John MacArthur in Strange Fire states:
In spite of the severe error and potential damage being done by this supposed new “revelation,” some charismatic churches continue to regard modern prophecy as more important than the Bible . . . Most churches do not go to that extreme, of course. However, such examples represent the logical end of the charismatic insistence that God is giving new revelation to the church today. If the Spirit were still giving divine revelation, why wouldn’t we collect and add those words to our Bibles?
The reality is that the modern Charismatic Movement falsely calls itself evangelical because it undermines the authority and sufficiency of Scripture.
It is neither orthodox nor truly evangelical to elevate spiritual experiences, including imagined revelations from God, above the Bible. Speaking of his own eyewitness experience at the Transfiguration, the apostle Peter gave this revelation:
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. (2 Peter 1:16–19 esv)
At the Transfiguration, Peter witnessed an unparalleled supernatural spectacle. He had a genuine divine, heavenly experience. Even so, the apostle knew that Scripture (“the prophetic word”) is “more sure” than even the most sublime experiences. Peter’s point is precisely the issue that many charismatics fail to understand. Human experience is subjective and fallible; only the Word of God is unfailing and inerrant, because its Author is perfect . . .
The sad fact is that biblical truth has never been the hallmark of the Charismatic Movement, where spiritual experience is continually elevated above sound doctrine.”
In spite of the severe error and potential damage being done by this supposed new “revelation,” some charismatic churches continue to regard modern prophecy as more important than the Bible . . . Most churches do not go to that extreme, of course. However, such examples represent the logical end of the charismatic insistence that God is giving new revelation to the church today. If the Spirit were still giving divine revelation, why wouldn’t we collect and add those words to our Bibles?
The reality is that the modern Charismatic Movement falsely calls itself evangelical because it undermines the authority and sufficiency of Scripture.
It is neither orthodox nor truly evangelical to elevate spiritual experiences, including imagined revelations from God, above the Bible. Speaking of his own eyewitness experience at the Transfiguration, the apostle Peter gave this revelation:
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. (2 Peter 1:16–19 esv)
At the Transfiguration, Peter witnessed an unparalleled supernatural spectacle. He had a genuine divine, heavenly experience. Even so, the apostle knew that Scripture (“the prophetic word”) is “more sure” than even the most sublime experiences. Peter’s point is precisely the issue that many charismatics fail to understand. Human experience is subjective and fallible; only the Word of God is unfailing and inerrant, because its Author is perfect . . .
The sad fact is that biblical truth has never been the hallmark of the Charismatic Movement, where spiritual experience is continually elevated above sound doctrine.”
Adrian Warnock responds:
At the beginning of this quote MacArthur tries to be nuanced when he says most churches don't go this far, but the nuance quickly disappears as it so often does! Who does he think he is to reject outright the entire charismatic movement as devoid of biblical truth, and a place where experiences is always seen as superior to doctrine? I really wonder if he has ever visited a charismatic church where the Bible is honoured. I have been a member of such a church almost all my life. I am confident that the churches I have been in are far from unique.
In fact there are two arguments for us to address:
Argument: It is inevitable that if you believe in revelatory experiences you will see them as greater than scripture
Counter-argument: Actually, this very passage demonstrates an answer to this argument. Peter had perhaps the most sublime spiritual experience ever in the history of the world and yet he still believes that Scripture is more certain, more reliable! There is almost no need to say anything more. But, I will add that Paul tells us to test prophecies, and this testing is surely to be done in comparison to the unchanging, inerrant Scriptures that we have been given by God.
As an example of how typical charismatic thought views prophecy I refer you to the following few posts of mine. I hope you will agree that there is no evidence in this series that we are elevating such experiences above the Bible. This viewpoint is really very typical for charismatics and Pentecostals:
Argument: Any prophecy should be included in the Bible if it is genuine
Counter-argument: This is a fallacious argument that bizarrely keeps coming up. Once you accept that prophecy today is not authoritative and that doctrinal revelatory activity has ceased why would you even consider adding a prophecy to Scripture? All of the links, I mentioned above would also address this. The fact is that even in biblical times not every prophecy was included in Scripture. The following is a list of just some of the people we know prophesied and who’s prophetic words were not collected and put into our Bibles:
And that is not even a complete list…anybody who can think of others are welcome to add them in the notes below. But I think it is clear that prophecy in the Bible is not always connected to Scripture writing, and in fact in many cases above the people prophesying were not even the Apostles.
To be continued….
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