of the prophecy in the Bible is non-canonical, and if a great deal of it is just practical and about loving one another, then why must these types of prophecy necessarily cease when the final book of the Bible was written? Does the Bible actually say that this will happen? No. It doesn't. Anywhere. At least, not until Jesus returns (1 Corinthians 1:7; 13:10).

So we have a significant confusion existing within the DNA of the cessationist's reasoning. They argue that prophecy is canonical in nature, when clearly it is not always the case. And they argue as a result of this faulty conclusion that no prophecy of any kind can exist anymore after the Bible is written. However, if we've proved the first conclusion is wrong, then the second conclusion falls as well. Follow the rationale here:

If the canon of Scripture is equal to prophecy...
...while prophecy is not always equal to the canon of Scripture...
then the completion of the canon of Scriptures means that doctrinal prophecy has ceased...
...while the completion of the canon of Scripture has virtually nothing to do with the cessation of practical prophecy and "one-another" prophecy, in the very least.

I recall being a cessationist once. Understandably, I argued from what I perceived to be a historical decline and cessation of these gifts. In other words, I didn't seem them any longer and I didn't see them really operating in the church history that I had personally read. So I concluded that the gifts were not for today. I read more church history and concluded otherwise.

On another plain of thought I also argued from Scripture. I argued from what I perceived to be a decline in these gifts in the New Testament times. In other words, I saw the gift of prophecy, in particular, declining in use as early church history progressed. So I concluded that the gifts were not for today.

The problem with both lines of thought - historical and exegetical - is that neither can be supported by the facts of Scripture itself, or history for that matter. I read more church history and found that my previous perceptions were incomplete. Prophecy has been happening since Pentecost. And I read my Bible a lot more and found that my previous perceptions about its history was also incomplete. The book of Acts ends with the miraculous kingdom in full swing with the prophetic, and the last book of the Bible written was itself one long prophecy.

Personal Conclusions

God is finished speaking in doctrinal prophecy. That much is true. This means I'm a reformed guy who sees Sola Scriptura and the sufficiency of Scripture as the bedrock of my faith. But God is not finished speaking in practical and one-another prophecy. This means I'm also a charismatic guy who sees the qualitative differences in the prophetic throughout the Bible that are plain enough for any person to see, regardless of theological background or exegetical training. The gift of prophecy is also a bedrock of the experience of my faith.

God hasn't finished speaking prophetically to His people for the simple reason that...

We still need literal directions from God to go places He wants us to go to help people come to Jesus.
We still need the Holy Spirit to predict things for us so that we, His people, can prepare ourselves to help and serve one another.
We still need the Holy Spirit to direct us in the mission Jesus has given us.
We still need the Holy Spirit to predict danger so that we can prepare or evade if, necessary.
And we still need the Holy Spirit to give us practical directions on the mission in general.

My conclusion is that...

...the Bible is not an encyclopedia or dictionary of

all the prophecy God has ever spoken to His people.

Instead, my conclusion is that

the Bible is a book of stories that provides

a trajectory for the kinds of practical and one-another prophecy

God will continue to speak to His people.

In the end, we should move beyond an argument about whether or not prophecy is for today.

It is.

And I think it's plain as to why it is.

I think it's plain for the simple reason that practical prophecy and one-another prophecy is not equal to Scripture.

I also think it's plain for the simple reason that Jesus promised us in John 10:27 that His sheep would hear His voice and follow Him.

We hear the voice of Jesus in the Holy Spirit. And we hear the Holy Spirit in Scripture and in prophecy. The latter doesn't in anyway outdo or trump the former. Practical prophecy and one-another prophecy is and never will be equal with doctrinal prophecy. But we always need the first two to elaborate on and apply the latter.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5

About the Author: Rob is a follower of Jesus at Jubilee Church. From there he pursues Jesus' mission at Revive Consignment as the Business & Operations Development Director, as well as at Jubilee Church of Atlanta, in Woodstock, GA. From there he envisions and pursues missional-shaped business for the kingdom. He and his wife Sherri have been married for 20 years and together have three sons and a daughter. Rob believes the mission of the gospel is summed up in four simple phrases: know God, obey Jesus, make disciples, and plant churches. This is the pursuit of his life, as well as the point of his blog.

