Sacred Communication from God
Student Topic
Communication from God
How does God speak with us today? Does he speak with audible words? Does he give us certain feelings when he wants us to do something? Or has he already spoken and will no longer speak? This is a vital issue within Christianity. What is the basis for what we should believe and how we should act? The answer is simple: Holy Scripture. Every doctrine we believe must come from scripture.
Jesus Christ, while on Earth, used scripture to support everything which he was saying. Whenever anyone would disagree with him, he would use the phrase “Is it not written” to introduce his citation of a particular passage. In Mark 12:36, Jesus discusses how when David spoke in his writings, he was speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus upheld the scriptures as a standard which the people of that time should have been living by, even if they did not understand the context of something which was supposed to instruct them. In Matthew 19:4, Jesus cited the words of Moses in Genesis, and attributed those same words as coming from God’s mouth. In the New Testament, the apostles also consider each other’s writings to be written by God through them as scripture (2 Peter 3:16).
The Early Church believed this as well. Clement of Alexandria (150-215) said, “They that are ready to spend their time in the best things will not give over seeking for truth until they have found the demonstration from the Scriptures themselves”. Irenaeus (175) said, “They [heretics] gather their views from other sources than the Scriptures. We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith”. Ambrose (330-397) said, “For how can we adopt those things which we do not find in the Holy Scriptures?”
In my opinion, the only conclusion that we can come to is that God mainly speaks to us through the scriptures alone. There are of course instances where he could audibly talk to us, as is seen in the scriptures. He also leads us through his Holy Spirit which has been given to us. He may very well appear to us as well. These are all good things and certainly happen, but they must be compared with the backdrop of scripture.
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