Question
I just visited this site for the first time. I think it is very interesting. One of the things that it appears that you are wanting to accomplish is letting the Bible be the final authority. I totally agree with that. My question is, if that is what you are trying to accomplish, why do you keep explaining what you think that the Bible is saying. The Holy spirit is to give us understanding as to what the Bible says. About speaking in tongues for example. In Acts chapter 2, on the day of Pentacost tongues of fire came on the Apostles there and each were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues as the Spirit gave utterance. The word does not say that each spoke in a foreign language, it says that each God fearing Jew from every nation under heaven that was staying in Jerusalem that heard them, heard the tongue that was spoken in their own language. The key here is each heard. There was no need for interpretation or for an interpreter. Unknown tongues were spoken and each one heard in his own language.
Answer
I appreciate you asking this important question. In it is revealed a misunderstanding of how the Holy Spirit functioned and what His role was and is in helping us understand the word of God. In your question and subsequent statements, you make many assumptions which are not provable by examining the written word. I will do my best to explain as simply and as completely as possible.
Although the Holy Spirit has revealed and confirmed the word by miracle, we are responsible for having the proper attitude toward the word and coming to the proper understanding of the word. God does not force us to come to the knowledge of the truth, but rather presents the truth to us in an understandable form. If we have the attitudes of honesty and humility, we will come to the right understanding of the word. If we have any other attitudes, we will not come to the proper understanding of the word. Observe carefully the parable Jesus told regarding the sower who sowed seed that fell on many different types of ground. Matthew 13:1 and following. Notice the problem with the three out of four that rejected the word was not within the word but within the hearts of the individuals. The same word was spoken to all but all did not understand it in the right way.
Another illustration of our responsibility to understand the word is Jesus story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25 and following. Notice he asked the lawyer to interpret what the command to love your neighbor meant. The lawyer used his power to reason to provide the right answer.
In the same way, the New Testament has been left for us so that we may understand what God would have us do to be saved and how we should live and worship Him. John 20:30-31, Rom. 1:16-17, Eph. 3:1-7. However, it is up to us to have the proper attitude so that we may come to the proper understanding of the word. God does not provide this attitude. That comes from the heart. See Acts 17:10-12.
The Holy Spirit empowered the apostles to bring the word to us by providing them with the right words and also confirming those words as being from God by providing them with an attesting miracle, they spoke these right words in languages that they had never learned. The miracle was not in the ear of the hearer but in the mouths of the speakers. The Holy Spirit did not do anything to the hearers. They were to be the beneficiaries of the process of inspiration, revelation and confirmation of the word, not participants in the process. This was left to the apostles and other chosen men that God allowed to bring forth the word to us. The question is, do we have the attitudes of humility honesty and sincerity that will lead us to accept what has plainly been revealed to all?
By Gary Hunt
