Category: Theology 101
The Doctrine of Special Revelation (Cont'd)
Insufficiency
According to the Scripture itself, Scripture itself is not sufficient to bring someone to faith in, and obedience to, Christ. Paul writes, “a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Cor. 2:14). A natural man (i.e. one who has not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit) will not please God, nor put his trust in Christ, by merely hearing or reading special revelation. The Holy Spirit must accompany the Word of God for there to be spiritual fruit. Devoid of the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, the unbeliever regards the Word as foolishness, mythological, or, at best, a placebo for the mentally weak. Therefore, one will not come to faith in Christ by simply encountering the Word as if the words themselves act as some kind of inexorable tractor beam. Yet when the Word is accompanied by the effective power of the Holy Spirit, it gives birth to a new creation and becomes special indeed.