The Spirit's Role in Revelation

HiRes | MidRes

Loading...

(Right click this link to download video.)

Question
What role does the Holy Spirit play in revelation?
Answer
In 2 Peter 1:21 Peter says that "Scripture was never produced by the will of man but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit was superintending the biblical authors, carrying them along, moving them along, bearing them along. The metaphor is a beautiful one of wind catching a sail of a sailboat and moving it along. In a similar way the Spirit bore along, carried along the biblical authors as they were writing so that they produced God's revelation to us — Scripture. The Spirit acted in such a way, superintending, overseeing the biblical authors, such that they were the ones who actually wrote Scripture, employing their personality, their theological perspectives, their writing styles, their grammar, their expressiveness. The Spirit did not nullify or negate any of that, but worked in them as they were writing so that the Spirit and the biblical authors came together in cooperating to produce God's revelation to us — the Word of God, Scripture.

Answer by Dr. Gregg R. Allison

Dr. Gregg R. Allison is professor of Christian theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.