canon

Is All Prophecy Equal to Scripture? Part 3

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

In this brief series on prophecy, I'm attempting to re-ask one question that I presupposed so many years ago while I was still a cessationist. During the first half of my life, I assumed that everytime a prophet prophesied something it was equal with Scripture. In Part 2 of this series I gave a sampling of my survey on prophets in the Bible. There I attempted to show a simple conclusion, that very little of a prophet's prophecies were ever recorded in the Scripture. Therefore, not all prophecies are equal to Scripture. If they were, they would have made it into the Bible. This was the first reason I offered as to why this premise just isn't true. It was the beginning of the end for my cessationism. It's simple. And it's hard to argue with. The facts are what they are. And it becomes difficult to interpret them any other way, at least in my opinion.

There's a second reason why this premise is not true. It centers on the very nature of the prophecies themselves. Not only were most prophecies not recorded in the Bible, but many of the very examples of prophecy we have given to us in the Bible are not...well...Scriptural. While at first this statement sounds blasphemous, it will make sense as I move on, and hopefully you'll understand what I mean. In short, I simply mean that many of the prophecies we have in the Scripture are not of a doctrinal content which we normally think of when we think of Scripture.

2. There are differing qualities and content of prophecy itself.

The second reason why not all prophecy is not equal to the canon of Scripture is simply seen in the differing qualities or content of prophecy itself. I've already demonstrated that Scripture is of the highest level of prophecy. In other words, there is a doctrinal type of prophecy that delivers revelation from God on the truths of the gospel. And this is no doubt what Jude referred to in verse 3 of his letter, when he mentioned "the faith once and for all delivered to the saints."

However, there is other prophetic information that God revealed to people in the Scripture that is not of a doctrinal quality. Here is a sampling. I break them down into two basic categories.

A. Practical Prophecy: Hearing From God About Doing the Mission

The Holy Spirit Gives Directions...Literally

In Acts 8:26 the Holy Spirit told Philip which road to take in order to ensure that he intersected with the Ethiopian eunuch, who was later led to Christ.
In Acts 9:11, the Holy Spirit basically gave Ananias an address where he could find Saul, who had just been struck blind by the resurrected Jesus on Saul's religious rampage to Damascus.
In Acts 10:5, the Holy Spirit told Cornelius what city he needed to send his men to in order to find Simon Peter and bring him back for more teaching and revelation.

The Holy Spirit Predicts...In Order to Help His People Prepare

In Acts 11:27-30, Agabus was one of several prophets who came from Antioch to Jerusalem to help. In the process, the Holy Spirit told him about a famine that was going to come. As a result, the disciples in Jerusalem started preparing to help financially.

The Holy Spirit Directs...In Order to Further Jesus' Mission

In Acts 13:1 and following, the Holy Spirit told the church in Jerusalem to set apart a couple of men for a missionary journey.
In Acts 16:6-7, the Holy Spirit somehow redirected Paul and Silas on their second missionary journey away from a region and to another one.
In Acts 16:8, the Holy Spirit gave Paul a dream about a man from Macedonia calling him to cover and help.
In Acts 20:22, Paul says that the Holy Spirit is telling him to go to Jerusalem. Strangely, it seems that the Holy Spirit was telling other men to tell Paul not to go to Jersualem, in Acts 21:4. (Go figure that one out!)

The Holy Spirit Predicts...Danger Ahead!

In Acts 21:10-11, Agabus prophesied again that if Paul went to Jerusalem he would be arrested and harmed.
In Acts 27:9-10, Paul, presumably the prophetic power of the Holy Spirit, predicted that the voyage he and his shipmates were on would be dangerous and even disastrous.
In Acts 27:21-26, Paul is again informed prophetically by the Holy Spirit about the incredible and merciful solution to the disaster they were experiencing.
In Acts 27:33 and following, Paul is seen giving what again appears to be prophetic insight about how to prepare for the danger and deliverance God had prepared for them.

