Quotations from Tom Olbricht reviewing Thomas Campbell's Declaration and Address VERSUS actual quotes. These are well known scholars and I am sure that there is a complete history of the Restoration Movement. However, we are reviewing an earlier look and see a strong ANTI ism. 3 of the complete Books are available.The the Stone Campbell Movement as a new SECTARIAN DIVISION AND DIVIDER
"In the world of ideas, leaders such as Tom Olbricht, Rubel Shelly, Harold Hazelip and Max Lucado began to speak to broad audiences
as they freshened understanding of biblical texts.
The addition of a doctoral degree program in Bible at Abilene Christian University was part of a wave of graduate Bible programs at Christian Universities."Lynn Anderson, then at the Highland church in Abilene, Texas, began to mentor a young generation of ministers. Reuel Lemmons' enthusiasm for world evangelism and unorthodox concepts continued to dominate the Firm Foundation and energize thinking.
See the Creed of Max Lucado
See Shepherding or Discipling at Oak Hills
See Lynn Anderson's Discipling or Shepherding ministry.
Lynn Anderson holy entertainment and the pagan connection.Our review of professors such as Tom Olbrict on the Declaration and Address of Thomas Campbell is not to doubt their worldly knowledge. Rather, the scholarly approach is usually to quote other scholars who qsuote other scholars. Therefore, this review compares the claims of Tom Olbrict about Restoration Leaders and other scholars against the actual writings. In addition, we will supply the CONTEXT without which the proof-text quotations are usually wrong Phds notwithstanding. Once a FACT is published it is very difficult not to just pick it up without recourse to the original sources. The result is that often what is condemned in church of Christ beliefs turns out to be exactly what the Scripture prove.
Jesus did warn that the "doctors of the Law" including Scribes, Pharisees and the Sectarian Hypocrites or actors TAKE AWAY THE KEY TO KNOWLEDGE. When God pours out His wrath he sends buffoons:
Tom Olbricht: The Declaration and Address of Thomas Campbell presupposes an implicit hermeneutic and one that is imminently serviceable for the driving motivation explicit in the document. It is my assessment that Campbell was chiefly interested in reducing the frictions in Christendom through a recovery of the primitive church in its theology and practice. It is clear that he believed this recovery needed to be based upon the Scriptures, more specifically the New Testament.
The Declaration and Address sought to direct people more productively to teaching the untaught. By eleminating anything not required or Biblical everyone could participate. However, the Restoration Movement stands in a long stream of trying to ELEMINATE those things not part of the Biblical pattern because ANY addition would create a new sectarian split as did the introduction of music.
"False hermeneutics" which blames churches of Christ for everything from rejecting machines to worship a Spirit God to bad breath. However, churches have always existed known as the church of Christ and have always repudiated "music" as Christian. The Bible, church scholars and founders of denominations ALL saw the Bible as the only authority for faith and practice. Many of them had stated the "commands, examples and inferences" long before Thomas Campbell. In fact, there is no exception until the explosion of Phds for which there was never a "certificate of need." The Christian churches and Tom lay claim to the High Church principle which was never ratified by any religious group. The same church of England group which tried to outlaw musical instruments failed because of the Queen's objection never voted the right to TRIM the BIBLICAL PATTERN to fit the current culture of the ladies.
He further believed that certain interpretative or hermeneutical guidelines were crucial in bringing the Scriptures to bear, in order that unity might result.
A review of the Bible and the entirety of church history will show that Thomas Campbell simply continued the practice of reading the Bible in its context and teaching it "as it had been taught." He believed that "worship" consisted primarily upon reading, musing and reflecting on the Word of God. Paul defined a more synagogue setting in Romans 15 to solve the diverse background in Romans 14. That followed Jesus Christ who would not PLEASE Himself. That means that the assembly has no "excitement creating machinery" to make you FEEL a "drug high." Then the group could speak with ONE MIND and ONE MOUTH "that which was written" as the only way to glorify God.
I The Reformed Context Tom Olbricht: Campbell commenced the address by declaring the need to "take all our measures directly and immediately from the Divine standard." (Note 1) To be avoided, however,is a human interpretation of that standard.
He therefore immediately implied the desirability of setting out guidelines which avoided human construals.Note 1: Thomas Campbell, Declaration and Address, in Historical Documents Advocating Christian Union, ed. Charles Alexander Young, ed. (Chicago: The Christian Century Company, 1904) 71.
A review of discussion by the Campbells and others indicates that the chief goal was RESTORATION OF HUMAN FREEDOM. That did not give theologians a new TOOL to DO church but a weapon for individual believers to fend off those ever ready to bundle them into some form of human institution. By repudiating the notion of ordained clergy they freed everyone to become a student of the word.
