What is the most misunderstood text in the Bible?
Dear Friends,
There are plenty of texts in the Bible that are tragically misused but what would you say is the most misunderstood text in the Bible. Today’s devotional will help you answer that. God bless you.
Because of Calvary,
John Janney
John 16:13
John 16:13 ESV
13 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.
John 16:13
“…I believe that…John 16:13 is the most misunderstood and manipulated text in the whole of the Bible, because every branch of Christendom claims it.
“It’s a key text for the Roman Catholic Church. ‘He will lead you into all the truth.’ Who? The successors of the apostles. The liberal quotes it. The charismatic quotes it: ‘He’ll lead me.’ But even the most elementary hermeneutical principle will tell us that the ‘you’ means the apostles. Jesus said, ‘I have much more to say to you, but you cannot bear it now.’ Who is he addressing? The apostles. ‘But when the Spirit comes, he will do what I have not been able to do; he will lead you into the truth which I wanted to give you but you weren’t able to take it.’ It must be the apostles. We cannot change the identity of the ‘you’ in the middle of the sentence.
“So, the fulfillment of that prophecy is in the New Testament. The major ministry of the Holy Spirit has been to lead the apostles into all the truth and to give us in the New Testament this wonderful body of truth that remains our authority. Now, that does not mean that the ministry of the Holy Spirit has ceased. It means that it has changed from the revelation of new truth to a profounder perception and application of old truth. If you like, he has moved from revelation to illumination.
“…God has no more to teach us than he has taught us in Christ. It is inconceivable that there should be a higher revelation then God has given us in his incarnate Son. But although God has no more to teach us, we have a great deal more to learn. And although he has no more to give us than he has given us in Christ, we have a great deal more to receive.”
[John R. W. Stott, Balanced Christianity: Expanded Edition, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014), p. 70-71]
