Tenets of the Doctrine of the Spirit-filled Church

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
“The Bible is the declaration of who God is and how He deals with mankind’s sin and sins.”
1. Every believer should approach the study of the Word, the sharing thereof, and the reading of the Bible with reverent fear and the utmost respect, first for the Author of the Bible and second for the contents and instruction it contains.
2. Every time the Holy Writ is picked up, read, preached, quoted, or written down, it should be done with humility and with the understanding that, when handling the Word, one is dealing with the divine instrument given through God’s love and grace for the benefit of mankind. This is God’s domain, and He is the Spokesperson who must be respected and reverenced even as His words declare: But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word (Isaiah 66:2 NKJV).
3. There have been many educated theologians, great Bible teachers, and ardent students of the Word, whose contributions to explaining the truths contained within the Bible’s pages are to be applauded. Some contributors have spent many hours expounding the Bible’s message, while others have given insight into the origin and structure of the Word. Their contributions and insights have been studied and considered as this tenet Doctrine of the Bible is expounded.
4. To give this tenet greater clarity, it is set out in the following way:
a. Source and method God used to convey His Word to mankind
b. Holy men of God called by the Holy Spirit to record the Word
c. Historic explanation of how the Bible’s contents were developed and became the Holy Canon known today as the Bible
d. Message contained in the Bible
Source and Method
Revelation and Inspiration of the Word of God.
5. When considering this holy and divine gift from God, namely, His holy Word, it must never be forgotten who the Author is and for what purpose it is given. Therefore, to fully grasp the sovereignty of the Holy Writ, Spirit-filled believers must accept that the Bible is the revelation of God unveiled through His divine inspiration and penned on the holy pages.
6. W.A.C. Rowe says, “The Scriptures of truth are pure revelation; they are God’s approach to man, not man’s approach to God: they bring certainty and brightness about Himself and His purposes. Only God can explain Himself: and only by His Holy Spirit can this be done; Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11).
7. There are direct proclamations in the Bible as to its intent and how it is imparted. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1:20-21), and All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).
8. To comprehend the depths and riches contained within the Bible’s pages, it is of utmost value to grasp the fact that man who is but a mere mortal, granted life for a short season on earth, is given the privilege of receiving from his Creator direct revelation concerning who God is and how He deals with mankind. This is not man writing to man and giving his own ideas to other men; this is the divine, holy, and righteous God speaking to mankind and giving revelation to holy men who obediently recorded the inspired message from God to mankind.
9. In one of his sermons, Charles Spurgeon said, “The Bible contains the divine answer to the deepest needs of humanity, sheds unique light on our path in a dark world, and sets forth the way to our eternal well-being.” A grandfather wrote in his granddaughter’s Bible that he gave her when she was eleven year’s old, “Read it regularly. It holds the solution to all of life’s problems.” As these anecdotes affirm, the Bible’s message reaches across all cultures, nations, tongues, ages, and genders. It is unique in its content, sovereign in its message, and powerful in its application.
10. Lewis Chafer in his book Systematic Theology says, “In this Book, God is set forth as Creator and Lord of all. It is the revelation of Himself, the record of what He has done and will do, and, at the same time, the disclosure of the fact that every created thing is subject to Him and discovers its highest advantage and destiny only as it is conformed to His will.”
11. Thus said, the understanding that Who it is that is giving this message is not a created being or a man-made institution; it is God Himself revealing who He is to mankind. The Source is who He is. The Source is the Godhead. The Source is the Word who was in the beginning (John 1:1). Everything the Bible says is what God says.
12. It is the inspired written Word that exalts the Living Word, Jesus Christ; for He is the Word made flesh. Jesus is the revealed Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man who is the Source and Substance of the Word. How magnificent is the revelation that Jesus explains to the two men on the road to Emmaus that the Word references Him; And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27). Only when the two men received the revelation concerning who Jesus was, were their eyes opened to receive the fullness of the message: Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:31-32 NKJV).