A human interpretation would be the work of "doctors of the Law" who, according to Jesus, took away the keys to knowledge. Campbell did not remotely hint that the Bible could not be interpreted IF you left out theology which is anti-Biblical.
Paul said that the way to avoid human "construals" is for the elders as the only pastor-teachers of the congregation to "Teach that which has been taught."
Campbell said:
We are also of opinion that as the Divine word is equally binding upon all, so all lie under an equal obligation to be bound by it, and it alone; and not by any human interpretation of it;
and that, therefore, no man has a right to judge his brother,
except in so far as he manifestly violates the express letter of the law.
That every such judgment is an express violation of the law of Christ, a daring usurpation of his throne, and a gross intrusion upon the rights and liberties of his subjects.
The Declaration and Address, like John Locke's writings, were a Declaration of Freedom FROM theologians. Judging is not just having an opinion which the NEW HERMENEUTS want to outlaw but judging is inflicting or imposing some penalty or burden on others. In the case of instrumental music, the same German liberal thought imposed instruments on most of the denominational people who CAME OUT OF BABYLON as they were freed to think for themselves.
Peter warned about hermeneuts, exegetes, rheroricians, sOPHISts, singers and musicians by putting a SEAL on the written word. This was in part to be a TRAP to identified those who made a profession out of further expounding the free Word:
Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things alway in remembrance. 1 Pet 1:15
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 1 Pet 1: 16
For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 1 Pet 1: 17
And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. 1 Pet 1: 18
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 1 Pet 1: 19
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 1 Pet 1: 20
"Take Heed" is the UNIQUE way to worship God in the PLACE of the human spirit. If you are "taking heed" to the preacher, singers or other functionaries then you CANNOT be taking heed to Christ Who promised to be with two or three. If you are taking heed to "work books" in church you cannot be giving heed to the Word. And if you get a Phd from a peer-declared Phd then you are involved in "intellectual incest" and you will never hear the Word.
No individual can be faithful and attempt to further expound the Word of God by the modern system of sermonizing on a text or singing Twila Paris.
Epilusis (g1955) ep-il'-oo-sis; from 1956; explanation, i.e. application: - interpretation.
Epiluo (g1956) ep-ee-loo'-o; from 1909 and 3089; to solve further, i.e. (fig.) to explain, decide: - determine, expound.Why you risk your soul if you do:
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. 1 Pet 1: 21
Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 1 Peter 1:11
The out of context blurb is not Campbell's basis of fellowship in a worshiping body. Later, instrumental music would be added and those who resisted would be charged with sowing discord because they refused to conform. Non instrumentalist were denied the right to hold and express their views held from the first century. Therefore, to pass judgment on non-instrumentalists when there is no law against speaking or teaching rather than "making music" the musical innovators judge their brethren and generally confiscated their property.
Thomas Campbell may never have said the word "hermeneutic" which is named after Hermes or Mercury the Rubel Shelly example for John's adaptation.
Scripture claims for itself giving a holy spirit or the mind of Christ simply by reading and discussing it: there is no PREACHER or PROFESSOR in the spiritually gifted offices.
In fact, Jesus repudiated the DOCTORS OF THE LAW because they "take away the key to knowledge." A HUMAN OPINION is trying to decide what GOD would have said if He had the benefit of our education.
"Our desire, therefore, for ourselves and our brethren would be, that,
rejecting human opinions and the inventions of men as of any authority, or as having any place in the Church of God, we might forever cease from further contentions about such things; returning to and holding fast by the original standard;
- taking the Divine word alone for our rule;
- the Holy Spirit for our teacher and guide, to lead us into all truth;
- and Christ alone, as exhibited in the word, for our salvation;
that, by so doing, we may be at peace among ourselves, follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
Because using any form of MUSIC is contrary to the explicity Biblical and historical connection to Satan and to sexual and homosexual pagan "worship" in the threskia sense, it is a HUMAN INVENTION. It has no positive attributes in the Bible and in a negative sense it was always the MARK of people who refused to listen to the Word 'as it had been taught."
Clement of Alexandria Pedagogue 1
- b. AD 150, Athens
- d. between 211 and 215 [B.C. meaning Before Campbell]
Now, it is incumbent on us to return His love, who lovingly guides us to that life which is best;
........... and to live in accordance with the injunctions of His will, not only fulfilling what is commanded,
........... or guarding against what is forbidden,but turning away from some examples, and imitating others as much as we can, and thus to perform the works of the Master according to His similitude,
........... and so fulfil what Scripture says as to our being made in His image and likeness.Gregory of Nyssa on Scripture as Authority
- b. c. 335, Caesarea, in Cappadocia, Asia Minor [now Kayseri, Turkey]
- d. c. 394, feast day March 9
- And in this assertion they do not go beyond the truth; for we do say so.
