Many people believe that the indwelling Holy Spirit should lead more than any Bible verse.

Question 3: Many people believe that the indwelling Holy Spirit should lead more than any Bible verse.

Answer: Just because many believe it, does not make it right. 2 Peter 1: 20-21 says, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Scripture is not the will of man or interpretation of man. Scripture was written by men who were inspired or carried along by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the author of the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit wrote the Bible. Therefore, what the Holy Spirit leads us to do will NEVER contradict what the Scriptures teach and tell us to do. God cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18) and thus can’t contradict Himself.

In fact, 1 John 4:1 tells us, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” As we have already learned, we do this by comparing what someone teaches with the scriptures. If they contradict the Bible, then they are a false prophet. The Bible is the authority because it is the will of the Holy Spirit.

Is the Bible really important if God's Word is written on our hearts?

Question 2: Is the Bible really important if God's Word is written on our hearts?

Answer: The Bible is supremely important. The way we have God’s Word “written on our hearts” is to study, memorize and obey the Scriptures. Proverbs 7:1-3 teaches us, “My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.” We write God’s Word on our hearts as we study the Scriptures and internalize them. It is something God commands us to do. The Bible is very important. It is how we find faith in God. The only knowledge we have of Jesus’ life, ministry and teaching comes from the New Testament Scriptures. The Bible is how the Holy Spirit writes on our heart.

The Apostles stated in Acts 6:4 that they would focus on “the ministry of the word." The Apostle Paul shared in this ministry. He writes in Galatians 2:8, “For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles.” Paul also had an Apostolic ministry to preach and teach the Scriptures. Acts 17:2 says, “As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures.” And he considered it a good thing when people would search the Scriptures to verify that what he taught was true. Acts 17:11 says, “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” We can verify if a teacher preaches the truth by comparing what he says with the Bible (See 1 John 4:1).

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:3 “You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” So the result of Paul teaching the Scriptures and the people verifying what Paul taught from the Scriptures was the Spirit of God was able to write His will on their hearts. Their knowledge of God’s will was the result of the Holy Spirit working through Paul’s ministry of teaching the Scriptures. The way God writes on our hearts is through the hearing, reading, study and acceptance of His Word. Yes, the Bible is important.