An Investigation into Scripture, Preaching, Personal Conviction, and the Holy Spirit
A Question That Reaches Beyond the Written Word
In Part One, Would I Have Recognized Jesus?, we considered how people responded to Jesus during His earthly ministry.
In Part Two, How Do I Know What to Believe?, we examined the testimony preserved in Scripture, the transmission of biblical manuscripts, translation, and the difference between what Scripture states and what people interpret it to mean.
But another question remains.
Suppose I examine the historical evidence, compare biblical manuscripts, study the original languages, and become convinced that the New Testament preserves trustworthy testimony concerning Jesus.
Does that investigation produce faith?
Or does it simply provide information upon which faith might be established?
I have heard people say that faith comes through hearing the Word of God. Others emphasize the preaching of the gospel, the Holy Spirit’s witness, or a personal encounter with Christ.
Some describe a particular moment when they became convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. Others grew up within Christian families and cannot identify a single moment when belief began.
Are these different descriptions of the same experience, or are we combining things Scripture distinguishes?
And perhaps the more important question is this:
How do I know whether my faith rests upon what God has revealed or upon what someone has taught me to believe?
What Does Paul Mean by Hearing?
Romans 10:17 (CSB) connects faith to hearing, and hearing to the message about Christ.
This verse is frequently quoted to explain how faith develops.
But we should examine its context.
In Romans 10:14–17, Paul presents a sequence of questions. How can people call upon someone they have not believed in? How can they believe without hearing? How can they hear without someone proclaiming the message?
Paul is discussing the proclamation of the gospel.
The message must be communicated so that people may hear and respond.
Yet Paul also observes that not everyone who hears the message obeys it.
That distinction is important.
Hearing is necessary to Paulis argument, but it does not automatically produce belief in everyone who listens.
Two people may hear the same proclamation and respond differently.
Therefore, Romans 10:17 should not be reduced to the idea that merely hearing Scripture read aloud necessarily creates faith.
Paul addresses the relationship between the proclamation concerning Christ and the possibility of believing it.
But what accounts for the different responses?
Is Faith Simply Believing What We Are Told?
Many Christians first encounter Scripture through someone else’s teaching.
A parent reads a Bible story. A Sunday school teacher explains a passage. A pastor preaches a sermon. A friend shares the gospel.
In each case, information is communicated.
But receiving information and examining its truthfulness are not identical.
Consider Acts 17:10–12.
When Paul and Silas arrive in Berea, the people receive the message and examine the Scriptures daily to see whether the proclamation matches what is written.
Their response is significant.
They do not dismiss the message simply because it is unfamiliar. Neither do they accept it without examination.
They listen, investigate, and respond.
Luke reports that many believed.
The passage does not fully explain every inward aspect of their faith. But it does show that examining Scripture and receiving the gospel were not treated as opposing activities.
That raises a question for us.
If I have believed something since childhood, have I examined the evidence for it?
And if I discover that a familiar teaching goes beyond what Scripture states, am I willing to reconsider it?
Faith and inherited tradition may overlap, but they should not automatically be treated as identical.
The Difference Between Knowledge and Faith
The New Testament does not treat knowledge and faith as interchangeable.
A person may know that a claim has been made without accepting it.
A person may accept that an event occurred without understanding its significance.
And a person may correctly identify Jesus while misunderstanding His mission.
Peter provides a revealing example.
In Matthew 16:16–17, Peter identifies Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus responds by saying this is a revelation from His Father.
Yet shortly afterward, in Matthew 16:21–23, Peter objects when Jesus announces His approaching suffering and death.
Peter recognized Jesus’ identity but did not yet understand the path Jesus described.
His confession was genuine within the narrative, but his understanding was incomplete.
This should caution us against assuming that faith necessarily includes a complete or flawless understanding of everything associated with Christ.
It also raises another question.
If Peter could confess Jesus correctly and still misunderstand His mission, might Christians today sincerely believe in Jesus while misunderstanding portions of His teaching?
The possibility deserves serious consideration.
Does the Holy Spirit Produce Faith?
