The Teacher

The Holy Spirit is the Teacher.

The Holy Spirit is the one who infallibly guided the authors of Scripture to write God's own inerrant Word.

Having completed his Book, he still guides the Church today by illumination and application of the faith that has been once for all delivered to the saints and recorded as Holy Scripture.

In his work of illumination, the Holy Spirit enables us to understand the meaning of Scripture. Through the preaching of the Word, the Holy Spirit reveals that we are sinners who need a Savior, and he reveals the gospel plainly and winsomely. He gives us the ability to understand God's will by opening our eyes to understand what God meant when he caused the words of the Bible to be written.

In his work of application, the Holy Spirit takes the meaning of Scripture and specifically guides us in how it applies to our lives today. Not only does he show us things that need changing in our daily lives by applying the Bible to us specifically, he gives us pointed, practical understanding concerning God's will. For example, Scripture gives us a Missions Mandate, but the Holy Spirit may apply that mandate to us as individuals by giving us a clear sense that he is calling us to a specific work. As we hear the Word preached, or as we are meditating on it in private, we may understand that the Holy Spirit is saying to us through Scripture that he wants us to move to a specific place, such as Guatemala, Saudi Arabia or Kenya, and serve him one of those countries.

All such things must be tested by Scripture because the Bible is the only rule of faith and life, and such things should be confirmed by the church of which we are a part.