Scholars, Theologians or Holy Spirit – Who’s Your Source?

But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true–it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.  1 John 2:27

Hallelujah!  When we are born-again, Holy Spirit abides in us!  How awesome is that?

But do you believe it?

When we are seeking wisdom or clarity on scripture, where is the first place that we turn?  I didn’t say should turn, I said turn. Correct answer is Holy Spirit, but reality is that we often turn to Bible scholars, theologians, pastors, friends and even strangers…yes, strangers.  After all, I am a stranger to the majority of you, yet here you are reading my blog.  Why is it that we so often desire regurgitated food rather than fresh?

Now please hear me loud and clear: there is absolutely nothing wrong with reading devotionals or listening to sermons, so do not misunderstand what I am saying.  The Lord, after all, is the One Who gave us teachers, pastors and prophets.  However, if we allow man to become our source, we’ve missed it big time.

Let’s look again at the passage in 1 John 2:27.  As we dissect it we discover these Truths:

• If we are born-again, we have received Holy Spirit – past tense.  Done deal.
• Holy Spirit lives within us – He is alive!
• You don’t need anyone to teach you what is Truth.  Period.  God declared it, not me.
• Holy Spirit will teach us everything we need to know.  Did God leave anything out of “everything”?
• He teaches only Truth.  We can trust The Source.
• We receive Truth from Holy Spirit by remaining in fellowship with Christ.

As I stated before, there is absolutely no harm in partaking of regurgitated food.  In fact if we let it, it can cause us to dive deeper into His Word, for we should always take what we hear back to The Word for either confirmation or dismissal.  The harm will come, however, if this becomes our daily diet.  Why?  Check out the definition of regurgitated: to repeat (information) without analyzing or comprehending it.  Uh oh.  Not good.  It’s repeating information that we have no personal knowledge of.  So when we become dependent upon other’s understanding of scripture, we stop seeking revelation of our own.  We’ve already established that Holy Spirit dwells within and is our Teacher, but again I ask, “Do you believe this?”  If you find that you spend more and more time listening to online sermons and teachings, and consistently reach for a devotional instead of your Bible, then you just might have a diet that lacks fresh food.

“My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”  John 10:27

I believe that many look to scholars and theologians to answer their questions instead of Holy Spirit, for they fear that they will not hear God clearly.  Or worse, that He is not even speaking to them.  That is a lie.  Look closely at the passage above, Beloved.  The Lord says His sheep hear His Voice.  So if there is something to hear, obviously God must be speaking.  And who does He speak to?  His sheep.  If you are born-again, God is speaking to you.

God also says that He knows us.  According to Strong’s Concordance, the Greek meaning of “know” is to come to know through personal experience, recognize, perceive, comprehend, take notice, understand.  We are no stranger to our Father.  We are loved by our King.  And as He speaks to us, forever leading us into Truth, we are to follow.  If you hear a voice that is contrary to what the Good Shepherd declares in John 10:27, then silence it in Jesus’ Name, for you are hearing a lie from the father of lies.

Consider the definitions below:

Theology – the study of the nature of God and religious beliefs; religious beliefs and theory when systematically developed.  (Google Dictionary)

Theologian – a person who engages or is an expert in theology.  (Google Dictionary)

Biblical Studies – the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, the Bible.  Biblical Scholars do not necessarily have a faith commitment to the texts they study, but many do.  (Wikipedia)

What word is missing from these definitions?  Relationship.  That concerns me.  Now look again at how “Biblical Scholars” are described: Biblical scholars do not necessarily have a faith commitment to the texts they study…  Ok.  Does this concern anyone besides me?  Are we receiving regurgitated food from some that aren’t even believers in Christ?      1 John states that Holy Spirit is our Teacher and leads us into all Truth when we remain in fellowship with Christ.  How then can a non-believer discern The Word of God when God is Spirit, and we can only relate to Him by Spirit to born-again spirit?  (John 4:24)

Friends, I am all for education.  I attended Charis Bible College (CBC) in Woodland Park, Colorado for three years.  What solidified it for me that CBC was the school I was to attend was learning that the Bible is the only book used.  The only book.  Why should we need more?  When did the Bible cease to be enough?

Please do not misunderstand what I am saying.  God anointed men and women to be pastors, teachers and prophets before the beginning of time.  Undeniably He saw it as being good and needed.  But when we elevate our experience or the word of man above the Word of God, then we have stepped into pride.  And we all know the consequence of pride – we fall.  Hard.

So I challenge you to ask yourself this: have I been relying on what others say about God, or am I seeking revelation of my own through an intimate relationship with Christ?