- But the ground of their complaint is that
- their custom does not admit this,
- http://www.piney.com/RmOlbricht-.htmland Scripture does not support it. What then is our reply?
We do not think that it is right to make their prevailing custom the law and rule of sound doctrine.
For if custom is to avail for proof of soundness, we too, surely, may advance our prevailing custom;
........and if they reject this, we are surely not bound to follow theirs.
- Let the inspired Scripture, then, be our umpire, and
the vote of truth will surely be given to
those whose dogmas are found to agree with the Divine words.Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
In such a case we ought by all means to adopt it,
............ especially if it be something in defence of which Scripture can be alleged:
as in the singing of hymns and psalms,
for which we have on record both the example and the precepts of the Lord and of His apostles.That means Commands, Examples and Inferences.
But since men are so solicitous about the true church, I would only ask them here, by the way, if it be not more agreeable to the Church of Christ
to make the conditions of her communion consist in such things, and such things only,
as the Holy Spirit has in the Holy Scriptures declared, in express words, to be necessary to salvation;I ask, I say, whether this be not more agreeable to the Church of Christ
than for men to impose their own inventions and interpretations upon others as if they were of Divine authority,
and to establish by ecclesiastical laws, as absolutely necessary to the profession of Christianity, such things as the Holy Scriptures do either not mention, or at least not expressly command?Whosoever requires those things in order to ecclesiastical communion, which Christ does not require in order to life eternal, he may, perhaps, indeed constitute a society accommodated to his own opinion and his own advantage;
but how that can be called the Church of Christ which is established upon laws that are not His, and which excludes such persons from its communion as He will one day receive into the Kingdom of Heaven, I understand not.
Schism, then, for the same reasons that have already been alleged,
is nothing else but a separation made in the communion of the Church
upon account of something in divine worship or ecclesiastical discipline that is not any necessary part of it.Now, nothing in worship or discipline can be necessary to Christian communion (unity) but what Christ our legislator, or the Apostles by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, have commanded in express words
Campbell was not speaking of a CHURCH:
IV. That this Society by no means considers itself a Church,
nor does at all assume to itself the powers peculiar to such a society;
nor do the members, as such, consider themselves as standing connected in that relation;
nor as at all associated for the peculiar purposes of Church association;but merely as voluntary advocates for Church reformation; and, as possessing the powers common to all individuals, who may please to associate in a peaceable and orderly manner, for any lawful purpose, namely, the disposal of their time, counsel, and property, as they may see cause.
Tom Olbricht: We are also of opinion that as the Divine word is equally binding upon all, so all lie under an equal obligation to be bound by it and it alone; and not by any human interpretation of it; and that, therefore, no man has a right to judge his brother, except in so far as he manifestly violates the express letter of the law. Note 2.
Note 2: Young, ed., 72.
"Somewhat later Campbell set forth a larger perspective for taking up the Scriptures so as to reject ""human opinions and the inventions of men as of any authority."
First, the Divine word is alone to be the rule.
Second, the Holy Spirit is to be teacher and guide.
Third, Christ alone, as exhibited in the word is the ground for salvation. Note 3:Our desire, therefore, for ourselves and our brethren would be, that,
rejecting human opinions and the inventions of men as of any authority, or as having any place in the Church of God, we might forever cease from further contentions about such things; returning to and holding fast by the original standard;
taking the Divine word alone for our rule;
the Holy Spirit for our teacher and guide, to lead us into all truth;
and Christ alone, as exhibited in the word, for our salvation;that, by so doing, we may be at peace among ourselves, follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
Thomas Campbell never believed the H. Leo Boles, Max Lucado, Rubel Shelly tritheism which is polytheism. Thomas Campbell allowed the use of the word "person" because he had no other word. However, he never saw the Holy Spirit as separated from Christ any more than that his spirit is separated from Campbell. Jesus Christ put Spirit and Life in His Words.
Campbell never taught that the Holy Spirit taught beyond the Scriptures.
[Thomas Campbell noted elsewhere that: "I am not to be understood as objecting to the detection and exposure of a false and unscriptural experience, which, from your words, appears to be the thing intended; for, in your foot note, page 141, you assert, that we are taught, that
"since those gifts have ceased, the Holy Spirit now operates upon the minds of men only by the word;" and at the close of said note, you further assert, that "we are positive of one point,"
namely, "that the scriptures teach us not the doctrine of physical operations of the Divine Spirit in order to faith."]
