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So why did the Holy Sprit come if not to show us how to live a life that pleases God?

John 14:26 King James Version
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

It looks to me like the HS will teach, or guide us on things that aren’t specifically taught in the Bible. The other part is to simply remind us of what Jesus taught.

The Holy Spirit was sent to guide us into truth (John 16:13) which would include teaching us how to live lives pleasing to God. I believe that the statement "he will guide you into all truth." was directed to the disciples as a group, and that the fullest fulfillment of this promise is to the church as a group. I do not disagree that the Holy Spirit reveals things to each of us, but our individual understanding of the Spirit's leading should be tempered by our brethren.

ken_sylvania wrote:The Holy Spirit was sent to guide us into truth (John 16:13) which would include teaching us how to live lives pleasing to God. I believe that the statement "he will guide you into all truth." was directed to the disciples as a group, and that the fullest fulfillment of this promise is to the church as a group. I do not disagree that the Holy Spirit reveals things to each of us, but our individual understanding of the Spirit's leading should be tempered by our brethren.

I don't mean this baitingly at all, so i apologize if it comes over that way, but I'm genuinely curious- have you derived the idea that the Holy Spirit's guidance was promised corporately more from the scripture itself or from seeing it at work in your church experiences?

Heirbyadoption wrote:

ken_sylvania wrote:The Holy Spirit was sent to guide us into truth (John 16:13) which would include teaching us how to live lives pleasing to God. I believe that the statement "he will guide you into all truth." was directed to the disciples as a group, and that the fullest fulfillment of this promise is to the church as a group. I do not disagree that the Holy Spirit reveals things to each of us, but our individual understanding of the Spirit's leading should be tempered by our brethren.

I don't mean this baitingly at all, so i apologize if it comes over that way, but I'm genuinely curious- have you derived the idea that the Holy Spirit's guidance was promised corporately more from the scripture itself or from seeing it at work in your church experiences?

Possibly more from seeing the dysfunction that results when individual "Holy Spirit" guidance is glorified and group "Holy Spirit" guidance minimized. Could we call that "not seeing it at work"?

Actually, I'm not sure I can say positively whether the idea was first suggested to me by observation, by scripture reading, or in hearing it preached, but I believe it is the position best supported by the general tenor of the NT. Certainly the Holy Spirit is given to individuals, but think the NT teachings and accounts of how the early church operated lend themselves best to "individual revelation subject to group revelation" if I may say it that way.

ken_sylvania wrote:The Holy Spirit was sent to guide us into truth (John 16:13) which would include teaching us how to live lives pleasing to God. I believe that the statement "he will guide you into all truth." was directed to the disciples as a group, and that the fullest fulfillment of this promise is to the church as a group. I do not disagree that the Holy Spirit reveals things to each of us, but our individual understanding of the Spirit's leading should be tempered by our brethren.

And yet they were told to go out into all the world.... So if they went out separately the Holy Sprit would no longer guide them?

silentreader wrote:So why did the Holy Sprit come if not to show us how to live a life that pleases God?

He is God and when we grieve Him we are grieving God. He came to convict men of sin. Because Jesus is no longer present, the Holy Spirit teaches us how to live rightly. He came to not just be with us but to live in us. He came to impart a new life within a believer. He came to empower us to be witnesses to others about Jesus. He makes saints out of sinners. He baptises us into the Body of Christ. He gives out supernatural spiritual gifts to believers as He determines for the building up of the church. We are to be eager to receive His gifts. The Spirit will continue to 'fill' a believer to come under the Spirit's influence in an abundant spiritual manner as we co-operate with Him through surrender to His control. We are commanded to live in this experience of on-going filling. These are a few things that come to mind.

He does speak to us as individuals and also collectively. Many examples of both of these are found in scripture and the individual directions are not always checked out through the brethren. He gives immediate direction at times where it is up to us to obey immediately.

