Tag: Holy Spirit

“The Spirit Is Leading Us To ___________”


Neal Pollard

When I was preaching in Virginia, I received a call from a concerned brother in another state.  He related to me that the congregation where he was attending was trying to push for women to serve in the church’s leadership roles.  He explained that the preacher’s and leadership’s defense and rationale was that the Holy Spirit was moving among them and leading them to this conclusion.

Have you ever heard a person or congregation seek to promote or defend a practice by claiming this kind of Spirit-guidance?  On the surface, it may seem powerful or compelling.  After all, if God is leading one to do something who is to oppose it?

The interesting (and important) thing is that the Spirit has already led us to truth on the matters pertaining to life and godliness (cf. 2 Pet. 1:3).  The Spirit inspired His Bible writers to reveal all truth (cf. John 14:26; 16:13).  Other passages, like 1 Corinthians 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:21, show God’s deliberate process of revealing His truth through inspired men in the time of the Bible.  You will also notice that God confirmed the word of His spokesmen through miracles, wonders, and signs (Acts 2:22,43; 4:30; 5:12; 6:8; Rom. 15:19; Heb. 2:4).

When someone contends today that the Spirit is moving them or the congregation to do “X,” a couple of puzzling conundrums must be solved.  First, if “X” conflicts with God’s revealed truth in Scripture, why is the Spirit calling for it and why should this calling trump God’s original will on the matter?  Second, what miracle, wonder or sign will be done to confirm the validity of it?  Third, what if someone else says, “But the Spirit is leading me to tell you that’s not correct?”

The Spirit is leading us and speaking to us today.  He does so powerfully, through the Word He moved men to write (cf. Heb. 4:12).  This sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17) is ample to guide us to do all the will of God!

FACTS ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT

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Neal Pollard

  • The Holy Spirit is one of three everlasting personalities of the Godhead, and as such He possesses all attributes of Deity (cf. Gen. 1:2,26; 1 Cor. 2:11).
  • The Holy Spirit moved the approximately forty men to write the Bible, breathing out God’s Word so that each writer, though equipped with free will and distinct personality, was guided completely, word for word, in the written message of Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:21).
  • The Holy Spirit has never directly operated upon the heart of man to bring about conversion, and thus He does not do so today (cf. Acts 2:40; 11:14).
  • The Holy Spirit has never overtaken an individual’s will or overrode one’s free choice, and that is true today, too (Rev. 22:17).
  • The Holy Spirit does not communicate Divine Revelation apart from Scripture today, as such would either be contradictory or superfluous in light of the written Word (2 Tim. 3:17; Jude 3).
  • The Holy Spirit provided miraculous gifts to the apostles to confirm the men and the message (Heb. 2:4).  Once that message had been faithfully delivered, there was no longer a need for miraculous evidence (John 20:30-21; Jude 3).
  • The Holy Spirit empowered first-century Christians with miraculous gifts, but these were to pass with the completion of the written Word.  Having thus the completed Word, there are no longer miraculous gifts (1 Cor. 13:8-13; Eph. 4:11-13).
  • The Holy Spirit indwells the Christian.  Faithful Christians may be divided as to how, with some saying He does so representatively (through the Word only) and others saying He does so personally and non-miraculously, but either view can be harmonized with Bible truth (Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 3:16; etc.).
  • The only instances of Holy Spirit baptism were of the apostles (Acts 1:5) and Cornelius’ household (Acts 10:47).  The one baptism of Ephesians 4:5 is water baptism, of which there are many examples in the New Testament (Acts 8:38; 1 Pet. 3:21).