Jesus discounted the flesh and said MY WORDS are SPIRIT and they are LIFE. The Words of Christ the Spirit simply will not "stick" or reside in A human spirit which is not HOLY or undefiled. In the Old Testament God promised to give US a NEW, HOLY SPIRIT and the purpose was so that we would keep His commands.
"Again--Some will say, What does the expression Holy Spirit mean? Well, in scripture it stands first for God the Holy Spirit, and secondly for the holy mind or spirit of a believer-- for illustration, take Peter's words to Ananias, "Why has Satan tempted you to lie to the Holy Spirit; you have not lied to men, but to God," (the Holy Spirit.) And the Saviour says, How much more will your heavenly Father give A holy spirit (as it should be translated) to those that ask him. Again--Praying in A holy spirit. Again--Paul says he approved himself God's servant "by knowledge, by long sufferings, by kindness, by a holy spirit'" by a mind innocent of the love of gain, or commerce, or sensuality. Walter Scott
"But an old Hubris tends to bring forth in evil men, sooner or later, at the fated hour of birth, a young Hubris and that irresistible, unconquerable, unholy spirit, Recklessness, and for the household black Curses, which resemble their parents. - John M. Allegro, The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross.
Tom Olbricht: Note 3: 3. Young, ed., 73.
In this program may be recognized the larger agenda of the reformation. The first is the sola scriptura principle of both Luther and Calvin.
Sola Scriptura came directly from God: the Spirit of Christ!
Christ who was the Spirit of the Old Testament did not change His view of His own inspired revelations. In them through Isaiah:
And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits (Old, empty wineskins), and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? Isaiah 8:19
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Isaiah 8:20
Isaiah and Hebrews Sola Scripture
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him,
........... not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own
........... pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Isaiah 58:13THEREFORE we ought to give the more earnest heed (honor or worship) to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. Hebrews 2:1
For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; Hebrews 2:2
How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; Hebrews 2:3
God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will (pattern)? Hebrews 2:4
Luther's FAITH ONLY was based on SCRIPTURE ONLY. However, he did not originate the view which began in the garden of Eden.
But as our would-be wise, new spirits assert that faith alone saves, and that works and external things avail nothing, we answer:
It is true, indeed, that nothing in us is of any avail but faith, as we shall hear still further. But these blind guides are unwilling to see this, namely,
that faith must have something which it believes, that is, of which it takes hold, and upon which it stands and rests.
Thus faith clings to the water, and believes that it is Baptism, in which there is pure salvation and life;
........... not through the water (as we have sufficiently stated), but through the fact
........... that it is embodied in the Word and institution of God, and the name of God inheres in it.Now, if I believe this,
........... what else is it than believing in God as in Him
........... who has given and planted His Word into this ordinance,
........... and proposes to us this external thing wherein we may apprehend such a treasure?Tom Olbricht: The second is the Scripture along with the Holy Spirit principle found in both Luther and Calvin.
No. The Campbells had access to more writings than John Calvin. Therefore, being literate, they knew that the Bible FURTHER EXPOUNDS itself to say what most scholars said before the Reformation.
One suspects that the warning was against THE HOLY SPIRIT without the WORD. All history agrees that the SPIRIT of God or the MIND OF CHRIST is ministered when the word is taught without "further hermeneuting." Note that it is the Holy Spirit without the oral word and not the Word which is Spirit and Life PLUS a direct operation of a third member of the God "family."
7. Note further, that it is his ministry to which Paul ascribes the preparation of their heart thereon and the inscription which constitutes them "living epistles of Christ."
He contrasts his ministry with the blind fancies of those fanatics who seek to receive, and dream of having,
the Holy Spirit without the oral word; [see the difference/]
who, perchance, creep into a corner and grasp the Spirit through dreams, directing the people away from the preached Word and visible ministry.Look again: Scripture along with the Holy Spirit principle found in both Luther and Calvin. Calvin did not speak of SCRIPTURE plus THE HOLY SPIRIT!
The Bible personifies THOUGHT, Truth and Spirit:
For the (1) WORD (Dabar=Logos=Spirit of Christ) of the (2) Lord (Jehovah) is right; and all his works are done in TRUTH. Psa 33:4
By the WORD of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the (3) BREATH (Spirit) of his MOUTH. Psa 33:6
Mouth: Peh (h6310) peh; from 6284; the mouth (as the means of blowing)
Breath is SPIRIT: Ruwach (h7307) roo'-akh, roo'-akh; from 7306; wind; by resemblance breath... by resemblance SPIRIT, but only of a rational being (includ. its EXPRESSION and FUNCTIONS)
First, remember that Jesus said of "spirit"
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing:
........... the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63Paul ministered the Holy Spirit by preaching:
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes
........... Jesus Christ hath been
........... evidently set forth, crucified among you? Galatians 3:1This only would I learn of you,
........... Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law,
........... or (Received ye the Spirit) by the hearing of faith? Galatians 3:2
Paul MINISTERED the Spirit through preaching: they received the Spirit by listening. Therefore, Paul was not ministering a THIRD PERSON.
