Subject: Is speaking in tongues for today? |
Bible Note: John Reformed, shake hands with another old-fashioned Christian -- me! You state that the word of God illumined by the Holy Spirit dwelling in the regenerate Christian believer is all that we need, and that's true. But to go a step beyond, I'd say it's not only all we need but it is indeed all we have! The illustration your correspondent posted from Kings in the Old Covenant is amply explained in Hebrews 1:1,2 of the New Covenant in Christ: "God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son..." We have the gospel of Jesus Christ -- the 27 books of the New Covenant -- in its purity and fullness. It is through this gospel that God speaks by His Son. Subjective feelings, hunches, private revelation -- the whole litany of experiential feel-good stuff that masquerades as Christianity among a broad spectrum of modern churches is worthless when it is not and cannot be supported soundly by Scripture. God and His word we can trust to the uttermost. Man's subjective feelings, anecdotal accounts of spiritual experiences and private revelations, and opinions based on little if anything else than emotions or wishful thinking we cannot trust. Your quote from 1 Thess. 5:21 is so appropriate here that I'm going to repeat it: "Test all things: hold fast what is good." [NKJV] It is grievous to see professing Christians today who seem inclined to put feeling before fact and personal opinion before divinely revealed truth. There is one source and only one source that is reliable. That lone source is Scripture. Anything beside it, beyond it, or less than it is a false guide. --Hank |