Can a person understand the Bible without the Holy Spirit’s help?

Answer:

Your charge is two-fold:

1. You believe that I'm taking away from God's word by teaching that since the Ten Commandments are a part of the Old Testament, they are no longer directly in effect.
2. You believe that I do not have the Holy Spirit, so I have no understanding of the Bible.

Both charges are meritless because no evidence is provided that either one is true. Assertion alone does not prove your point. What is amusing is that you ask someone you believe cannot understand the Bible to read the Bible.

The biblical teaching that we are not under the Ten Commandments given by God to the Israelites has been thoroughly discussed, so I won't repeat myself since no new passage was given for consideration. See:

• Do the Ten Commandments apply to Christians?
• Were the Ten Commandments Nailed to the Cross?

The ironic fact is that you are actually taking away Jeremiah 31:31-34, ignoring God's clear statement that He would bring a new and different law into effect with Jesus. This passage is discussed in detail in Hebrews 7:18-10:18. I accept what God stated, you apparently deny His teaching.

So let's look at your second charge:

Does a person need direct aid by the Holy Spirit to understand the Bible?

At the root of this belief is that people are not personally responsible for grasping what God has taught. Either the Holy Spirit gives you understanding or He doesn't. If you aren't given understanding, then it does you no good to read the Bible because you won't be able to grasp what God is teaching.

It actually makes a very convenient excuse to ignore people with whom you disagree (as you have done). I laid out detailed evidence from God's word that the Old Testament, along with the Ten Commandments, was replaced with a new and better covenant. You merely claim that I don't have the Spirit; therefore, I don't understand; therefore, you can ignore the evidence and pretend it doesn't exist.

God commands that we understand His Will. "Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is" (Ephesians 5:17). Why command something that you claim cannot be done without God's help. If God withholds His aid in understanding, then it is God who is choosing who fails and not man. You are claiming that God has required an impossible task for most of mankind, and you are declaring that God is a respecter of persons, which He is not (Romans 2:11).

"For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles-- if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power" (Ephesians 3:1-7).

Truth is known when we read God's word. Reading what God has taught gives us understanding. You claim it is the other way around, that you must have understanding first before a person can read the Bible and grasp its teachings.

Paul and the other apostles understood their duty, which was to teach God's Word to men. Paul sought prayers, "for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel" (Ephesians 6:19). This is the method God chose for the revealing of His Will. "For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe" (I Corinthians 1:21).

That message did not originate with men. "However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing" (I Corinthians 2:6). The wise men of this world could not come up with such a plan of salvation. But God did prepare it and kept it hidden from worldly men until the coming of Jesus and the apostles. "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (I Corinthians 2:7-9).

God did not leave these things hidden, but revealed them to the apostles. "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God" (I Corinthians 2:10-11). This revelation was promised to the apostles prior to Jesus' death. "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 things that I said to you" (John 14:26). By the way, this is not a promise to you and I. We don't have a personal memory of what Jesus taught since we were not alive when he walked this earth and did not witness his teachings. This was a promise to the apostles only. So God by the Holy Spirit revealed His teachings to the apostles, who then passed them on to us through their writings. "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (I Corinthians 2:12-13).

But not everyone wants the truth. The natural, or worldly, man depends on worldly wisdom. The divine revelation looks like foolishness to him, so he rejects it. "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (I Corinthians 2:14). Paul, here, returns to the argument he made earlier in I Corinthians 1:18-24. The Jews wanted more signs, though any sign given was never enough. The Gentiles wanted more wisdom, though the wisdom given wasn't what they expected. Paul's conclusion is that they were unable to understand God's teaching because they weren't what they wanted.

The spiritual man, the one who depends on the spiritual wisdom from God, is able to accurately judge the truth of the matter. "But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one" (I Corinthians 2:15).

Now, think: What makes the difference between the two? Is it God causing some to reject or accept His teaching, or is it each person's attitude toward godly wisdom?

Not everyone loves the truth. "That they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (II Thessalonians 2:12). Some people prefer their own ideas. "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness" (Ephesians 4:17-19). Notice, again, that it is the evil man's choice, not God's, which leads to their not understanding God.

When people claim that it takes direct action of the Spirit on an individual's heart to allow them to understand the Bible, they confuse the matter. Where is the action of the Spirit? Is it in the direct revelation of understanding given to select people, or is it in the revelation of God's will given through the apostles? Clearly the latter is true. The word goes forth, and some will always reject it because they don't like it. "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?" So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:14-17).

The Holy Spirit's aid to man was in delivering the Word of God to man. Man is then expected to learn it. "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (I Timothy 2:3-4). God doesn't prevent people from understanding His book. Man does this on his own through his love of sin. But the command of God isn't unattainable, everyone can understand if they desire the truth.