However, it seems He is very tolerant of our mis-interpretations of His voice as we end up with all these factions in Christianity with varied practises that we all believe are Spirit guided. Some of these beliefs people follow from an individual leader, some from a group of believers. In both cases, they are not the same truths as those of other Christian leaders or groups. Group leadings sound to be more accurate yet they still differ from group to group. Just saying that if we were all lead by the Holy Spirit in the areas that really matter most to God, I would think on these we would agree.

Sudsy wrote:

silentreader wrote:So why did the Holy Sprit come if not to show us how to live a life that pleases God?

He is God and when we grieve Him we are grieving God. He came to convict men of sin. Because Jesus is no longer present, the Holy Spirit teaches us how to live rightly. He came to not just be with us but to live in us. He came to impart a new life within a believer. He came to empower us to be witnesses to others about Jesus. He makes saints out of sinners. He baptises us into the Body of Christ. He gives out supernatural spiritual gifts to believers as He determines for the building up of the church. We are to be eager to receive His gifts. The Spirit will continue to 'fill' a believer to come under the Spirit's influence in an abundant spiritual manner as we co-operate with Him through surrender to His control. We are commanded to live in this experience of on-going filling. These are a few things that come to mind.

He does speak to us as individuals and also collectively. Many examples of both of these are found in scripture and the individual directions are not always checked out through the brethren. He gives immediate direction at times where it is up to us to obey immediately.

However, it seems He is very tolerant of our mis-interpretations of His voice as we end up with all these factions in Christianity with varied practises that we all believe are Spirit guided. Some of these beliefs people follow from an individual leader, some from a group of believers. In both cases, they are not the same truths as those of other Christian leaders or groups. Group leadings sound to be more accurate yet they still differ from group to group. Just saying that if we were all lead by the Holy Spirit in the areas that really matter most to God, I would think on these we would agree.

So truth is indeed variable, and we can never be sure of anything pertaining to spiritual things.

silentreader wrote:

Sudsy wrote:

silentreader wrote:So why did the Holy Sprit come if not to show us how to live a life that pleases God?

He is God and when we grieve Him we are grieving God. He came to convict men of sin. Because Jesus is no longer present, the Holy Spirit teaches us how to live rightly. He came to not just be with us but to live in us. He came to impart a new life within a believer. He came to empower us to be witnesses to others about Jesus. He makes saints out of sinners. He baptises us into the Body of Christ. He gives out supernatural spiritual gifts to believers as He determines for the building up of the church. We are to be eager to receive His gifts. The Spirit will continue to 'fill' a believer to come under the Spirit's influence in an abundant spiritual manner as we co-operate with Him through surrender to His control. We are commanded to live in this experience of on-going filling. These are a few things that come to mind.

He does speak to us as individuals and also collectively. Many examples of both of these are found in scripture and the individual directions are not always checked out through the brethren. He gives immediate direction at times where it is up to us to obey immediately.

However, it seems He is very tolerant of our mis-interpretations of His voice as we end up with all these factions in Christianity with varied practises that we all believe are Spirit guided. Some of these beliefs people follow from an individual leader, some from a group of believers. In both cases, they are not the same truths as those of other Christian leaders or groups. Group leadings sound to be more accurate yet they still differ from group to group. Just saying that if we were all lead by the Holy Spirit in the areas that really matter most to God, I would think on these we would agree.

So truth is indeed variable, and we can never be sure of anything pertaining to spiritual things.

I would love to hear other's responses to your statement from what you underlined. Do we just ignore these variations about what is the truth or do we, like some have, draw a line in the sand and say our group's truth is the truth of the one true church. And where does the 'now we see through a glass darkly' and we now 'know in part' come into play with the Holy Spirit teaching us all truth ? Would like to hear this flushed out.

RZehr wrote:John 14:26 King James Version
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

It looks to me like the HS will teach, or guide us on things that aren’t specifically taught in the Bible. The other part is to simply remind us of what Jesus taught.

You're not referring to "new truth"?