“‘However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth;’” John 16:13a
“But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.” 1 John 2:27 (NKJV)
Of great value to those of us who claim Jesus as Lord and Savior are these few words written some two thousand years ago by the Apostle John. The work of the Spirit in teaching us “all truth” is second only to His convicting us of our need for forgiveness, and therefore a Savior. If we are to comprehend what the living word (Hebrews 4:12) of God intends, we must allow the Living God to reveal it to us. When we study the Bible with only our human intellect we may indeed learn the facts of the Bible, the names and numbers, but the Spiritual aspect will remain hidden from our understanding (1 Corinthians 2:10-16). It is those “hidden” things that Christians need to know more fully, and it is precisely these things which the Holy Spirit is prepared to reveal to us. Knowing the “facts” is useful of course; knowing what He reveals to us is infinitely more valuable to the earnest Christian. I’ve come to the point in my studying where I believe that beyond the “facts” we can know nothing deeper of God’s word except through revelation from the Holy Spirit. He inspired it, we should let Him reveal what He will about it to us.
Many Christians begin their study of God’s word with a Study Bible as their guide. If you are so inclined, buy as many variations as you can afford and compare their comments. It is so easy to fall into the trap of taking the author’s opinion of Scripture as our own; agreeing with the comments does not make them correct, nor does the author’s popularity. We must ask ourselves; do I want to know what the author believes, or what the Holy Spirit reveals to me? We have a precious gift in the Teacher; let’s pray, study, and listen to the Holy Spirit!
