Yes... this is a pretty good summary to anchor the place of the scripture we have.
However the issue is, what is the function of the Holy Spirit within born again believers today.
Some say He is silent unless we are actually reading scripture.
Some say He guides believers today confirming their personal journey of service with His peace within.
Some say no one since the Apostles can speak with authority on anything unless they are quoting scripture in context.
Some say that quoting the scripture in context without the Holy Spirit does not carry the authority of Christ.
Some say revelation is progressive and although the scripture is sealed and complete, new insights are given through revelation that enhance our understanding particularly of His perspective on contemporary issues.
Some say the Holy Spirit is just convicting the world of sin righteousness and judgement and apart from that, our christian lives are simply a witness of what once was. So some of our churches are like museums, places of remembrance.
I have been bagged for claiming that He speaks to me in various ways and in fact appeared to me when I was a child. Being guided by God has been a normal part of my life for years. Before coming on CF I thought this was normal for a seriously committed believer to be guided by the Holy Spirit.
It's not that I am not anchored in the scripture having been reading for nearly 70 years and having attended formal study of scripture both in university and Bible school.
Frankly my faith life is alight with the living Christ and He works through and with me but folks here are adamant that this is illusion or worse because folks have the bible now and this Holy Spirit stuff ended either when the apostles died or the Scripture was canonised. I note that in the Nicene Creed in 325 the Church Fathers of the day considered that the church was still apostolic. This would mean that the life experiences and gifts of the long dead apostles was normative among believers - this would include His indwelling presence and authority.
So there it is. At this stage I will continue to join the fray on CF and encourage others to walk the walk of faith and love that I have enjoyed, more than life, for the last 45 or so years.
I firmly believe that the Holy Spirit speaks to us, and He speaks more often than we realise. This is in keeping with Jesus saying that the anointing that we have within us will teach us all things so that we won't need any man to teach us. I think that what Jesus meant here was that we don't need to be taught the wisdom of man to teach us the things of God, because the Holy Spirit within us will enable us to discern between what is true or false.
When I say that the Holy Spirit will speak to us only what has already been spoken in the Scriptures, I am not saying that it always has to through reading the Bible, although He can and will speak that way. But as we become familiar with the Scriptures we learn the ways of God through all the threads of teaching, history, prophecy, and examples we see in them. We learn and become familiar with the nature and character of God, especially through the example of Jesus when He was here "in the flesh".
We also see how the Holy Spirit worked with the early church, and in the ministry of Paul, and so we see the effects of the Holy Spirit's power upon believers, and non-believers. We see what happens when sinners become convicted of their sin and cry out to God, "What shall we do?"
We also see that the Holy Spirit never manipulates, controls, or intimidates, and never causes a believer to be condemned, depressed or confused. He is never unkind, harsh, bullying, dictatorial, micro-managing, impatient, unfaithful, ill-mannered or indecent in the way He speaks and deals with us. And He is totally faithful to what God has already communicated to us in the Scriptures.
His mission is to get sinners out of hell and into the kingdom of God. That is His primary mission, and His top priority. The whole point of working in us to improve our sanctification and holiness is to show the world through us how a true believer should conduct himself and be an example and a testimony to the saving work of Jesus Christ. It is not to present a showcase of perfect Christians, but to equip believers so that they can direct sinners to the narrow gate of Christ and not do anything that would put sinners off from going there.
So, if a person says they are hearing from the Holy Spirit and we get an impression that what they are saying and doing doesn't seem to ring true about how Jesus would say or do it, then we should doubt it. But in order to know the difference between what is true or false, we really do need to know the Bible, and be men and women of prayer, because if we don't, how are we going to be able to discern when someone comes up with a revelation whether it is right or not?
For example: A person says that the Holy Spirit has given them a gift of healing, and no one gets healed. Can we say that he is deceived into thinking he has something which he doesn't have? I think so, because the Holy Spirit doesn't lie. If He says that He has given someone the gift of healing, then people get healed every time. If they don't, then the Holy Spirit has lied, or the person has lied when he said that the Holy Spirit gave him the gift.
Another example is when a person prophesies to another that they will be prosperous and famous, and the Scriptures show that God has never promised anything like that to anyone and that prosperity and fame is part of the world and not part of walking in the Spirit, then we can confidently say that the prophecy is false because it is not consistent with how God deals with people.