The Holy Spirit Reveals Hearts...to Get Things Done

In Acts 5:1-10, Peter received a supernatural word that Ananias and Sapphira were lying to the church and to the Holy Spirit.
In Acts 8:23, Peter prophetically discerns the heart of Simon and stops the work of the enemy.
In Acts 13:8-11, Paul prophetically discerned the spiritual condition of Elymas and spoke correction and judgment into the situation.
In 1 Corinthians 14:24-25, Paul teaches that a prophecies in the local church expose a sinner's heart so that he falls to his knees and claims that God is alive through His people.

B. "One-Anothering" Prophecy: Strengthening, Comforting & Encouraging One Another

Just from this simple survey of the book of Acts it should be easy enough to see that the Holy Spirit can communicate practical information to people. And that's called prophecy. But it isn't doctrinal prophecy, is it?

And what about the kind of prophecy spoke about in 1 Corinthians 14:3? There, Paul writes that prophecy is also for strengthening, comforting, and encouraging. This means that prophecy among the average believer in the early church was simply about doing those things for one another.

This would create another non-canonical type of prophecy that occurred with great frequency in the early local churches, wouldn't it? I guess we could call this non-canonical prophecy a "one-anothering" type of prophecy.

Based on a simple reading of that verse within its context, Paul gives clear guidelines on how prophecy is to operate in a gathering of believers. When they prophecy in that setting they are to strengthen, comfort and encourage one another. Plain and simple, right?

In this non-canonical type of prophecy, God is spontaneously revealing information to a person. It's revelation. But it's not equal to Scripture...anymore than the revelation of wisdom and knowledge we get about God is equal to Scripture (Eph. 1:17-19)...anymore than the way the Spirit gives us assurance about being a son or daughter of the Father is equal to Scripture.

In short, just because the Holy Spirit spoke, it didn't always result in Scripture. He spoke onto tablets, scrolls, and papyri. But He also spoke into men's minds and hearts. And He still does today...on the tablets, scrolls, and papyri of our heart. That was guaranteed in the New Covenant (Ezekiel 36:36-37; Jeremiah 31:31-34).

Stay tuned for Part 4 where I'll reference the relationship of women to prophecy in an attempt to show the plain difference in prophetic content and quality. This will be a further attempt to show why not all prophecy is necessarily equal to the canon of Scripture.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5

canon

Is All Prophecy Equal to Scripture? Part 2

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

In this series I wanted to resurrect the assumption that prophecy in the NT is equal to Scripture. I used to believe that. I don't anymore. It's a basic axiom of a teaching called cessationism. I don't agree with it anymore, and for two good reasons:

exegesis of the Scripture,

and experience of the Spirit.

I ended up turning to a charismatic understanding of Christian theology through basic Bible study. When I approached the Bible afresh I started by reading with childlike faith, seeking to understand God as a child would a Father. To be sure, it has to go a little deeper than that, if for no other reason than that I am separated by what was written in the Bible by a minimum of 2,000 years. So some research and study into the history, background, cultures, language, etc. is very helpful. All those things are summed up in a fancy word scholars and theologians call "exegesis."

However, when it came to the issue of prophecy in the New Testament church, little exegesis was needed. Why? Because a simple survey of prophets and prophecy in the Old and New Testaments builds a solid foundation. When I began to read the Scriptures afresh in this way, I found that many of my personal beliefs and arguments about cessationism began to dissolve and eventually collapse. One of the most important arguments I held dearly was my belief that prophecy in the New Testament church today cannot exist any longer because the canon of Scripture is closed. I referred to this in Part 1 of this series.

Problem is, this is not a legitimate belief for two reasons. I'm dealing with the first reason in this post today.

1. Not all prophecy that has ever been given was written in the Bible

The first is quite simple, and again is something almost every Christian would agree with. Not all prophecy that has ever occurred was written in the Bible. There is a large amount of prophecy that is referred to in the Scriptures, but was not recorded in Scriptures. Here's a sampling. According to my count, there were about 133 prophets named in the Bible.

In addition, the Bible mentions other groups who were also prophets: the 70 elders of Israel, the 100+ prophets saved by Obadiah, the 50+ prophets sons who came from Jericho, the 100+ prophet's sons at Gilgal, and 288 sons of Aseph, Heman, and Jeduthun. Where are their prophecies?

