Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is
come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to
come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto
you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall
take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. (John 16:13-15)
But the anointing which ye have received of
him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same
anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as
it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. (1 John 2:27)
Sometimes to
create a false dichotomy (Holy Spirit vs. modern prophets and apostles) some
critics appeal to these two texts against Latter-day Saint ecclesiology. Note
the following questions from Ron Rhodes and Marian Bodine based on these two
Johannine texts:
· Would you please read aloud from
John 16:13-15?
· Next, would you please read aloud
from 1 John 2:27?
· According to these verses, what
is the one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit in our lives today?
· With the Holy Spirit as our
teacher, as promised in Scripture, how can anyone say that we remain in darkness
(or apostasy) without a prophet of God on the earth?
· Would you say that the Holy
Spirit is incapable of keeping us out of darkness? (Ron Rhodes and Marian
Bodine, Reasoning from the Scriptures
with the Mormons [Eugene, Oreg.: Harvest House Publishers, 1995], 79)
There are a
number of problems with this.
Firstly, Latter-day
Saints do affirm that one can rely
upon the Holy Spirit for guidance, not simply an internal witness of the truth
of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the Gospel. Take the following
from Brigham Young, second president of the Church:
They say that the Bible needs interpreting;
that it does not mean what it sets forth; that the Holy Ghost has not been
given since the days of the Apostles; that there is no need of any more
revelation, the canon of Scripture being full. My KNOWLEDGE is, if you will
follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, as recorded in the New
Testament, every man and woman will be put in possession of the Holy Ghost
every person will become a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and an expounder of
truth. They will know things that are, that will be, and that have been. They
will understand things in heaven, things on the earth, and things under the
earth, things of time, and things of eternity, according to their several
callings and capacities. (JOD 1:243| July 24, 1853)
Secondly,
there has to be doctrinal checks and balances. Anyone can purport to be a true
believer (Rhodes and Bodine, notwithstanding holding to a form of eternal
security, would agree that there have been many false converts who have feigned
being true, spirit-filled converts) and possess the Holy Spirit. However, there
must be an active source of authority that can ensure that the purported
promptings and teachings one receives from the Holy Spirit are genuine and
teaching in accordance with the truth of the Gospel. If the model Rhodes and
Bodine proposes was true, we would end up with ecclesiological and epistemological
mayhem. We see this within the so-called pale of Protestant orthodox, both today and historically, on central issues that affect salvation itself (e.g., baptismal regeneration).
Thirdly, absolutizing
the texts in the way that Rhodes and Bodine does, one will have to end up with
a very low ecclesiology, but this flies in the face of texts such as Matt
16:18-19; 18:18; John 20:23; Eph 4:11-14; and Acts 15, among many other texts
evidencing a high ecclesiology. Indeed, with respect to Acts 15, one would have
to ask why the early Church would have to convene a council in Jerusalem and
rely upon the teaching authority of the Church itself in its decisions as
opposed to all individual believers being led to the truth of the issues
debated. For a fuller discussion of Acts 15 and issues relating to ecclesiology,
see:
The
ecclesiology of Acts 15 alone shows that the model Rhodes and Bodine proposes was
alien to the early Church.
Finally, if
all one needs is the Holy Spirit, then Scripture (in the theology of Rhodes and
Bodine, a category exhausted by the Bible [see the discussion of sola scriptura
above]) is not the sole, infallible source of faith—the Holy Spirit and guidance
thereof is. Indeed, it would mean that, at least since Pentecost with the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Scripture would be defunct as an ultimate
authority!
As we see,
the claims of Rhodes and Bodine (and other Protestant critics of the Restored
Gospel) is fallacious and problematic to the nth degree.
