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John 16:12–13
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
Our Savior sent the Holy Spirit to empower the church for ministry (Acts 1:8) and to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8–11). Yet those activities do not exhaust the work of the Holy Spirit. As we see in today’s passage, the Spirit also guides the church into all truth (vv. 12–13).
In considering the Spirit’s work of guidance, we must distinguish between the Spirit’s decisive guidance of the Apostles and His ongoing guidance of the post-Apostolic church. Jesus was speaking to the Apostles when He explained the guiding work of the Spirit, so His words apply to them in a special way. Because the Apostles are part of the foundation of the church that can be laid only once (Eph. 2:20), they enjoyed a special guidance from the Holy Spirit necessary to establish the church on a sure footing. Apostolic teaching has a unique authority that did not continue past the first century once all the Apostles died. Preparing for church life after the Apostles, Paul told Timothy to guard the “good deposit” entrusted to him (1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Tim. 1:14). This deposit was the Apostolic message that is now available to us only in the Scriptures. The church is not to look for new revelation or guidance outside the written Word of God, for Scripture alone is God-breathed and infallible (2 Tim. 3:16–17).
God the Holy Spirit provided decisive guidance to the Apostles, protecting them from error as they wrote the New Testament, building on the infallible Old Testament Scriptures. Yet the Spirit did not stop guiding the church after the Apostolic age. He has continued to lead God’s people through His work of illumination. Since the Spirit is the ultimate author of the Scriptures, He is the best resource we have for helping us come to a full understanding of all that He has revealed. He does this by illuminating the Scriptures. Knowing the thoughts of God perfectly, He conveys to us the saving significance and deep truths of God’s Word as we study it diligently (1 Cor. 2:6–16). He does this not through esoteric methods but through the ordinary reading and study of the Bible as we prayerfully seek His help. In so doing, He never directs us to find contradictory meanings in His Word, for He is the “Spirit of truth” (John 14:17). C.H. Spurgeon said in a sermon: “The Spirit never says one thing at one time and another thing at another time. . . . Contrary testimonies are not both from God the Spirit, for God the Spirit cannot witness to black and white, to a falsehood and to truth.”
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Many people today are looking for God to guide them through dreams, visions, or other extrabiblical sources of revelation. The Holy Spirit, however, does not lead the church to the truth through these methods today. He leads through the diligent study and proclamation of the Apostolic message recorded in sacred Scripture. Let us look for God to guide us by granting wisdom to us through His Word.
For further study
- Deuteronomy 6:6–9
- Psalm 119:105
- John 10:35
- Acts 20:32
The bible in a year
- Exodus 23–25
- Matthew 20:17–34