INTRODUCTION:
This Bible
Study Outline has been developed for all leaders of the Cell Ministry, to serve
as a guide for our Bible study meetings in the month of April. The subject is ‘The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of
Error’,as taught by our man of
God during the Bible Study Preparatory Class on the 29th of March.
The topic is to be taught in 4 classes during the month.
The
outline is in 4 parts:
- Part 1 gives
clear insight to who the Spirit of Truth is, His characteristics, and how to
recognize His voice. We also discover in this part who the spirit of error is,
his characteristics and how to discern his voice.
- In the 2nd
part, we begin to learn how people yield to the spirit of error, through deception, wilful disobedience and
ignorance, citing examples from the Scriptures.
- Part 3 is
a continuation on how people yield to the spirit of error, through desiring the wrong things,
and wrong associations.
- We
conclude our study in part 4, by reviewing some discussion questions and going
through some of the lessons learned on the subject.
As emphasized by our man of God during the
preparatory class, these teachings are an ongoing training for leaders, and
also individual members of the ministry; therefore, ensure all your members are
in attendance of the classes. Also be reminded to read through all the Scriptures
provided in the outline during your meetings, and ensure your members look into
their Bibles when the Scriptures are being read.
The purpose of this class is to help the
individual member understand God’s Word on the subject, adding to their
knowledge, thereby growing their faith, and expanding their acquaintance with
the Scriptures.
TABLE OF CONTENT
- Part
1…………………………….3
- Part
2…………………………….10
- Part
3…………………………....19
- Part
4…………………………….28
PART 1 -
At the
end of this class, each member should –
- Understand
who the spirit of truth is, His characteristics, and how to recognize His
voice.
- Understand
who the spirit of error is, His characteristics, and how to discern his voice.
Our theme
Scripture, from where our topic is derived is 1 John 4:6, and it says: ‘We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that
is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the
spirit of error’ (KJV)
In some
other versions of the Bible, the word error is translated differently. For
example, the NIV translation reads, “We
are from God and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God
does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the
spirit of falsehood”. The word falsehood is used here instead of
error, and is also translated in some other versions as deception or deceit,
and in some cases, delusion; all these refer to the same word in the Greek
language.
What does
the Bible mean by the Spirit of Truth, and the spirit of error (or falsehood
and deception)?
Definitions:
There are
certain phrases that men construct, but there are others, which are clearly
constructed from the Bible; and it’s important that when we lift an expression
from the Bible, we go to the Bible to find out what it means. For example, there
are some folks you ask - ‘are you born again?’ and their response usually is - ‘it
depends on what you mean’. That’s wrong; it doesn’t depend on what we mean but
what the Word says. The term was used by Jesus, so we mean exactly what Jesus
meant when He said, ‘you must be born again’. Therefore, when we talk about the
Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error, we ought to find out what the Word
says about the subject, and this should be the basis for our conclusions.
The
Spirit of Truth:
In John
14:16, Jesus said, ‘And I will pray the Father, and he shall
give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the
Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not,
neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in
you.
John
14:26, goes further to tell us who this comforter is: ‘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’
Important
points to note from these Scriptures:
- Jesus
prayed the Father for another comforter that would abide with them forever.
- This
comforter is given personality; in other words Jesus was speaking of a person.
- This
personality, who is the comforter, is called the Spirit of Truth – Verse 16
- The Comforter
is the Holy Ghost (Verse 26); therefore, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of
Truth.
This is referenced again in John 15:26: ‘But when the
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me’
The Characteristics of the Spirit of Truth:
- According to John
15:26, the Spirit of Truth testifies of Jesus. He bears testimony to the
reality of Christ and His vicarious death, burial and resurrection.
- He guides us into all truth - John 16:13: ‘Howbeit when
he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he
shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak:
and he will shew you things to come’
- He shows us things to come.
- He glorifies Jesus – John 14:16: ‘He shall glorify
me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you’.
All of these tell us the character of this personality
we call the Holy Spirit – the Sprit of Truth.
The spirit of error:
2 Corinthians 4:4: ‘In whom the god of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them’
The Scripture describes a personality here, which
it calls the god of this world, who has blinded the minds of them, which
believe not. This personality introduced to us blinds people to the truth, and
stops them from seeing the light of the glorious gospel of Christ. Who could
this be?
2 Corinthians 11:13-14: ‘For such are
false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of
Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the
ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works’ The characteristic thing here is that he calls the
personalities mentioned, deceitful workers who transform themselves into
apostles of Christ; and also states that satan does the same.
Matthew 13:19: ‘When any one heareth the word of the
kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth
away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the
way side’ The devil takes away
the Word sown in a heart that doesn’t understand it.
1 Timothy 4:1: ‘Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in
the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits,
and doctrines of devils’
Seducing spirits are spirits that lure people into error. Verse 2 goes further
to say, ‘Speaking
lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding
to marry…’ The Scripture doesn’t
say refusing to marry but forbidding to marry. This immediately tells us that the
writer is referring to doctrines. Part of the doctrines of these folks is forbidding
people from marrying. Verse 3 ‘…and commanding to abstain from meats, which God
hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know
the truth’
These are doctrines of devils and the Scripture
is saying; those who have been so deceived are giving heed to seducing spirits
and doctrines of devils.
Revelation 12:9-10: ‘And the great dragon was cast out, that
old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he
was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard
a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the
kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our
brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. Satan is called ‘that great dragon, that old
serpent, the devil, the deceiver and the accuser; these are all his
characteristics, and they immediately inform us that satan is the spirit of
error (error is also translated ‘falsehood, deception or delusion).
Discerning the spirits:
Earlier on, we read 1 John 4:6; now let’s read
the context of John’s presentation, from verses 1 to 5; he says, ‘Beloveth, believe not every spirit, but try the
spirits, (test the spirits), whether they are of God: because many false
prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every
spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And
every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not
of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it
should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little
children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he
that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world,
and the world heareth them’
Some major points to note from the verses above
are:
- We are not to believe every spirit.
- We are to test the spirits to discern whether
they are from God.
- Many false prophets and deceivers have gone into
the world. ‘False prophets’ isn’t referring here to false ministers giving
false prophetic utterances, but the spirits that speak to people, and are
responsible for the words they speak.
- Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus is come
in the flesh is from God.
- Every spirit that does not acknowledge that Jesus
is come in the flesh is not from God.
2 John 1:6-8: ‘… This is the commandment, That, as ye