"But Paul says that the Spirit, through his preaching, has wrought in the hearts of his Corinthians, to the end that Christ lives and is mighty in them. After such statement he bursts into praise of the ministerial office, comparing the message, or preaching, of Moses with that of himself and the apostles. He says:
"Such confidence have we through Christ to Godward: not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God.
8. These words are blows and thrusts for the false apostles [PAGE 227] and preachers. Paul is mortal enemy to the blockheads who make great boast,
pretending to what they do not possess and to what they cannot do;
who boast of having the Spirit in great measure; who are ready to counsel and aid the whole world;
who pride themselves on the ability to invent something new. It is to be a surpassingly precious and heavenly thing they are to spin out of their heads, as the dreams of pope and monks have been in time past."We do not so," says Paul. "We rely not upon ourselves or our wisdom and ability. We preach not what we have ourselves invented. But this is our boast and trust in Christ before God,
that we have made of you a divine epistle; have written upon your hearts,
not our thoughts, but the Word of God.We are not, however, glorifying our own power, but the works and the power of him who has called and equipped us for such an office; from whom proceeds all you have heard and believed.
9. It is a glory which every preacher may claim, to be able to say with full confidence of heart:
........... "This trust have I toward God in Christ, that what I teach and preach is truly the Word of God."There is a role for PROFESSORS and Rhetoricians and Sophists but we quoted Luther above to say that it WAS NOT of ANY value in the spiritual realm: that is why Jesus repudiated the Doctors of the Law who might go and make a living in Canon Law:
In short, let him who would be wise, who would boast of great skill, talents and power, confine himself to things other than spiritual;
The Super Apostles in Paul's condemnation of the WIDOW RIDERS: they deny that the Spirit and Life is ministered by "teaching that which has been taught."
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
Huperlian , Adv. beyond measure, exceedingly, sophos Eust.1396.42; to hu. Id.1184.18 ; hoi hu. apostoloi the 'super-Apostles', 2 Ep.Cor. 11.5, 12.11.
Sophos
I. properly, skilled in any handicraft or art, cunning in his craft, Theogn., etc; of a charioteer, Pind.; of poets and musicians, id=Pind.; of a soothsayer, Soph., etc.The SOPHIST and rhetorician and musician are the SERPENTS in the end time even as as the CUNNING serpent was the MUSICAL ENCHANTER in the garden of Eden:
Ophis-teia, sophistry, mantikê, of Balaam, mantikê means divination, soothsayer
Any person who makes a profession of helping God make up for his errors: all rhetoricians, Sophists, musicians and singers believed that they were under DIVINE MADNESS. Therefore, they will go back into hell as part of the end-time "harp- playing prostitute" religion.
Playto, Cratylus says "the part of appropriative, coercive, hunting art which hunts animals, land animals, tame animals, man, privately, for pay, is paid in cash, claims to give education, and is a hunt after rich and promising youths, must--so our present argument concludes--be called sophistry.
Sophistês 1 [sophizomai]
I. a master of one's craft or art, an adept, of a diviner, Hdt.; of poets, Pind.; of the Creator, Plat.; metaph., s. pêmatôn an adept in misery, Eur.
2. like phronimos, one who is clever in matters of life, a wise man, in which sense the seven Sages are called sophistai, Hdt.; of Prometheus, Aesch.
II. at Athens, a Sophist, i. e. a professor of grammar, rhetoric, politics, mathematics, such as Prodicus, Gorgias, Protagoras, Thuc., Plat., etc. At first the Sophists were held in honour; but from their loose principles they fell into ill repute, and the word came to mean,
2. a sophist (in bad sense), a quibbler, cheat, Ar., Dem., etc.
THESE CRAFTSMEN WHO USE HUMAN SKILLS TO DOCTOR UP THE WORDS OF GOD WILL GO BACK INTO HELL WITH THE BABYLONIAN WHORE, HER MUSICIANS, HER INSTRUMENT PLAYERS AND HER "GRINDERS" OR MALE AND FEMALE PROSTITUTES.
Because Jesus Christ died and promised to build MY EKKESIA or SYNAGOGUE or school of the Bible. Any of the human CRAFTSMEN who decided to help God do His work did NO USEFUL WORK, created division and were therefore called PARASITES.
The Rest of the Story: neither Calvin or Luther believed in the neo-Tritheism in churches of Christ under the influence of Max Lucado and Rubel Shelly.
