by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
The apostles of Jesus were the eyewitnesses and we are the jurors. Promises made to the apostles in John 13-17 are not made to all of us. The context is about a long discussion Jesus had with His twelve witnesses. Jesus said to them “And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning<\/em>” (John 15:27). We are not the witnesses. We were not with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry.<\/p>\n So, it is not right to take what Jesus said to these witnesses and apply it to yourself. For example, the direct help they would get from the Holy Spirit is not also extended to us. The Spirit was going to be a Helper to the apostles in a special way. He would help them “remember all the things I said to you<\/em>” (John 14:26). Jesus did not say things to us. He said things to the apostles. The Spirit was not going to help us remember all the things Jesus said to us. He was going to help the apostles recall all the things Jesus said to them. The Spirit was going to help them with miracles (John 14:12) to confirm the testimony, but Jesus is not sending us to be His witnesses with miraculous help and recall of what Jesus said to us from the beginning of His ministry.<\/p>\n The Spirit was going to “guide you<\/em>\u00a0[the apostles]\u00a0into all truth<\/em>” (John 16:13). The Spirit had not revealed the New Testament documents when Jesus was talking to the twelve apostles. They were going to receive perfect recall and be guided into all truth. The result of their guidance is that we have their truth and testimony confirmed and written down for us as jurors. We are beneficiaries of the Help the Spirit gave the apostles, but we are not guided into perfect recall and we get no direct guidance from the Holy Spirit. Our guidance comes from the New Testament which came to us through the Holy Spirit who guided the apostles and prophets.<\/p>\n It is a mistake to take the promises made to the apostles and pretend that these promises were to everyone. The context tells us that these promises of the Helper were to the apostles. We benefit from the guidance and help the Holy Spirit gave them in that we can trust the testimony preserved in the New Testament. The New Testament is the product of the Help the Holy Spirit gave the apostles. We get to examine their Spirit-guided testimony and draw conviction from the Spirit’s words in the Bible. Be careful not to misapply the context of words. Context is important to proper understanding and proper applications. Our guidance from the Spirit comes to us through the scriptures, not a feeling we attribute to the Spirit.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton The apostles of Jesus were the eyewitnesses and we are the jurors. Promises made to the apostles in John 13-17 are not made to all of us. The context is about a long discussion Jesus had with His twelve witnesses. Jesus said to them “And you also will bear witness, because…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1056,529,86,169],"class_list":["post-53559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-context","tag-hermeneutics","tag-holy-spirit","tag-prophecy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28794,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-helper\/","url_meta":{"origin":53559,"position":0},"title":"The Helper","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 16:1-15 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lifting a few statements from their context can often make a writer appear to say things he never intended. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It happens in politics all the time, and it happens in religion as well. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In his last hours, Jesus made a series of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23576,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-it-mean-that-you-will-receive-power\/","url_meta":{"origin":53559,"position":1},"title":"What does it mean that you will receive power?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Acts 1:8 when Jesus says that after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, you shall receive power. Does that mean power over my sins, over my thoughts power to talk right, or does it mean just what the Bible says? Answer: When Jesus said, \"Get behind Me,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52792,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-john-1426-apply-to-christians-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":53559,"position":2},"title":"Does John 14:26 apply to Christians today?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeff, Does John 14:26 apply to Christians today? If not, why? Thanks. Answer: \"These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13755,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-john-2023-say-that-priests-can-forgive-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":53559,"position":3},"title":"Doesn’t John 20:23 say that priests can forgive sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You commented on priests not being able to forgive sins. What about John 20:21-23? Answer: After Jesus' resurrection, he appeared to the apostles. \"Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33175,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/handling-the-scriptures-aright\/","url_meta":{"origin":53559,"position":4},"title":"Handling the Scriptures Aright","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Audience Confusion is present when the scriptures are not \"handled aright\" (II Timothy 2:15). False teachers handle the word of God \"deceitfully\" (II Corinthians 4:2). There are basics to handling the scriptures carefully and correctly. Know who is writing and who they are writing to. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8283,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-disciples-receive-the-holy-spirit-at-the-last-supper-or-on-pentecost\/","url_meta":{"origin":53559,"position":5},"title":"Did the disciples receive the Holy Spirit at the last supper or on Pentecost?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A question about John 20:22: \"And when he had said this, he breathed on [them], and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.\" Did the Apostles receive the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost or at this time? Or was Jesus speaking in the future tense corresponding\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53559\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}