“Jesus I Know. Paul I Know. Who are you?” – Part 7

II – EVALUATING THE TEXTS INFERRING THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT.

You can read the previous Blogs by clicking here:  

Part 1, 

Part 2, 

Part 3, 

Part 4,

Part 5, and

Part 6

Does the Bible teach us that we as New Testament Christians can expect authoritative messages from the Holy Spirit, such that we act without question?  Can such message be conveyed as "thus sayeth the Lord?"  We have been examining texts that are often used to support this idea.  Here, in this final examination we consider Romans 8.

II – EVALUATING THE TEXTS INFERRING THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT.

8.  Romans 8:26–27 (ESV), ²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. ²⁷ And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

I like the notation in the New Geneva Bible wherein the author comments: “The Holy Spirit strengthens us in our state of weakness, of which we are constantly conscious. Perplexity as to how to pray for oneself is a universal Christian experience. Our inarticulate longings to pray properly are an indication to us that the indwelling Spirit is already helping us by interceding for us in our hearts, making requests that the Father will certainly answer.”^[1]

Here the beloved saint who is groaning even as all creation does (8:22) has the marvelous promise that when life’s struggles reach an inarticulate cry, that cry is interpreted and translated to the very throne of grace in language reflecting the absolute perfect will of God.    I remember hearing a mother talk about taking her preschooler to the optometrist.  The doctor used pictures as a means of testing eyesight.  The mother had to translate for the doctor what her little child was saying.  The Holy Spirit does that for our prayers of bewilderment.

But prior to this in Romans 8, we have another passage about the work of the Spirit in our lives.

9.  Romans 8:16 (ESV), ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

Does God's Spirit bear witness with our spirit that we should do this, or say that?  No!   This passage is clear.  This is the subjective witness of the Spirit that grants us assurance as God’s children.  The context is that this enables us to freely cry to Him in our hour of need: “Abba Father”.

Summary

Here’s the point: Fallible vessels are the conduit for the infallible work of the Spirit and out of necessity must rely on an infallible source to validate their claims.  Opponents offer various New Testament references that seem to refute my claim, but to date there is not one shred of evidence that the Holy Spirit speaks to New Testament saints in "authoritative" and "unmediated" (i.e. direct) ways. I can find no substantive text of Scripture that would permit a Christian to act on spiritual impressions or thoughts, taking them to be authoritative and without question. 

In the next Blog I want to affirm the subjective work of the Spirit in a person's life, but attempt to show Biblically how that should be anticipated.

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^[1]New Geneva study Bible. 1997, c1995 (electronic ed.) (Ro 8:26). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.