There is no question that the Holy Spirit, as an everlasting personality of God, is unlimited in power. He can do whatever it is possible for God to do, for He is God. It is interesting to read or hear religious people, from preachers to other members, claiming or asserting things the Holy Spirit is doing in churches and lives today. In fact, several of these claims demand an answer, principles from scripture that must be considered before such claims are believed and embraced. What are some things the Holy Spirit will never do?
The Holy Spirit will never override our free will. John Calvin, a 16th century protestant reformer, went to an extreme that placed salvation solely in God’s hands. He contended that man did not have a part in it at all. From this premise came five broad religious ideas that eventually became identified as Calvinism. One of these tenets is called “irresistible grace,” the idea that those God chooses for salvation are led to faith by the work of the Holy Spirit upon the human heart. Tragically, this false idea is supported by many in religion today. Yet, Scripture makes it clear that even in the first century, when the Holy Spirit operated miraculously in confirming the spoken message of Christ, His apostles, and other early Christians, He never directly operated upon the human heart in a way that overtook or overwhelmed the free will of the individual. Cornelius received the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:48-49), but how was he saved? Acts 11:14-15 indicates that it was words told to him whereby he and his house were to be saved. 1 Corinthians 1:18 tells us that God chose to save souls through the message preached. One can look in the Bible from cover to cover and never find a statement or implication that God acts directly upon the human heart in a way that overtakes our will and leads us to belief and salvation. Scripture repeatedly urges man to choose for himself, if he wills (Rev. 22:17; Matt. 11:28-30; etc.). The Holy Spirit works powerfully upon the human heart to persuade man to obey God, but He does so through the powerful word (Heb. 4:12; Rom. 1:16). This message is so compelling and convicting, but God has left it to our free will to decide whether to accept or reject this message.
The Holy Spirit will never contradict revealed truth. Increasing claims are made in churches today about what the Spirit is working in churches to accomplish. Often, the Spirit has been given credit for a church’s change of policy in women’s role, how or on what to spend money (such as for a grandiose campus), or even a strange, new doctrine. Such assertions, however, ring hollow. If these contentions were true, such would reflect most negatively on the character and nature of God. The result of God revealing one thing in scripture, then revealing something else directly, is contradiction and confusion (cf. 1 Cor. 14:40). God claimed that He was giving us His will for all people of all time (John 14:26; 16:13; Jude 3, 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:3). If He is still revealing new truth through the Spirit, was He right in those passages? If He is still revealing new truth through the Spirit, how does this not reflect on His honesty? God cannot lie (cf. Ti. 1:2), but those who claim Holy Spirit guidance in revealing new truth today, if they are correct, make Him such.
The Holy Spirit will never assert what cannot be confirmed. Considering the work of Moses, then the later prophets, Jesus, His apostles, and others who asserted that their message was directly from God, one finds miracles being performed which confirmed without doubt the source of the message. Without such tangible confirmation, how does the one who receives the claim know that claim to be true? Anyone can claim that the Spirit revealed something to them or told them to do something, but how can anyone know they are right without clear confirmation? That is what Aaron’s rod was for. Isaiah (7:14), Jeremiah (44:29), Zechariah (3:8), and others all pointed to a sign that would confirm the veracity of their message. History bears witness to the truthfulness of their claims (cf. Deut. 18:22). After the church was established, Paul was already teaching in the first century that the miraculous gifts would not be needed once the written word was completed (1 Cor. 13:8-12). God has never left Himself unsubstantiated. How do we confirm doctrine? We go to the Word God breathed. It reveals His thoughts and His will. He will not sanction men’s unconfirmed claims, and we are wise not to rest our hopes on such. It is a dangerous and unfounded precedent to simply claim divine guidance without proof. With such an approach, every person can claim a certain revelation, guidance, and heavenly message. Without confirmation, no one’s claims can be tested!
The Holy Spirit is Divine, living, and powerful. As God, He is at work in lives today. He indwells the Christian (Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Tim. 1:14; etc.). He strengthens the inner man (Eph. 3:16). However, may we never fall prey to the false ideas that man creates and that cannot be verified by scripture (cf. 1 John 4:1). The Bible exists for the reason of testing such ideas as these. It must be the standard that proves and disproves men’s claims today. Know for certain that the Holy Spirit does not today, nor has He ever, overtaken man’s free will. He will never lead one to a conclusion or teaching that contradicts the Word He inspired holy men of God to pen. If one claims a Holy Spirit-given message that is more, less, or different from scripture, it must be rejected! If the alleged Holy Spirit-given message is the same as scripture, then why would God have given us scripture in the first place if He was going to directly dispense the same message apart from the Word? Finally, He will never allow men to pass off as truth that which they cannot confirm in some way that proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the message is divinely given. Let God’s people be diligent students of the Bible and as such able to discern right and wrong in such matters as these!
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