[Jo S]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

I would say:....

Rather shouldn't you say, "Gill would say"? Evangelical, I see rather than deferring to commentators with links, you are now plagiarizing their ideas and putting them in writing....This reminds me of those that Paul spoke about in 1 Timothy 1:7.

Originally Posted by A little brother

I believe both the Holy Spirit and the Scripture are needed to teach us the truth. We need the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the truth in the Scripture, and we need the Scripture to check against false spirits. It is the basic scriptural principle of 2 or 3 witnesses. Or in simple words, checks and balances.

Understand that in John's epistle he wrote to those people as a father figure addressing them as "children". He was not instructing them as a instructor or teacher of scripture would in an educational setting but he was doing so in love and gentleness just as a protective parent would their child.

Because there were many false apostles among them trying to deceive them, he had to bring them to remembrance of this truth. Just as in the testimonies of many that came out of the LC, they had forgotten how to rely on the Holy Spirit for truth and struggled to discern the spirits. I consider tests like John's and Paul's as elementary tests for those immature in Christ because that's who they were given to. While effective for whatever situation they were dealing with at that time, there is scripture (Matt 7:22, Mark 5:7) and real world examples to show that false apostles can work around such tests in the way they are generally interpreted. If you say the anointing only teaches you that Jesus is the Christ, then the man at the tombs in Mark 5:7 too must have had the "anointing". Of course this is not true.

To understand the context of 1 John 4:2, people believed (and still do) in a modalistic Christ. One that existed prior as a spiritual being, then incarnated as a man in the sense of eastern mystical incarnation like a Hindu avatar, and then resurrected as a spirit. They still believed that he was a physical being of flesh while on earth, but not a human as all humans are born. You'd be surprised how many churches actually teach such a thing in subtle ways through drawn out doctrine.

In 1 John 2:27, All things (Greek: pas) means all things. You don't get to redefine the meaning of that word. The specific context given in the text itself are only two things, truth and lies, but the application is to "all things". This means whether a teaching or a teacher is false or of the truth, spiritual discernment applies. The Holy Spirit may not be able to convey the flaws in the logic of doctrine or the exact psychology of an individual at that moment but concerning whether something or someone is from the spirit of truth or the spirit of error you can certainly know through spiritual discernment.

And this anointing is not limited to just grace or salvation like some theologians teach. That would require eisegesis to conclude such a thing. False teachers will try to teach you this so they can stand in place of the Holy Spirit as final authority on scripture. Turn away from such. It's no surprise theologians like John Gill would think in this way. Being himself a great teacher and scholar, people in his position could very possibly be tempted by the idea of people looking to them as the authority on scripture and so teach on the anointing in such a way. I would take any theologian's interpretation of the authority of the Holy Spirit specifically for teaching on scripture with a grain of salt and then do you're own study with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13)

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you.” (John 14:26)

Here's the the issue with thinking that scripture alone is able to be used to discern spirits. If the only way you can discern spirits is by scripture then by who's interpretation of scripture are you going you to go by? That then begs the question, how can we know if a teacher has received the correct interpretation of scripture to understand what those specific verses concerning what the testing of spirits actually mean in their correct context? With scripture? That would be circular reasoning.

In the context of New Testament teachers, they were to be more like instructors by teaching how to apply the instructions of scripture in a practical way within the church and also to expound on scriptural doctrine. It is not possible for any man to convey the truth of doctrine to an individual. That's for Christ alone. Paul is a testament to this. Paul had great learning but it wasn't until Christ revealed himself did he truly understand what he knew. Christ is to be our only teacher to guide us to truth through the Holy Spirit. This is why the Greek term "kathegeses" (meaning a master teacher) is only applied to Jesus Christ (Matt 23:10) whereas the term for teachers in the NT letters is "didaskalos" (which means instructor) and is applied to all others. This is also why it's important to discern spiritually and not just to rely solely on another's understanding, no matter how confident they are, like some would lead you to believe. Christ is the final authority on all things in a Christian's life.

Someone's teachings or actions can show good fruit on the surface but how would you know the true intentionality of those individuals? Some will tell you this is impossible because only God knows the heart of man. While this is true, through discernment, he can convey which spirit an individual is teaching from. Yet they will tell you "knowing the spirit" and "knowing the heart" are the same things. Not true. Scripture cannot give you the ability to discern spiritually. Only through the gift of discernment can you truly know the spiritual fruits.

A little brother, don't let anyone ever tell you you don't need to practice spiritual discernment for all things or that it's not at all reliable. This is a lie. Turn away from such as they will not stop twisting scripture in attempts to confuse you through a spirit of confusion. Trust in God and Jesus Christ through his Holy Spirit alone for all things.