Does the Spirit of God operate directly on the human spirit?  Let us lose the language of "in conjunction with" or "in association with the Word".  Confusion does not arise from the God of heaven (1 Corinthians 14:33).  Does the Spirit of God work on an individual with nothing between the Spirit and the man?  How hard is it for us to be plain in our language as to what we mean?  Elements of the religious world have long contended that there must be some activity on the part of the Spirit that is direct with no connection to what Gods Word declares.  Is that the truth?
The late Franklin Camp often stated that one cannot be Pentecostal in argument without winding up in Pentecostalism.  In the forward to his book entitled "The Work of the Holy Spirit in Redemption", brother Camp stated these words, "Let me say to all that may read this book that as long as we agree that the Holy Spirit convicts, leads, directs and edifies only through the Word, whatever other differences there may be on the subject ought not have the least effect on the question of our fellowship."  Back in the1970s when brother Camp penned these words, do you think his idea expressed by the words "only through the Word" implied that was all man needed?
Given our current understanding of the English language, that is what I take brother Camp to have meant by his statement.  As a child of God, I need the doctrine of Christ.  If I leave that doctrine and keep going beyond it (the doctrine), then I do not have God (II John 9).  I need reproof, that which arises from evidence.  I need correction at times.  I need to be instructed in the way of righteousness.
The apostle Paul declares that all of that arises from the Scriptures with the idea in mind that the possession of such causes me to be complete and not in need of anything else (II Timothy 3:16, 17).  Brother Camp was right in his statement "only through the Word" because that is exactly the truth given by the Spirit in II Timothy 3:16, 17.
What about the church, worship and fellow Christians?
Are not all of them, likewise, needed by the Christian in the journey to heaven? Let us take a look at the church, first of all.  One cannot "join" the church of Christ but rather they must be added to it (Acts 2:47).  Since God is the one who does the adding it is up to Him to set the conditions for that adding.  Jesus taught Nicodemus that entrance into the kingdom (church) was by an individual being born of the water and the Spirit (John 3:5).  Peter tells us that we purify our souls by obeying the truth (I Peter 1:22).  There could be no church without the truth given by the Spirit.
When the Christian engages in public worship, it is with his Spirit and according to the truths revealed by the Spirit (John 4:23-25).  How would you know how to worship God unless the Spirit of God revealed it to us?  The benefits we derive from worship come from doing that which pleases God and not us.  There was a time with the congregation at Corinth in which worship got away from God and started appealing to the egos of men, whereupon Paul tells then, let all things be done unto edifying (I Corinthians 14:26).  How would the church be edified under such circumstances?  When they conducted worship the way God wanted them to do it.  How would they know how to conduct worship?  Through that which the Spirit revealed through the hands of Paul.
Do we need fellow Christians?  To ask is to answer.  If a Christian is overtaken in sin, how is he to be restored?  He is to be restored by those who are spiritual, that is, faithful to God (Galatians 6:1).  What would motivate the spiritual one to go after the one overtaken in sin?  The Word of God in his heart.  All other activities where I get benefits from other Christians are a result of the Word of God in their heart.
Brethren, the Spirit of God today convicts the sinner, edifies the saint, builds up the church and keeps us going toward heaven, through the Word and only through the Word which He revealed.
Charles Blair
 
 
 
 

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