If We Have the Spirit, Why Do We Need the Bible?

Hello, welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist. This is a daily conversation about scripture, culture, and media from a Reformed perspective. Get your Bible and coffee ready and prepare to engage today's topic.

Here's your host, Pastor Keith Foskey.

Welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist. Is it important to have a Bible when we have the Holy Spirit? That's going to be the topic of today's conversation because that was actually a statement which was made on a post that came across my desk and I wanted to respond to it because I think it is something that is gaining traction in a lot of evangelical circles that, well, since we have the Holy Spirit, the Bible is not really necessary.

The Claim That the Bible Is Unnecessary If We Have the Holy Spirit

In fact, I want to read a quote to you. Now this quote is from a, it looks like a Twitter post. I have no idea who this lady is. It is a lady by the name of Jo Luaman, I think I'm pronouncing that correctly, and this is what Jo has to say.

She says, we absolutely cannot trust the Bible to lead us. Absolutely not. That's terrible advice and the reason why we are here now. We can, however, trust the Holy Spirit to lead us. Now this post was posted by Reformed Life.

I see a lot of their posts and appreciate it, so I want to give them a shout out for posting this. And my reason for wanting to talk about this today really is because I think, as I said before, this is becoming a more and more popular position.

Even though people are not articulating it maybe as brazenly as Jo did in her tweet, it's becoming very common that people would say that, honestly, how I feel about something and how God speaks to me personally is more important than what the Bible says about something.

And ultimately what happens is we end up with subjective Christianity rather than objective Christianity. And I know you probably know this, but just in case you don't, subjectivity and objectivity are different in that subjectivity is based on the individual and objectivity is based on an objective standard that doesn't change with the individual.

And things like, we could talk about subjective morality where we would say there's absolute moral standards and then there's subjective moral standards. An absolute moral standard would be that you're not supposed to murder someone.

That is an objective moral standard. It is always wrong to commit murder. However, something like the drinking of an alcoholic beverage, some people are more likely to be very morally opposed to that.

Other people do not have the same moral opposition and that would be something that we would say is morally subjective and meaning that it is dependent on the subject or the person. It's subjective to their situation.

So if a person is convicted that they should not drink an alcoholic beverage, then they shouldn't drink an alcoholic beverage. If a person is convicted that they are able to, or rather if they don't hold convictions that they shouldn't drink an alcoholic beverage, then they shouldn't.

Now going back to objective standards, when it comes to drinking alcohol, there is an objective standard. The Bible is very clear. The objective standard is drunkenness. If we drink for the purpose of getting drunk, if you are a drunkard, then that is objectively wrong.

There is never a time when drinking to excess is not sinful. There's never a time when drinking to the point of drunkenness and for the purpose of drunkenness is not sinful because the Bible clearly says do not get drunk on wine.

And so when we think of subjective and objective morality, then we have to come to the place where there is an objective standard. What is the objective standard? Now Jo in her post is saying that she doesn't need the Bible because her objective standard is the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit as Objective Standard and the False Dichotomy

Now I want to concede a very important point. The Holy Spirit himself is an objective standard because the Holy Spirit is God. He is the third person of the Trinity. He is not the lesser of the three gods.

He is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Son. And so when we consider the Holy Spirit, he is an objective standard. But when we consider what this lady is referring to when she says we don't need the Bible, we need the Holy Spirit or we have the Holy Spirit, then what she is saying in essence is that the Holy Spirit communicates apart from the Bible.

And she didn't say this in the tweet, but I can only assume that the communication to which she is referring is the communication of feelings and thoughts and ideas and perhaps in her particular expression maybe even visions and dreams.

That's the way that the Spirit communicates to her. Again I'm assuming, I do not know that that's completely the case. But again the point being is how does the Holy Spirit communicate in an objective way?

Because thoughts are not objective. They are subjective to individuals. Feelings are not objective. They are subjective to individuals. Dreams, certainly not only are they not objective, they're often very obscure.

And again, all of these things are not objective. The Holy Spirit himself is objective. But how the Holy Spirit communicates with us, if we are saying we don't need the Bible, then how would the Holy Spirit communicate to us?

That's the question that I would have to ask Joe. What do you mean we don't need the Bible, we have the Holy Spirit? Because here's what I would say. I would say you're making a false dichotomy. I would say that the reason we have the Bible is because we have the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the author of sacred scripture. The Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible. It clearly says this, that holy men of God spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. It says that all scripture is theopneustos, is God-breathed, and is profitable for teaching, for approval, for correction, and training in righteousness, that the man of God may be fully equipped for every good work.

This is the scriptures that we're talking about. This is God's Word. And it is authored by the Holy Spirit of God. He, yes, we could talk about the secondary authors of Moses and Paul and the gospel writers and the prophets, but ultimately the one author of all scripture is the person of the Holy Spirit.

And therefore he has codified his objective standards in the written Word of God. And if a person says, I don't need the Bible, I have the Holy Spirit, the question would be outside of scripture, what objective method is the Holy Spirit using to communicate with you?

Scripture as the Spirit's Written Word

That's the big question. And honestly, here's really what I think people like Jo are saying. And again, I don't know her. I don't know what she's really all about. So I have to be careful because I don't, I'm already making some assumptions and I don't want to assume too much.

But here's what I think. And I could be wrong, but bear with me for a moment. I believe that this could be true. And this is what I think. I think that people like Jo who say, I don't need the Bible, I need the Holy Spirit, or I have the Holy Spirit, are saying in essence that the Bible is incorrect.

Because if it were true that they had the Holy Spirit and they were hearing the Holy Spirit objectively, then he wouldn't be saying anything different than what the Bible says. The Bible clearly expresses the thoughts and will of the Spirit of God.

That's what it is. It is his book. And therefore, if somebody says, I don't need the thoughts and will of the Spirit because I have the Spirit, that doesn't make any sense. So again, consider this. The reason why someone would say this is because they don't want to hear what the Bible has to say.

And let me be completely frank. If they don't care what the Bible has to say, then they don't have the Holy Spirit. And that's my thoughts about that. Thank you for listening today to Coffee with a Calvinist.

My name is Keith Foskey, and I've been your Calvinist. May God bless you.

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Christ Came to Save Sinners

As you go about your day, remember this, Jesus Christ came to save sinners. All who come to him in repentance and faith will find him to be a perfect Savior. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him.

May God be with you.