Since Possessing the Treasure has existed I would say that a very large percentage of the “debate” we have dealt with here has been whether the Bible is God’s Word or simply another book. Of course, related to that, would be the doctrine of Sola Scriptura. The genuine Christian does accept the Bible as Sacred Scripture and a huge part of God’s revelation of Himself to them. Those professing Christians who decry this, however, insist that knowledge of God must be derived from non-communicative ‘encounters’ with Him, that is, through experiences of one kind or another. The problem with this should be obvious. If we hold to the truth that God’s revelation of Himself to us is primarily through the Bible as His verbal self-testimony then we are dependent upon it as unchanging and complete truth. However, if we hold that God communicates to us primarily via experience then there is no foundation. Truth becomes arbitrary and subjective.
John Owen, a great 17th Century Puritan theologian, understood this. He knew that the experiential model of receiving communication from God was flawed. Why? Sin exists within us all. There is an anti-God drive that we all have in our makeup. This is our inheritance from Adam. This fallenness within us guarantees a universal unresponsiveness to spiritual truth. This, of course, is hardness and blindness of heart. No matter how dynamic or correct a Bible teacher or preacher is, these truths hit those hard and blind hearts in total ineffectiveness. It is only through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, who opens the heart to God’s word, that understanding of, conviction about, and consent to, the things that God declares. Owen understood the tragic darkness and evil nature of the fallen human mind. He knew, and we must grasp this as well, the absolute necessity that the Spirit should work in preacher and teacher, hearer, and student alike, if effective communication of the things of God is ever to take place. <Continue reading post>