Tom Olbricht: Since Campbell is from a Calvinistic background it is appropriate to quote Calvin: See Campbell below to refute this:
Quotes below:
Note 5: John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1957) I, ix, 3.
Calvin has a before and after in his context.
"There is nothing repugnant here to what was lately said, (chap. 7)
Quoted: that we have no great certainty of the word itself, until it be confirmed by the testimony of the Spirit. For the Lord has so knit together the certainty of his word and his Spirit, that our minds are duly imbued with reverence for the word when the Spirit shining upon it enables us there to behold the face of God; and, on the other hand, we embrace the Spirit with no danger of delusion when we recognise him in his image, that is, in his word.
The Spirit does not testify to us: He has testified in Scripture. Jesus promised ANOTHER COMFORTER and said "I" will come to you. The Spirit has a name: to Paul it was "I am Jesus of Nazareth."
More Campbell below but are you listening?
"since those gifts have ceased, the. Holy Spirit now operates upon the minds of men only by the word;"
Calvin continued: "Thus, indeed, it is. God did not produce his word before men for the sake of sudden display, intending to abolish it the moment the Spirit should arrive;
........... but he employed the SAME SPIRIT,
........... by whose agency he had ADMINISTERED the word,
........... to complete his work by the efficacious CONFIRMATION of the word."In this way Christ explained to the two disciples, (Luke 24: 27,) not that they were to reject the Scriptures and trust to their own wisdom,
........... but that they were to UNDERSTAND the Scriptures.This SPIRIT OF supernatural knowledge is MINISTERED through preaching. Those who have faith and want to become members of Christ's TEAM must be baptized.
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Gal 5:16
"Throughout the rest of the chapter 'spirit' and 'flesh' are contrasted, the new and the old nature. We see their antagonism... Rendal says that through out this section Paul has in mind 'spirit' and not 'Spirit'; Lightfoot says it in regard to v. 17...
"The analogy of Scripture shows that we never use the Spirit as a means, but we do so use our own 'spirit.'
"So Paul here bids the Galatians to use in their walk and conversation what is spirit in its nature, i. e., the reborn, new man... 'Flesh' and the ''Holy Spirit' are not a contrast, but 'flesh' and 'spirit' are." (Lenski, Gal. 5:16)
Hear it again:
Without the Word there is no administration of the Spirit.
As Spirit, Christ completes and confirms.
The gift of A holy spirit or A clear conscience or consiousness means "a co perception." Christ REMOVES sin so that we can see SCRIPTURE but not to reveal NEW SCRIPTURE.
And Calvin heard it from Paul:
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? Gal 3:1
This only would I learn of you,
........... Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law,
........... or by the hearing of faith? Gal 3:2Paul delivered and they received the Spirit by "hearing of faith." The witness is there when you believe the words. The human SPIRIT is the new PLACE for worship or giving heed to the Spirit OF Truth.
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Gal 3:3
Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. Gal 3:4
He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Gal 3:5
If God has the power to incarnate FULL DEITY in Jesus Christ then surely He has the power to put His Spirit into His Words. They were Spirit and Life because the SON (word) spoke only what He heard from the FATHER dwelling in the same person.
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63
Therefore, John Calvin would never speak of a SEPARATED SPIRIT needed for us to grasp the meaning of the words of God. The spirit, according to Greek usage and Walter Scott meant that we received A holy spirit or in 1 Peter 3:21 a clear conscience or clear conscience. This "holy" personal spirit must be cleared from all sin before we can SEE AFAR.
The HOLY SPIRIT as a Divine Being was always the ONE and ONLY Spirit Who was God. My Word is my spirit (mental disposition) as the expression of MY Thought. The thought is the father of my words.
There was only ONE Lord Jehovah but many ELOHIM. However, God said that I (Jehovah) am the ONLY GOD or Elohim:
> But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 1 Cor 2:10
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 1 Cor 2: 11
Paul said that God's Spirit is to God what our spirit is to us: the Holy Spirit was the Mind of Christ.
Here is the dead give away that Paul NEVER speaks of the Holy Spirit as a third member of the family of God. There is a difference between my FLESH nature and my SPIRIT nature but I am not triplets or twins.
> Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 1 Cor 2: 12
Which things also we speak, not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 1 Cor 2: 13
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Cor 2: 16
Mind is Spirit: Spirit is Mind.
> Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Luke 24:25
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:27
> Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: 1 Pet 1:10
Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 1 Peter 1:11
> And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. Rev 19:9
And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Rev 19:10
> But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. 2 Cor 3:14
But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 2 Cor 3:15
Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 2 Cor 3:16
........... Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
........... there is liberty. 2 Cor 3:17The Gift of A holy spirit is not the GIFT of a junior member of the Rubel Shelly Family of God. Rather, a thing is considered HOLY when it has all impurities removed from it. Holy means pure or wholly: a bottle of pure water contains nothing but water.
