While creation is the Holy Spirit’s first act in Scripture, the overwhelmingly dominant work attributed to the Spirit in both Testaments is the giving of revelation.

Scripture frequently attributes direct revelation from God given to prophets to the person of the Holy Spirit. Joseph was able to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams because the Spirit of God was in him (Gn 41:38). Messengers of Saul and Saul himself were able to prophecy when “the Spirit of God came upon” them” (1 Sm 19:20, 23). David’s last words were a prophecy, and notice who he credits for the revelation: “The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me; his word is on my tongue” (2 Sm 23:2).

In fact, the New Testament explicitly attributes David’s revelation to the Spirit (Mt 22:43). The Spirit spoke through Zedekiah (2 Chr 18:23), Micaiah (1 Kgs 22:24), Amasai (1 Chr 12:18), Zechariah (2 Chr 24:20), Ezekiel (Ez 2:2), and Micah (Mi 3:8). The preponderance of attribution to the Spirit of God’s revelation could lead us to assume that all divine revelation came by means of the Holy Spirit.

In the New Testament we see the same sort of attribution. The Spirit spoke to Jesus himself (Mt 4:1), and he promised his disciples that the Spirit would speak through them:

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 that I have said to you. (Jn 14:26; cf. Mt 10:20, Lk 12:12)

Later, apostolic revelation is explicitly attributed to the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:1–2; cf. Eph 3:5).

The Spirit spoke through Elizabeth (Lk 1:41), Zechariah (Lk 1:67), Simeon (Lk 2:26), Stephen (Acts 6:8), Philip (Acts 8:29), Peter (Acts 10:19), Agabus (Acts 11:28), Paul (Acts 13:2, 20:23, 21:11, 1 Cor 2:13), and leaders of the Jerusalem council (Acts 15:28). The Spirit also “came on” the first Gentiles who were converted outside Israel, causing them to prophecy, as confirmation that they, too, were added to Christ’s body (Acts 19:6). And the Spirit gave revelation to others during the foundational years of the church before God’s revelation had been inscripturated in the completed canon of Scripture (Acts 21:4, 1 Cor 14).

Prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah epitomize the nature of biblical prophecy. God told Jeremiah, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth” (Jer 1:9). Since the Spirit is God, the revelation he gives is God’s words. Isaiah, too, is told that God’s words are in his mouth, and this giving of divine revelation is specifically attributed to God’s Spirit “who is on you” (Is 59:12). God had characterized Moses as a prophet in a similar way, and in promising a Messianic prophet who would follow in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets of old, God emphasized the authoritative nature of such prophecy:

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. ¹⁹ And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. (Dt 18:18–19)

Because of the divine weight of such prophecy, those who claimed to be prophets had to be tested, and any who failed the test would be killed since he was falsely claiming to speak the very words of God (Dt 13:1–5, 18:15–22). Paul commanded the same standard of testing prophecy in the New Testament (1 Cor 14:29).

To prophesy is to speak the very words of God. Sometimes those words are predictive; more often those words are instructive or exhortative. But no matter the content, prophecy is the delivery of direct, divine revelation from the Spirit of God to the degree that one who prophesies can always unequivocally say, “Thus says the Lord.”

God-Breathed

Similar to his work of creation, Spirit-given revelation had the ultimate purpose of bringing order to God’s plan in the world. The Holy Spirit gave special revelation to disclose the nature and character of God, explain God’s requirements, correct sin, and give hope for the future. In fact, based on the fact that the giving of revelation is the most repeated work of the Spirit in both Testaments, it is safe to say that the primary way God orders his plan in history is through Spirit-given revelation. At each major stage in the progress of God’s plan, the Spirit of God revealed the truth necessary for God’s people to be blessed.

The primary way God orders his plan in history is through Spirit-given revelation. At each major stage in the progress of God’s plan, the Spirit of God revealed the truth necessary for God’s people to be blessed.