We now arrive at one of the most significant questions in this investigation.
What role does the Holy Spirit have in bringing a person to faith?
In John 16:8–11, Jesus speaks about the coming Advocate and describes His work concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment.
In 1 Corinthians 12:3, Paul connects the confession that Jesus is Lord with the Holy Spirit.
These passages show that the Spirit’s work involves recognizing and confessing Christ.
But we should not immediately assume that every statement about the Spirit describes the same activity.
The New Testament speaks of the Spirit revealing, teaching, reminding, testifying, empowering, distributing gifts, and dwelling within believers.
Those expressions occur in different contexts.
Before combining them into one theological explanation, we should examine who is being addressed, what is promised, and when the promise is fulfilled.
To Whom Was Jesus Speaking?
Consider John 14:26 (CSB).
During His final discourse, Jesus tells His disciples that the Holy Spirit will teach them and remind them of what He has said.
John 15:26–27 connects the Spirit’s testimony about Jesus with the disciples’ testimony, since they were with Him from the beginning.
John 16:13 says the Spirit guides them into truth.
These passages are often applied directly to every Christian.
But we should first consider their original setting.
Jesus is addressing His disciples before His arrest and crucifixion.
They had personally accompanied Him. They had heard His teaching and witnessed His ministry.
Therefore, the promise that the Spirit would remind them of what Jesus had said has particular significance for those who had actually heard Him speak.
A believer living centuries later cannot remember a conversation he never personally witnessed in the same sense.
That does not establish that the Holy Spirit has no teaching or guiding role among later believers.
It does mean we should distinguish the original promise to Jesus’ disciples from the broader theological applications Christians subsequently make.
An application may be reasonable without matching the original statement.
That distinction is essential when studying the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit’s Witness and the Written Testimony
In John 15:26–27, Jesus places the Spirit’s testimony alongside His disciples’ testimony.
The disciples’ witness is connected to their having been with Jesus from the beginning.
This provides an important relationship between the Spirit and the testimony concerning Christ.
The Spirit’s work is not presented here as a replacement for the disciples’ testimony.
Nor are the disciples described as witnesses whose experience no longer matters once the Spirit comes.
Both are mentioned.
This invites a question.
When Christians today speak about the Holy Spirit confirming something to them, how should that experience relate to the testimony preserved in Scripture?
Suppose someone says, “The Holy Spirit told me this passage means something different from what it appears to say.”
How should such a claim be evaluated?
Would the claim itself settle the matter?
Or should we examine the language, context, and wider scriptural witness before accepting the interpretation?
The New Testament does not instruct believers to accept every spiritual claim without examination.
Testing the Spirits
First John 4:1 (CSB) instructs believers not to believe every spirit but to test the spirits because false prophets have gone into the world.
The following verses identify the confession that Jesus Christ came in the flesh as a central issue in that test.
John is not presenting spiritual experience as self-authenticating.
Claims must be examined.
This is especially significant because a person may be entirely sincere about an experience while misunderstanding its meaning.
Sincerity alone cannot establish the source of a spiritual claim.
Neither can emotional intensity.
The New Testament repeatedly warns about deception, false teaching, and misplaced confidence.
Yet it also speaks positively about the Holy Spirit’s work.
We should preserve both aspects of the biblical witness rather than allowing one to cancel the other.
If the Spirit genuinely works among believers, that does not mean every claimed message from the Spirit is genuine.
And if some claims are false, that does not mean the Spirit’s work should be dismissed.
The responsibility is to examine the claim.
What About Personal Conviction?
Many Christians describe faith as a personal conviction that Jesus is the Christ.
But what do we mean by conviction?
Sometimes we mean intellectual agreement with a proposition.
Sometimes we mean trust.
Sometimes we mean confidence developed through experience.
And sometimes we mean a powerful emotional response.
These are not necessarily the same thing.
Hebrews 11:1 (CSB) describes faith in relation to what is hoped for and what is not seen.
The chapter then recounts people whose faith is expressed through their responses to God’s promises and instructions.
Faith is not portrayed merely as possession of information.
