Jesus, The Spirit, and The Word

By Doy Moyer

The recognition of the Lordship of Jesus Christ is integrally linked to His word as recorded in Scripture: “The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day” (John 12:48).

The only way we know the words of Jesus is by the recorded testimony of the Spirit. We cannot discern this according to what we may feel, for feelings are fickle and selfish and we are taught to deny self (Luke 9:23). The question we continually face, then, is this: Will I keep Scripture as primary in my thinking and decision-making or will I operate autonomously to determine my own standard of authority?

This lies at the heart of the feelings-v-Scripture, the tradition-v-Scripture, and the personal experience-v-Scripture debates. Is Scripture primary or secondary?

Bear in mind that any appeal to the Holy Spirit must be tempered by what the Holy Spirit has revealed, for, again, we are asking whether we accept Scripture as the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Personal claim and feelings do not prove anything relative to what the Spirit actually does. I do not deny the working of the Spirit, but I do deny that the Spirit would contradict Himself or operate in some vague, proof-less arena of feeling-based claims, for “even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal 1:8).

Jesus is the Word who gave His word, ensured His word, and by the Spirit recorded His word that we might know Him. “Let God be true though every one were a liar.”

This article by Doy Moyer appeared on FaceBook, 2/23