God’s Revelation Never Violates His Word

 

In Ephesians 3 Verse 4 begins with this phrase: In reading this, then…

Although Paul’s readers didn’t realize it at the time, what they were reading right then would actually become part of the Bible, God’s Word. And one of the main criteria that would be used later to determine whether Paul’s letter would in fact be included in our Bible is whether what Paul wrote lined up with the rest of Scripture.

We live in a culture today where many people claim to have some new or special revelation from God. Most of the cults that we are familiar with are based on such claims. Even in the church, we have people who claim that God has spoken to them and given them some kind of new revelation. But the problem with this kind of new or special revelation is that it isn’t consistent with what the Bible teaches. If God gives a revelation it must lineup with His word, or it is false. Paul wrote some pretty strong words to warn against being deceived by false teaching:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” Galatians 1:6-9 (NIV)

The revelation that Paul received from God about the mystery of the church was completely consistent with everything that God had previously revealed in His Word. It was merely a further revelation of what God had already made known to his people and which had been recorded in the Scriptures.

Today, God’s revelation primarily comes through His word and gifts like prophesy, word of knowledge, and wisdom. But we can be assured that we will never have any revelation from God that is not consistent with what is already written down in His Word. If someone comes to with a word from God and that word does not line up with Gods word, it is false. Or if the word over a test time does not in-fact come true, it is false. The big test for us is to become mature so we won't be as Paul says, "

Ephesians 4:14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
Let me give you another example. From time to time, I’ve had a Christian young man or woman come to me because they are considering marrying someone who is not a believer. And I’ve even had them ask me to pray that God would reveal whether he or she should marry an unbeliever. But there is really no need to do that because God has already clearly revealed His will in that area in 2 Corinthians 6:14 when Paul writes that "believers are not to be yoked together with unbelievers."
God’s revelation will never violate what he has already revealed in His Word! If you want to be strong spiritually, get into His word...you are loved!