The Error of Textualism by A. W. Tozer The man without the
Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of
God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand
them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2.14
But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in
my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance
all that I have said to you." John 14, 26. When He, the Spirit
of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. John 16,
13. The doctrine of the inability
of the human mind to understand divine teaching and the need
for divine illumination is so fully developed in the New Testament
that it is nothing short of astonishing that we should have gone so far
astray concerning the whole issue. Evangelicalism has stood aloof
from liberalism in self-conscious superiority, and has on its own
part fallen into the error of textualism, which is simply orthodoxy,
without the Holy Spirit. Everywhere among conservatives
we find people who are Bible-taught, but not spirit-taught. They conceive
truth to be something which they can grasp with the mind. If a
man holds to the fundamentals of the Christian faith, then
he is thought to possess divine truth. But that is an incorrect
assumption. The Bible is a supernatural book,
and can be understood only by supernatural aid. Conservative
Christians in this day are stumbling over this truth. We need to re-examine
the whole thing. We need to learn that truth consists
not in correct doctrine, but in correct doctrine plus the
inward enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. A re-preachment of this
vital truth could result in a fresh breath from God upon a stale
and suffocating orthodoxy. Most Christians see Bible knowledge
as something to be stored away in the mind, along with an inert
mass of other facts. The modern scientist has lost
God amid the wonders of his world, and we Christians are in real
danger of losing God amid the wonders of his word. Scripture
truths must be experienced before we can really know them. Lord,
I do believe in the authority of the Scriptures, and thank
you for that foundation of truth. But I need to remember that even
the inspired text is not alive until the Holy Spirit takes it
and enlightens the recipients. May the Spirit indeed take what
I teach and embed it in the hearts and minds of my hearers. Amen.