There were also nine other unnamed and and unnumbered prophets throughout the Bible. Where are their prophecies?

There were various schools of prophets (1 Samuel 10:11; 19:19-20; 2 Kings 2:3, 5; 4:38; 6:1; Amos 7:14). Where are their prophecies?

There were 7,000 prophets that have not bowed the knee to Baal in Elijah's day (1 Kings 19:18). Where are their prophecies?

The prophets at the church in Antioch: Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul (Acts 13:1). We have some of what Saul (Paul) prophesied, in his thirteen NT letters. But where are the prophecies of the other men who were named?

There were other prophets from Antioch, some unnamed, but another named Agabus, who were prophets and came to Jerusalem to help (Acts 11:27). We have one of Agabus' prophecies. But where are his other prophecies, as well as the prophecies of his friends from Antioch?

Judas and Silas were also prophets (Acts 15:32). Where are their prophecies?
The Ephesian men whom Paul laid hands on prophesied (Acts 19:6). Where are their prophecies?

Philip had four unmarried daughters who were prophetesses. Where are their prophecies?

The Thessalonians were experiencing prophecy, according to 1 Thessalonians 5. Where are their prophecies?

The Corinthian church is believed to have had the most incredible display of spiritual gifts in the New Testament. Paul wanted them to prophecy to more than they spoke in tongues. Assuming they did, where are they recorded?

Jesus prophesied more than anyone! But the last chapter of John tells us that if everything was written down that Jesus did, all the books in the world couldn't contain it. Within all of the unwritten content would include the other things Jesus said. Sorry if this is a shock to you, but Jesus said a whole lot more than what's in red in our New Testaments! And if everything Jesus ever said was considered prophecy (which it probably was since He was God Himself and since the Spirit was leading Him), then we have an innumerable amount of prophecy that never got written down.

I think it's safe to say on this first point that...

not everything that is

spoken prophetically

is necessarily canonical,

simply because it wasn't

recorded in the canon.

Therefore, based on this first fact, we can safely conclude that just because it's prophetic doesn't mean it should be included in the Bible. So there's no reason for a cessationist to continue making this claim, as I used to. The facts, when read plainly, clearly say otherwise. It's even safe to say that most of the prophecy that was given by prophets was not recorded in Scripture. If it were, our Bible would be ten thousand volumes long, probably.

Now, to be sure of something important, since most of this non-canonical prophecy was never recorded in the canon, we don't necessarily know what all that prophecy was about, do we? Perhaps not. However, there are enough reflections of the varying content and quality of prophecy that would prove there is a difference in canonical prophecy and non-canonical prophecy.

After a fresh reading of the Scriptures, it became clear to me that while we don't have the actual content of non-canonical prophecies made by all those many named and unnamed prophets, we do have an idea of the kind of stuff they prophesied about. This brings me to the second reason why not all prophecy is not equal to the canon of Scripture. Stay tuned for this in Part 3.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5

canon

Is All Prophecy Equal to Scripture? Part 1

Friday, November 15, 2013

One of the most challenging thoughts that cessationism struggles with is the relationship between the canon of Scripture and the gift of prophecy. For many cessationists, they are the same thing. They believe that the gift of prophecy is not in existence or operation today simply because we have the Bible.

What is the "Canon" of Scripture?

Many theologians use the term "canon" to refer to the Bible. And they use the term "closed canon" to refer to a complete Bible. In short, it is a truth that basically every Christian probably already does believe. And if not, they should. That's because God isn't writing anymore Bible today. What we have is what there is. And frankly, it's really all the written revelation we need about God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

What we do have in the Bible came supernaturally to the men who wrote the stuff we read. Paul told Timothy that the Scriptures were "God-breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16). The Greek word is theopneustos, and it means that somehow the Holy Spirit supernaturally and mysteriously worked with the minds of men to write specific things to specific people for specific purposes, and the result was a perfect revelation of God that mankind needs to know in this life. To be sure, we'll get far more than we can imagine when we eventually see God face to face.