At baptism we REQUEST a clear conscience which gives us a clear consiousness or co perception. God does not ADD something to us but REMOVES all that is UNholy. Then we can see the Word.
John Calvin continues:
"In like manner, when Paul says to the Thessalonians, "Quench not the SPIRIT," he does not carry them aloft to empty speculation APART from the word; he immediately adds, "Despise not prophesying," (1 Thess. 5: 19, 20.)
"By this, doubtless, he intimates that the LIGHT of the SPIRIT is quenched the moment prophesying (teaching the word) fall into contempt.
How is this answered by those SWELLING ENTUSIASTS, in whose idea the only true illumination consists, in carelessly laying aside, and bidding ADIEU to the WORD of God, while, with no less confidence than folly, they fasten upon any dreaming notion which may have casually SPRUNG up in their MINDS?
"Surely a very different sobriety becomes the children of God. As they feel that without the Spirit of God they are utterly devoid of the light of truth,
so they are not ignorant that the WORD is the INSTRUMENT by which the illumination of the Spirit is DISPENSED.
They know of NO OTHER SPIRIT than the one who dwelt and spake in the apostles--
........... the Spirit by whose oracles they are daily invited to the hearing of the word.Hear it again:
Without the Spirit there is no LIGHT.
The WORD is the instrument of Spirit LIGHT.Does any one object, that music is very useful for awakening the minds of men and moving their hearts? I own it;
but we should always take care that no corruption creep in, which might both defile the pure worship of God and involve men in superstition. Moreover, since the Holy Spirit expressly warns us of this danger by the mouth of Paul,
to proceed beyond what we are there warranted by him is not only, I must say, unadvised zeal, but wicked and perverse obstinacy.
"We know that our Lord Jesus Christ has appeared, and by His advent has abolished these legal shadows.
Instrumental music, we therefore maintain, was only tolerated on account of the times and the people, because they were as boys, as the sacred Scripture speaketh, whose condition required these puerile rudiments.
But in gospel times we must not have recourse to these unless we wish to destroy the evangelical perfection and to obscure the meridian light which we enjoy in Christ our Lord." (Calvin's Commentary on the Thirty-third Psalm, and on 1 Sam. 18:1-9).
> Because MUSIC is one of the primary issues of the new Anti movement, the reader should understand that the Restoration Movement DID NOT even consider such a radical institution in the beginning because there was no instruments in their background.
> Therefore, the church took notice of their so-called PROFANE HISTORY and saw no reason to change.
> It was ONLY when the musical sectarians introduced instruments to compete for the traffick in music that there was any reason to repudiate the innovation.
It was wilfulness and ignorance which caused one muddied stream to flow into musical rituals. The same presumed profane history is turned upside down to FALSELY ACCUSE churches of Christ for NOT rejecting the clear WATER OF THE WORD of God which prescribed the synagogue and utterly reudiated the CHURCH as a PROFANE worship institution.
Calvin Continues: "Profane nations also had their ceremonies, such as auguries, supplications, soothsayings, victims, because natural reason dictated that nothing could be engaged in successfully without Divine assistance;
but God would have His people bound to Him in another way, so that, when called by the sound of the sacred trumpets as by a voice from heaven,
they should assemble to holy and pious deliberations. The circumstance of the place also has the same object.
The door of the Tabernacle was to them, as if they placed themselves in the sight; of God.
We will speak of the word dewm, mogned (synagogue) elsewhere. Although it signifies an appointed time, or place, and also an assembly of the people, I prefer translating it convention, because God there in a solemn manner,
as if before His sacred tribunal, called the people to witness, or, according to appointment, proceeded to make a covenant with them.
But when they frequent their sacred assemblies, musical instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting up of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the law.
The Papists, therefore, have foolishly borrowed this, as well as many other things, from the Jews.
When Paul preached the WORD he MINISTERED the Spirit. The Scholars who repudiate the WORD get their light from other scholars and the blind lead the blind.
Tom Olbricht: Campbell clearly believed that the Spirit worked in conjunction with the word in bringing about a proper interpretation of the Scriptures,
unlike some of his descendants who argued that the Spirit did not work separate and apart from the word.
This is quite false!
Thomas Campbell in D & A used the word "interpretation" only once. He called the church "THE SCHOOL OF CHRIST" and the act of worship was READING AND STUDYING THE WORDS OF GOD. He was not concerned with a HERMENEUTIC interpretation because he grasped that he was NOT God.
