DAY 236
CHALLENGE
“We don’t need the Church to identify Scripture. The Holy Spirit witnesses to it.”
DEFENSE
The Holy Spirit does witness to Scripture, but it does this through the instrumentality of the Church.
Although some have argued that Scripture is “self-authenticating” (see Day 229), they don’t usually mean this and instead appeal to another form of authentication.
Thus, after proposing the Bible’s literary qualities as evidence of divine authorship, the Westminster Confession of Faith goes on to say, “notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts” (1:5). It is true that the Holy Spirit provides guidance about the canon of Scripture. The question is how this guidance is manifest—to individuals or through the Church?
If we had a promise that the Holy Spirit would enable individuals to recognize the canon, then Mormons would be correct when they invite people to pray about whether the Book of Mormon is Scripture, promising them a “burning in the bosom” or similar “witness of the Holy Ghost” that it is true.
Most in the Protestant community have recognized that this is an unacceptably subjective and spiritually dangerous practice. It can easily cause a person to be led by his emotions rather than the Holy Spirit and invites the possibility of self-deception (cf. Jer. 17:9). The reason it is dangerous is that the Holy Spirit has not promised to guide individuals in this way.
Mormons may appeal to James 1:5 (“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him,” KJV), but this is a general promise that God will help people gain wisdom, not a promise to give them a private revelation concerning the canon of Scripture.
Thus Protestants do not typically encourage people to seek such a revelation but to rely on the Holy Spirit’s guidance of the Church in recognizing the canon of Scripture.
TIP
The fact that Scripture does not promise us this kind of personal revelation is a theological claim, which makes it a problem for the view that we should get all of our theology from Scripture alone (sola scriptura).