For me personally, I would understand the process of theopneustos to be prophetic. And I would understand prophecy as a revelation of God from the Holy Spirit. Everything we have in the Bible is a revelation of God from the Holy Spirit. Therefore, everything we have in the Bible is prophetic. Therefore, we safely assume the following equation, and almost every Christian alive would agree with this axiom.

The Canon IS
equal to Prophecy.

But, and this is a very big "but", the fact that this axiom is true doesn't automatically mean the reverse is true.

All Prophecy is NOT
equal to the Canon.

There are a two important reasons why this is true, and they are plainly evident to anyone who reads the Bible.

1. Not all prophecy that has ever been given was written down in the Bible.
2. The Bible plainly shows that there is a differing quality and content in prophecy itself.

Stay tuned as we unpack these through three more posts in this series.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5

charismaniac

The Bible? Or the Holy Spirit? Or Both?

Friday, November 08, 2013

The Sufficiency of Scripture AND the Ministry of the Spirit

Introduction

One of the hardest things for a believer who embraces the sufficiency of Scripture or Sola Scriptura is the idea that the Bible might not contain everything we need to follow Jesus. To most of my reformed friends, that statement seems almost blasphemous. I used to argue with forceful vehemence that if a believer thought they could find anything else for their life in Christ outside of the Bible, then they were listening to doctrines of demons.

Then I thought more about that.

And then I thought a lot about that.

I'm not there anymore. And here's why.

The Sufficiency of Scripture Defined

The teaching of the sufficiency of Scripture, is based on 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and Jude 3

"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NLT)

"Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people." (Jude 3, NLT)

In the words of John Piper, in his article entitled "Thoughts on the Sufficiency of Scripture,"

"In other words, the Scriptures are sufficient in the sense that they are the only (“once for all”) inspired and (therefore) inerrant words of God that we need, in order to know the way of salvation (“make you wise unto salvation”) and the way of obedience (“equipped for every good work”)."

But, as Piper continues,

"The sufficiency of Scripture does not mean that the Scripture is all we need to live obediently."

The New Covenant's Promise of the Holy Spirit

The New Covenant is the most central and important covenant for a Christian. It was a promise given several hundred years before Jesus. It prophesied something life-altering for God's people: forgiveness of sins as well as the Holy Spirit indwelling and anointing every man, woman, and child who follows Jesus for His service. Specifically, as the New Covenant relates to the Holy Spirit, no longer were special individuals anointed to do God's work. Now everyone who follows Jesus is anointed, called and commissioned for service in His kingdom. In the words of Ezekiel and Joel,

"And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations." (Ezekiel 36:27, NLT).

"I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on servants—men and women alike." (Joel 2:28-29, NLT).

The promise of the New Covenant is about the Holy Spirit and His work in and through the person and work of Jesus Christ to us and in us. That's a complicated statement, perhaps. So let me say it another way.

The Holy Spirit is God Himself. When Jesus Christ died, rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven, He gave us the Holy Spirit, the Father's gift to us. And His work, inside of us, is to lead us and guide us and minister to us. He takes the ministry of Jesus Christ and applies it to us and in us. He does that in ways that we can't possibly comprehend. Read John 14-16 to see what Jesus Himself taught about this. And read Romans 8 to see what Paul taught. These two passages just scratch the surface.

The Bible is Not the Promised Holy Spirit

Now, notice something important. Jesus and Paul (and others for that matter) never taught that the Scriptures were the promise of the New Covenant. The Holy Spirit Himself was.

Shocking, I know. It was quite a paradigm shift for me to go through personally, and it took me several years to become "okay" with that fact. The Bible, the closed canon of Scripture, is not God's promise to us. The Holy Spirit is. And to make matters even worse, and perhaps even more conflicting, the Bible doesn't contain a promise to us anywhere that speaks of itself as a fulfillment of any promise, for that matter. To do so is, honestly, reading something into the Bible that's just not there.

That's because that's not the Bible's function. Paul tells us that the function of the Bible is to teach, correct, rebuke, and instruct in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). And it further says that the Scriptures are theopneustos, or God-breathed. That means that the Bible is the result of a divine and mysterious work of God working with and in a human to write truth that somehow ends up being a perfect representation of God's revelation of Himself to us.