The neo-trinity or Tritheism taught by Max Lucado and Rubel Shelly and apparently "among the scholars" is that the Godhead consists of a family of PERSONS. They are all separated with their own beings.
Therefore, any student of church history would understand that the leaders meant that the HOLY SPIRIT PERSON did not have to live in your carnal body to enable you to understand the WORD.
Our quoted scholars claimed that the SPIRIT IS DISPENSED when the WORD is studied: Jesus said "My Words are Spirit and Life" (John 6:63)
Therefore, neither the Campbells believed in the direct operation of a PERSONAL SPIRIT in understanding the Word.
Therefore, it is not the DESCENDANTS who are ignorant of the totality of church history which defines as HERESY the notion of three separated members of the Family of God.
Tom Olbricht Again: The second is the Scripture along with the Holy Spirit principle found in both Luther and Calvin.
Again, Tom Campbell: The Holy Spirit works only through the WORD. See how that is reversed?
Jesus said:
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63
> I am not to be understood as objecting to the detection and exposure of a false and unscriptural experience, which, from your words, appears to be the thing intended; for, in your foot note, page 141, you assert, that we are taught, that
"since those gifts have ceased, the. Holy Spirit now operates upon the minds of men only by the word;"
and at the close of said note, you further assert, that "we are positive of one point," namely,"that the scriptures teach us not the doctrine of physical operations of the Divine Spirit in order to faith."
With these declarations as I understand them, I am quite satisfied; for, since the sacred canon has been completed, it seems to be the general opinion, at least of
all the most eminent Protestant writers that have adverted to this subject,
that we are not to look for any new revelations of the Spirit;>> and that, of course, his saving operations in the production of faith and repentance, and of every other gracious effect by which we are made partakers of a divine nature, (2 Peter i. 4.)
>> is by the word of truth being put into the mind and written upon the heart, (Heb. viii. 10.) f
or this certainly is one of the exceeding great and precious promises above referred to, (2 Peter i. 4.) by which the Lord has graciously engaged to save his people, (Heb. viii. 10.)
> But, instead of such characters, the debased and stupid practisers of horrid cruelties and abominable idolatries, "do service to them who by nature are no gods." This, all may know to be the present as it most certainly was the ancient state of the heathen world, in the days of the apostles and long before.
Nor can it be shown, that since the gospel was first preached to the nations, from the day of Pentecost, (Acts ii. 1,) until this day,
that any portion of the human family were ever reformed from their idolatries and disgraceful immoralities
........... by any supposed physical operations of the Holy Spirit without the word.> That where the word of the truth of the gospel is not published, the Spirit of Christ has nothing to do, is farther evident from John xvi. 3-14, where his reproving or convincing the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, is confined to his testifying the things concerning Jesus.
In short, his very character as the spirit of Christ, as the spirit of wisdom and revelation, for enlightening, convincing, comforting and establishing, in the knowledge and belief of the truth, is ascribed to him exclusively as revealing and testifying the things concerning Jesus. Compare John xiv. 26, and xvi. 14, 15, with 1 Cor. xii. 3-13, with Eph. i. 13-18, and 1 Pet. i. 10-12, and ii. 18, 19, with Jude 14, 15.
Campbell alludes to Isaiah 11 where the spirit is the spirit OF some quality of Divine knowledge. These are the SEVEN SPIRITS represented by the light of the Menorah:
AND there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: Isaiah 11:1
And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; Isaiah 11: 2
And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: Isaiah 11: 3
Thomas Campbell: God as Persons
"It appears to be a query with some who profess to hold this doctrine, whether it be correct to use the term person when speaking of the above distinct characters in the divine essence. As to this, let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. In the mean time, all that we pretend to say in favor of this application of the term is,
that although the term person (which, in relation to men, signifies a distinct intelligent agency or rational being,
coexisting with others in the same common nature),
is not manifestly applied in the Holy Scriptures to any of the Sacred Three: nor indeed can be so applied in strict propriety, according to its literal and obvious acceptation;
........... for when applied to God, instead of meaning a distinct intelligent being
........... coexisting with others in the same common nature,we must mean by it, if we think and speak correctly, one and the self-same individual being so existing as to constitute in and to itself
so many distinct or different, real and relative characters, or subsistences, [The church fathers did not use "person" but "personae."]
each of which is but another name for the self-same individual essence or being considered as existing in the specified relation of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
(Note: Character means an actor representing a distinct group. Thus God reveals Himself in flesh, soul or life and spirit or mind eliminating all other roles. Subsistences means the status of something which exists and proves His total, undivided existence or reality.)
Personae as Father
God is
Personae as Son
Personae as Spirit
Alexander Campbell repudiated John Calvin's Views of the Trinity primarily as to WORDING becaus