John 16:13 However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself… What is meant by "all truth?" It is better to take for granted that the Bible always means what it says — all the truth of nature as well as of the gospel, of science as well as of religion. Aholiab was, doubtless, a skilled mechanic before the effusion of the Spirit; but after he became the best carpenter of the nation. So with Bezaleel. I am glad to acknowledge that the great thinkers of the world have not been wholly unguided by the Holy Ghost. Great discoverers are almost invariably devout: Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato — Kepler, Newton, and Faraday. Even nature confides her secrets to none except to men of deep piety. Tyndall and Huxley are very brilliant; but they have not yet established their right to be classed with the great. The truth which makes for our salvation is here mainly intended. Note, the Spirit guides into all truth — I. IN RESPECT OF REVELATION. This means that the Spirit will — 1. Speak nothing but the truth, "for He shall not speak from Himself," &c. This is the Saviour's infallible proof of the trustworthiness of His own teaching, and urges the same in support of the infallibility of the Spirit's illumination. If you hear any one speaking from himself, boasting much in his originality, you may rest assured that his discovery will turn out to be shallow and worthless. For truth is not a thing that comes from, but to, man. He never strikes it — it always strikes him. Accordingly, great discoverers never claim much credit. "I am but a child," said Newton, "gathering pebbles on the shore of the great sea of truth." He felt that all the credit due to him was that of seeing the pebbles — the credit of making them belonged to another. You cannot originate truth — only discover it; you cannot make it — only see it. If you make it, it is no longer truth, but a lie. Wherefore it is averred of the evil spirit that he "speaketh of his own," and therefore of necessity "speaketh a lie." But "whatsoever the Spirit heareth" in the exalted fellowship of the Trinity in Unity, "that speaketh He." 2. Inspire the truth already extant in the world, and only waiting the breath of inspiration to quicken it. True "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," but "every Scripture is God-inspired." Not only the writers, but their writings, are all alive with the breath of God. "God breathed into it the breath of life, and the Bible became a living book." The inspired men are dead, but the inspired truths are living. They are warm now with the breath of the Eternal. One of the rare excellencies of the Bible is its warmth. Its temperature is many degrees higher than that of any other book. Whereas the same truths in other religions and philosophies sink down to freezing-point, in Christianity they invariably rise to blood-heat. Here are two bars of steel. They are precisely of the same make, shape, weight, size. But put them on the ground near a heap of rubbish, and the difference will be manifest. Whilst one lies inert, the other exerts a potent influence on the whole mass, disturbing the needles and nails and iron filings. What is the matter? One has been magnetized. And here are two truths, one in heathen philosophy, the other in the gospel. They are as similar as two truths can be. But the truth as contained in Greek or Chinese philosophy lies barren and inoperative; but the same truth as uttered by Jesus Christ enters as a living quickening force into human life. In Christianity it has been magnetized, inspired. 3. Revealed new truths. "Eye hath not seen," &c. The truths of nature are only His surface thoughts, and therefore within the range of created intellects. But the truths of the gospel are His "deep things," too deep for human reason ever to fathom, but which, nevertheless, "God has shown to us by His Spirit." In the context the "things of God" are called the things of Jesus Christ. As Columbus took possession of the continent of America in the name of Christ, so Christ took possession of the continent of truth in His own name — He has stamped on every truth His own private mark. This is the final test whether any doctrine be of the inspiration of the Spirit. Does it glorify Christ? Many teachers went out in the apostolic age claiming to be Divinely commissioned; but this was the test whereby the spirits were tried. Many novel doctrines are promulgated to-day, labelled with the names of able and scholarly men. "Do they glorify Christ?" If not, beware of them. "What do you think of 'Ecce Homo?'" asked a lady once of Professor Duncan. "What does 'Ecce Homo' think of Christ?" asked the old Rabbi back. "I cannot tell; that it is which puzzles me," answered the lady. "Well," deliberately answered the sick professor, "if any book, after a careful perusal of it, leaves you in doubt what it thinks and what you ought to think about Christ, there is something radically wrong in it. Every sound book, doctrine, sermon, glorifies Christ." II. IN RESPECT OF EXPOSITION. 1. The nature of the Spirit's influence. (1) "Guide"; not only to show the road, but travel along it. To direct strangers in a strange country is much; to accompany them till they reach their destination is more. Thus the Holy Spirit takes us by the hand, as it were, and leads us to a reasonable apprehension of the great doctrines of salvation. This partly indicates the difference between the influence of the Spirit under the Old Testament and under the New. Then He "moved." The prophets were borne along before the breath of the Spirit, like ships before the wind, a force outside them and behind them driving them irresistibly along. The Spirit sometimes fell suddenly upon them, and sometimes left them quite as suddenly; but in either case they were thrown half dead on the ground. But "guide" denotes steady, constant, uniform influence. (2) And He will guide you, not to, but into. You cannot properly judge truth except from within. Go and examine a coloured window. From without it looks a mixed, unmeaning, vulgar blotch of paint. But enter the cathedral, look upon it between you and the light, and it is