But that's not the same as saying that the Bible is a fulfillment of God's promise to us. Instead, the Bible is a record of those promises to us. The Bible records those promises through stories, poems, prophecies, and instructions. It is not a dictionary or encyclopedia of every revelation and instruction God has or ever will make about Himself to humanity. Rather, once again, it is a book of stories, poems, prophecies and instructions about Him revealing Himself to humanity. The fact that it is "inspired" by the Holy Spirit means, therefore, that the Bible is the most objective standard of God's revelation of Himself to humanity. But that does not mean that the Bible is the only means by which God reveals Himself to humanity.

That's why we need the Holy Spirit. Jesus says that the Spirit is our teacher (John 14:26). He takes what belongs to Jesus - most of which we see in the gospels - and He somehow, mysteriously, but truly, applies it to our souls, our hearts. Thus, the Bible is more or less the harvest of truth and the Holy Spirit is the divine chef who takes from the harvest what each person especially needs and specially prepares and serves it in a way that meets each person where they are.

To say that the Bible is all we need is like saying that a harvest of food is all you need. Someone's got to prepare the food and cook it. And what's more, it's always more enjoyable when someone serves it with real class, in a way that makes you go, "WOW!" The Holy Spirit takes God's Word and does that for each person in the family of God. And that's why the Bible, though necessary for every Christian, does not provide everything we need to follow Jesus. The Holy Spirit does.

While the Holy Spirit often, though not always, starts with the Scriptures He inspired, He always brings God's people to Jesus Christ and reveals truth about Jesus in a way that is always guided by Scripture, and never contradicting it. Ever. That would be crazy. He's never going to say something opposite of what He's already said. He'll never say anything contradictory to what He said.

Apologies & Corrections

I would offer a heartfelt, "I'm sorry" to friends whom I would label charismaniac, because they believe the Holy Spirit can and will and does reveal new truth to people that's not even rationally or remotely connected to anything in the Bible. But I can't genuinely offer that apology. You need to stop saying, "Thus says the Lord," if you're not reading your Bible following that statement. And you need to stop saying God revealed things to you that in no way lead people back to Jesus Christ and what He taught in the Scriptures. You're leading people away from Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will always lead people to Jesus. That means you're doing the false prophesy thing. Return to the Scriptures. It's the best and safest place to start afresh.

I'm also tempted to offer the same apology to my Roman Catholic friends who, whether they know it or not, are led by a church who believes that Roman Catholic church tradition is somehow equal to the Bible and can trump the Bible through the Pope. But again, I can't offer that apology, even though I know that there are tons of genuine believers in the Catholic church. They probably just don't know what their church really believes and teaches. No traditions or speeches of man can compare to the Scriptures. None. And no words of a human being, even those we may look at as God's divinely appointed leader, can trump the Scriptures or change what the Bible says. None. Again, return to the Bible itself. It's the best and safest place to start.

So there's my friendly corrective to those who threaten the sufficiency of Scripture in their approach to following God. And here's my friendly corrective to those who exaggerate the sufficiency of Scripture. Stop saying, teaching, preaching, and writing that the Bible is the end-all-be-all for the follower of Jesus. It's not. Jesus said the Holy Spirit was. Paul said it, too. Following Jesus is about being led by the Holy Spirit. And we know that He's leading us when the things He says to us sound like the things we hear in His Word, or sound very similar to them and in a way that is guided by the Scriptures.

A Challenge to My Reformed Friends

My reformed friends unfortunately seem to make the Bible an idol. Faithfulness to God is ironically reduced to their exaggerated view of Scriptures. For them, you know you're a real believer when you see the Scriptures as they do. And this is where the Holy Spirit is the silent attendee in reformed audiences and meetings. He hasn't left the building. But He's unfortunately been relegated to something like a fixture in the room. We know He's there, but since we've got His Word we're basically good-to-go.