But ultimately, the Holy Spirit inspired a “prophetic word more fully confirmed” (2 Pt 1:19–21), the canonical Scriptures, given to believers “for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tm 3:16–17). Paul plainly describes Scripture as God breathed—produced by the very Spirit of God. What the New Testament explicitly teaches regarding divine inspiration was already implicitly taught in the Old Testament. For example, when God told Isaiah that his Spirit would put words in his mouth, he declared that those words would “not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring . . . from this time forth and forevermore” (Is 59:21).

The nature of such inspiration is important as well: the Holy Spirit did not inspire the Scriptures by bringing authors into a sort of mystical trance as they were “carried along” (2 Pt 1:21); rather, as helpfully defined by John Frame, inspiration is “a divine act that creates an identity between a divine word and a human word”¹John M. Frame, The Doctrine of the Word of God, vol. 4 (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2010), 140.—each author conscientiously penned the Scriptures (Acts 1:16, 4:25, Heb 3:7, 1 Cor 2:12–13) using craftsmanship (e.g. the Psalms), research (e.g. Lk 1:1–4), and available cultural forms and idioms.

In other words, Spirit-inspired revelation is both for the purpose of order and produced in an orderly fashion.

Spirit-inspired revelation is both for the purpose of order and produced in an orderly fashion.

The Profitable Word

The key text on the inspiration of Scripture, 2 Timothy 3:16–17, confirms that the purpose of Spirit-given Scripture is to order our lives:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

‌The term translated “breathed out by God” is Theopneustos; Theos is the Greek term for “God” and pneuma means “breath” or “spirit.” The very words of Scripture were produced by the Spirit of God as he carried along holy men of God. Every word of Scripture carries with it the weight of “Thus Says the Lord.”

And because of this, Spirit-produced Scripture is profitable and sufficient to make us “complete, equipped for every good work.” The word translated “complete” and the word translated “equipped” are actually different forms of the same term that communicate the idea of being perfectly adapted for a task. This significant work of the Spirit of God to produce sixty-six inerrant, infallible books of inscripturated revelation is sufficient for every remaining activity the Spirit work to bring order to God’s plan and people.

‌In other words, as we consider other works of the Holy Spirit in Scripture, what we notice is that the Holy Spirit’s active work today is all done through the sufficient Word that he inspired. The Holy Spirit regenerates dead hearts through his sufficient Word. The Holy Spirit illuminates blind hearts, causing believers to accept the sufficient Word as the true words of God. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin through his sufficient Word. He sanctifies us through his sufficient Word. He comforts us through his sufficient Word. To be filled by the Spirit (Eph 5:19) is to let the sufficient Word of Christ richly dwell within us (Col 3:16).

Without the Holy Spirit’s work, the Word would not be effectual for regeneration, sanctification, conviction, or comfort—The Holy Spirit actively works through the sufficient Word that he inspired to make it effectual in our hearts. And the truth is that all of these works of the Holy Spirit are supernatural experiences, and he accomplishes those supernatural works through his inspired Word.

The Holy Spirit’s active work today is all done through the sufficient Word that he inspired.

‌We ought not wonder why the Holy Spirit isn’t speaking to us any more today. Rather, we must recognize that the Spirit of God has already spoken to us and continues to do so through his sufficient Word—we ought not expect any further revelation or even impressions. We must simply pray that the Spirit will give us wisdom to appropriate his Word and then actively apply it and submit ourselves to what he has already spoken.

Author

Scott Aniol

Executive Vice President and Editor-in-Chief G3 Ministries

Scott Aniol, PhD, is Executive Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of G3 Ministries. In addition to his role with G3, Scott is Professor of Pastoral Theology at Grace Bible Theological Seminary in Conway, Arkansas. He lectures around the world in churches, conferences, colleges, and seminaries, and he has authored several books and dozens of articles. You can find more, including publications and speaking itinerary, at www.scottaniol.com. Scott and his wife, Becky, have four children: Caleb, Kate, Christopher, and Caroline. You can listen to his podcast here.