gloriously transfigured. Similarly the fundamental truths of the gospel, such as the atonement and justification, are "unto the Jews a stumbling-block," &c. But study them from within, look at them between you and the light of God and the eternal judgment, and they become "the power of God and the wisdom of God." 2. The subjects of His guidance. "You," not the apostles only. The Spirit influences the mental movements of the weakest saint. The Spirit mysteriously invigorates the mind. The "unction from the Holy One" oils the wheels marvellously. Look at Saul, the son of Kish, and Peter. This, however, does not mean the total extinction of all differences between believers in their scholastic attainments; but it does mean the abolition of all difference in their spiritual apprehension of the saving truths of the gospel. Long sight has no advantage over short sight in examining the heavens. Both can see the sun, neither can see behind and beyond. The dullest, obtusest believer sees as far as the Sun of Righteousness, and your most learned occupants of professorial chairs cannot see an inch behind and beyond. 3. The scope of the Spirit's influence. "All," not into some, but into all. Not at once, for guidance is a gradual process. (1) The history of doctrine is none other than the history of the Divine guidance of the Church into the truth. He guided the Church fathers into the truth concerning the Person of Christ; the Reformers into the truth of justification; the Puritans and Methodists into the doctrine of regeneration. Well, has the Bible been exhausted? Oh no; other truths remain to reward the patient and prayerful study of generations to come. The Spirit guides as fast as the body of the Church can follow, and will not desist till every chapter of the Bible has been emptied of its contents. "God has much light to break out of the Bible yet." There are more acorns in Bashan than oaks, and there are more seeds of truth in the words of Christ than have yet developed into doctrines. If that be the case, you ask, What shall we do with the creeds, the confessions, and standards of faith? We shall respect the old, and, if need arise, make new ones. Creeds are not intended to shut out new truths, but to shut in old. Creeds do not set limits to faith, only to unbelief. Creeds are not hindrances to progress, but to retrogression, and so lose the ground it has gained through much agony of thought and prayer. They do not tie down the mind and impede its flight upwards; they tie up the mind and stop its flight downward. What minds have soared higher than those who think it no degradation and no bondage to subscribe to the hoary creeds of Christendom? Creeds are the garners where the Church lays by its ripe truths for the support and comfort of its children in years to come. But because we store the ripe fruit, does that make us negligent of the orchard? Let the history of the Church answer. (2) You are welcome to go out on voyages of discovery to find out new islands or continents of truth. Only remember the condition — under the guidance of the Holy Ghost. "No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation"; and a good reason why, "Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man." The Spirit, who inspired the Bible, He only can adequately interpret it. But what about the right of private judgment? I have profound respect for that when it is a holy judgment, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost. But I have not confidence in it when it is a depraved judgment, under the dominion of the evil spirit. The other evening I visited the Houses of Parliament, and observed that a soft, pure light was shed down on the floor from above the ceiling. I could see the light, but not the flame. Methought the Scriptures were illuminated in the same manner, from above the ceiling; the source of the light is in God, not in man. Let us, then, seek that illumination. We study human commentaries, but let us not forget the commentary of the Holy Ghost. When the Council of Trent sat, when an embarrassing question arose, the ecclesiastics submitted the points in dispute to the final arbitrament of the pope and cardinals. In due time the answer returned, prefaced with "It seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and to us." This happened so frequently that it passed into a proverb that the Holy Ghost was being sent in the pope's portmanteau. But we need not send to Rome to learn the mind of the Spirit, "for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."(3) This is the Protestant counterpart to the Romish doctrine of the infallibility of the pope. He will guide you infallibly; but it is another question if you will follow infallibly. But wait awhile. The Bible is an infallible book; the Spirit is an infallible interpreter; and between them both men will grow infallible by and by. III. IN RESPECT OF APPLICATION. This suggests that the Spirit — 1. Whets the truth, puts edge on the ministry of the Word. "My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words," &c. "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts," &c. Not tickled, amused, entertained, but pierced through. The sermons men like are refined, polished, full of flowers. But read Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost; it bristles like a hawthorn bush. The great need of the modern pulpit is sermons with fewer flowers and sharper pricks. 2. Imparts warmth to the ministry. "He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Warmth is an essential element in the Scriptures; it is an essential element in the ministry. The chief difference between genius and talent seems to me to consist, not in the amount of light, but in the amount of heat; not in the knowledge, but in the fire. The erudition of Ben Jonson was profounder than that of Shakespeare; the knowledge of Whewell was more extensive than that of Carlyle; the information of many a Scott was more capacious than that of Robert Burns. Where, then, was the genius? Not in the knowledge, but in the fire. (J. C. Jones, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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