But the Bible isn't God, is it? It's a book. God is not a book. That Book is about God, but it is not the substance of God. It doesn't even contain God. It's a record of the revelation of God. It's only the foundation of truth about God. But it's not God Himself. My reformed friends would be wise to remember that when so much emphasis is placed on the exegesis, hermeneutics, exposition, and homiletics of Scripture, God is not the one being worshiped. The Bible is. And that's not what God wants.

GOD wants to be worshiped. Jesus said in John 4 that the Father is seeking worshipers. He said the Father wants those who worship in spirit and truth. When I was reformed-only, I redefined "truth" to refer to the Bible, and therefore essentially redefined worship. So I worshiped the Bible instead of God. Too much reformed worship today, in my opinion, is Bible-worship. And because it's misunderstands the function of Scripture, the Holy Spirit is devalued...and therefore, dismissed.

In my view and experience, the reformed view of the sufficiency of Scripture needs a downgrade. Unfortunately, conferences, seminars and workshops keep giving it an upgrade. Consequently, the Holy Spirit is the One who keeps getting downgraded. That's how we end up with conferences like Strange Fire (#StrangeFire). Man ends up unwittingly exalting God's Word over and above God, making the Bible equal with God, while doing so in the name of genuinely worshiping God.

A return to the promise of the New Covenant and Jesus' teaching on the Spirit and its fulfillment at Pentecost will elevate God above the Bible. Such a return will cause people to discontinue the practice of using the Bible as a means of attempting to contain God and define what He will and will not do any longer. Honestly, it's only an erroneous view of Scripture that uses Scripture to say that the miraculous works of God found in the Scripture are things God no longer needs or wants to do today. It's a stunning and speechless display of un-submitted intellectualism to say the Scriptures teach that much of what's in the New Testament Scriptures are no longer happening because we have the Scriptures.

The church needs more of the Holy Spirit. HE Himself is the promise of God to us. The Bible tells us so. We believe the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of that promise found in the Bible. We do not believe the Bible is the fulfillment of the promise of the Holy Spirit, nor that the Bible is the equivalent of that promise. The thing the Holy Spirit inspired is not equal to or above the person of the Holy Spirit Himself. Rather, it is the tool the Holy Spirit uses to teach us, correct us, rebuke us and instruct us...about Jesus Christ.

Conclusion: Some Practical Help

How do you see the Bible? How do you use the Bible? Are you led by the Holy Spirit? Or are you led by your Bible? There is a difference, believe it or not. The distinction can honestly be found in how much more you pray than study your Bible. If you study your Bible more than you pray, you probably worship the Bible instead of God. You probably tend toward rooting your relationship with God in your brain, your ability to discover, decipher and formulate the truth that's found in the Bible.

But if you pray more than you study your Bible, you probably worship God. You probably understand better than others what it means to be led by the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit. You understand that you must hear from Him about how to obey the things Jesus taught you in the Scriptures. You realize that while the Bible is a table full of harvest, the Spirit must help you understand it and how to specifically apply it and obey it in your personal life and context.

The amount of time I spend with the Bible and in prayer is the most easy way I've found to tell the difference and help me in my own life. It may oversimplify things. But not necessarily. Jesus told us that following Him is about childlike faith. Children don't naturally gravitate toward studying a book. They gravitate toward reading it and then attempting to pretend to live out the stories in it. That approach more closely resembles the life Jesus intends for His children, I believe.

The Scriptures are sufficient. They contain the foundational revelation we have of God and His Son, Jesus Christ. But the Bible also contains a trajectory for the kind of revelation the Spirit will continue to make about God. The Holy Spirit is the person who actually takes that revelation of God and makes it mean something to us and inside of us. And He will continue to reveal more about God to us, but always in a way that is in keeping with what He's already said about God. I'll end this post with the prayer Paul prayed which points us in this very direction.

"I do not cease to give thanks for you, or remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe..." (Ephesians 1:16-19, ESV).

Is All Prophecy Equal to Scripture? Part 5

Is All Prophecy Equal to Scripture? Part 3

Is All Prophecy Equal to Scripture? Part 2

Is All Prophecy Equal to Scripture? Part 1

The Bible? Or the Holy Spirit? Or Both?

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