In a recent book-length defence of the formal doctrine of the Protestant Reformation, Sola Scriptura, we find the following comments affirming the “internal witness of the Holy Spirit,” something very similar to what one finds in Moroni 10:3-5 and elsewhere in the Latter-day Saint canon and the LDS concept of the “testimony” of the Holy Spirit:
Calvin was clear that the Scripture’s credibility does not depend on man’s reason but on the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Calvin explains that we will never be persuaded of the trustworthiness and authority of Scripture’s doctrine until we are “persuaded beyond doubt that God is its Author.” Therefore, the “highest proof of Scripture derives in general from the fact that God in person speaks to it.” In that light, we must look to a “higher place than human reasons, judgments, or conjectures” and turn instead to the “secret testimony of the Spirit.” The “Word will not find acceptance in men’s hearts before it is sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit.” The same Spirit who spoke through the prophets will penetrate “into our hearts to persuade us that they faithfully proclaimed what had been divinely commanded” (Institutes of the Christian Religion 1.7.4). [1]
Many of the “contradictions” that scholars found problematic a century ago have now been resolved with time and study. Nor can we neglect the role of the Spirit. What at first appears to be an unsurmountable hurdle later becomes a small speed bump when the Spirit illuminates the Word so that we can better understand its meaning. [2]
[I]nternal clarity is quite different [to external clarify]. Because the unbeliever is spiritually blind, he cannot see the truth of Scripture in a saving way unless his eyes are opened by the Holy Spirit (Luther, Bondage of the Will, in LW 33.28 [cf. 98-99]). So while a person may read and memorize the Scriptures backward and forward, exegete its words, diagram its sentences in the original languages, and masterfully describe the historical and cultural background of an individual text, this is not to say that the person has truly understood Scripture’s message. There is knowing Scripture, and then there is knowing Scripture. The latter is work of the Holy Spirit. [3]
Sufficiency does not preclude the inward illumination of the Holy Spirit. While we should not be seeking revelation from the Spirit in addition to Scripture, we must not go to the other extreme (as some evangelical rationalists have done) and eliminate the Spirit entirely. Rather, Word and Spirit go together. God gives us his sufficient Word, but he intends the Spirit to come alongside us to help us understand his Word. Therefore, must like Calvin (see chapter 1), the Westminster Confession advocates the illuminating work of the Spirit: “The Spirit . . . [is] necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word (John 6:45; 1 Cor. 2:9-12).” [4]
Scripture reassures us that should we come to God’s Word with the Spirit as our counselor, the Lord will reward our hungry soul with sweet and satisfying food (1 John 2:20, 26-27). [5]
I cannot prove the Bible is true. Only the Spirit can do that. And until he does, you will never see Scripture as God’s Word . . . The Bible testifies to its own identity. But this isn’t enough. We must then pray that the Spirit would irresistibly persuade sinners that the Bible is what it says it is. [6]
Notes for the Above
[1] Matthew Barrett, God’s Word Alone: The Authority of Scripture (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2016), 67
[2] Ibid., 266
[3] Ibid., 320
[4] Ibid., 337
[5] Ibid., 344
[6] Ibid., 374
