“I have the Holy Spirit. Why then do I need to learn to
study the Bible? Aren’t thinking and spirituality antithetical?”
Anti-intellectualism is a beast that bears many different
heads today. These grotesque distortions of the truth permeate the global
church today and severely hamper spiritual maturity in Christ. Heresies spread,
truth is minimized, and knowledge that leads to right conduct is not embraced.
This anti-intellectual beast grows because many people assume that knowledge is
the problem. It is not. It is pride. In
the following blog posts, I hope to identify and slay several different heads
of this beast.
Anti-intellectual head #1: “I do not need anyone to teach me
because I have the anointing of the Holy Spirit.”
Here’s how this argument works. They usually draw from 1
John 2:27, where the apostle writes, “But
the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need
that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about
everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in
him.” They argue, “What more could we need? No one knows the mind of
someone except his/her spirit. Therefore, no one comprehends the thoughts of
God except the Spirit of God (see 1 Cor. 2:11). If then we have the Spirit of
God, then we must understand everything and cannot need anyone to teach us.”
This vicious head may seem overwhelming, but I believe it
can be easily slain. Here are four weapons against this beast:
1.) The Apostle John is teaching them. At the very
least, one has to admit that in teaching them that they do not need anyone to
teach them, John is doing just that. He is instructing them something about the
quality and sufficiency of their anointing. In fact, all of 1 John is full of a
lot of teaching.
The next three weapons make the case that
their anointing leads to categorical truth, but not exhaustive truth.
2.) This is placed in the context of false teachers
who are insisting they need to know more.
Verse 26, the one immediately preceding John’s statement about them needing no
one to teach them, gives necessary context, “I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.”
John’s audience was dealing with many deceptions: Jesus did not come in the
flesh (1:1-3) and Jesus was not the Christ or the Son of God (2:22; 4:3). These
‘antichrists’ were claiming that the Christians needed to know more and move on
from the limited knowledge. To that John replies, “No, they do not need to move
on.” He is not rejecting a Christ+ knowledge.
3.) Their anointing corresponds to apostolic
teaching, and they are commanded to continue in it. In verse 24, John writes, “Let what you heard from the beginning abide
in you.” What they had heard from the beginning was apostolic teaching that
affirms the deity of the Father and the Son (see vv.22-23). They are not
commanded to ignore it or assume it, but to abide in it (present tense—implies
continued action). Therefore, this further proves that John’s concern is not
knowledge per se, but different knowledge that denies this apostolic teaching.
4.) The nature of their anointing confirms that John
is speaking of categorical knowledge. In v. 27, John argues that they don’t
need anyone to teach them because they have the anointing. But what is this
anointing? It is most probably being born again of the Holy Spirit (see 2:20).
A central aspect of the Spirit’s anointing is to continually point to Christ
(notice how the anointing leads to a correct affirmation of Christ’s
deity—vv.22-23). Therefore, it also makes sense that John is not telling them
that the Spirit’s anointing teaches them about everything exhaustively, but about everything that is necessary.
In short: John is teaching that by the regenerating work of
the Holy Spirit, Christians are pointed to all categorical truth: Christ and
his work. We don’t need other false teachers pointing us to something else. He
is not teaching that we know everything about Christ and his work.
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