Nor is it presented simply as a particular emotional sensation.
The examples emphasize trust expressed through action.
But we should be cautious not to turn those observations into a rigid formula that Scripture itself does not provide.
Not every believer experiences faith in precisely the same emotional or psychological manner.
The question is whether our understanding of faith is grounded in the biblical witness rather than in an expected pattern of personal experience.
Can I Mistake Emotion for the Holy Spirit?
Religious experiences can be powerful.
A sermon may move someone deeply. A familiar hymn may bring tears. A moment of prayer may produce peace, joy, or renewed determination.
Such experiences can be meaningful.
But does the intensity of an emotion establish that the Holy Spirit produced it?
Scripture does not give us permission to make that assumption automatically.
Emotions are part of ordinary human experience. They may accompany sincere faith, but they can also accompany misunderstanding, fear, enthusiasm, or social influence.
A person may feel strongly convinced and still be mistaken.
That observation applies to biblical interpretation as well.
I might read a passage and immediately feel certain that I understand it. Yet further examination of its language or historical setting may reveal that my first impression was incomplete.
If I attribute my first impression directly to the Holy Spirit, I may become unwilling to reconsider it.
That creates a serious problem.
I have effectively placed my interpretation beyond correction by claiming divine authority for it.
The biblical instruction to test spiritual claims should make us cautious about doing so.
The Spirit and the Community of Believers
The New Testament also presents faith within communities, not solely as an individual experience.
In Acts 2:42, the early believers devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer.
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul describes different gifts and functions within the community, connecting them to the work of the same Spirit.
In Ephesians 4:11–16, various forms of ministry are described in relation to the growth and maturity of the body of Christ.
These passages suggest that instruction, correction, and mutual responsibility are important aspects of Christian life.
But the existence of teachers does not mean every teacher is correct.
The existence of spiritual gifts does not mean every claimed gift or message is genuine.
And the existence of a Christian community does not make its traditions identical to Scripture.
The community can help believers examine and understand the biblical witness.
It can also develop assumptions that require correction.
The New Testament itself contains letters correcting Christian communities.
That fact alone should encourage humility.
Does Everyone Receive the Same Spirit?
At this point, another question emerges.
If the Holy Spirit is involved in faith, is His presence limited to the apostles or to a particular group of believers?
Acts 2:38–39 records Peter speaking of repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is described as extending beyond those immediately listening.
Acts 10:44–48 describes the Holy Spirit coming upon Gentiles while Peter is speaking.
Romans 8:9 connects belonging to Christ with having the Spirit of Christ.
These passages make it difficult to maintain that the Spirit’s presence is restricted to the original apostles.
Yet another distinction remains.
Does receiving the same Spirit mean that every believer receives the same authority, the same gifts, or the same responsibilities?
Paul’s discussion in 1 Corinthians 12 suggests otherwise.
The Spirit is one, but the gifts and functions described are diverse.
This distinction will become the central subject of Part Four.
For now, we should avoid assuming that the Spirit’s presence and the apostles’ particular commission are interchangeable.
A Personal Reflection
I have heard many explanations of where faith comes from.
Some emphasize Scripture. Others emphasize preaching. Some focus on the Holy Spirit’s work, while others point to a particular moment of personal conviction.
Perhaps the difficulty arises when we try to make one of these explanations account for everything.
The New Testament connects faith with hearing the proclamation concerning Christ. It presents people examining Scripture. It describes the Spirit’s work and the importance of testimony. It also records believers who misunderstand, question, learn, and grow.
These observations do not provide a simple mechanical formula.
Perhaps we should not try to construct one.
My responsibility is not to claim that every thought I have about Scripture comes from the Holy Spirit.
Nor is it to assume that every teaching I received from a trusted pastor must be correct.
My responsibility is to examine what has been written, consider the testimony concerning Christ, and remain willing to correct my understanding.
I must also recognize that my own conclusions are subject to the same examination I expect of others.
There is a difference between trusting God and insisting that my interpretation of God’s Word cannot be mistaken.
That difference matters.
Where Does My Faith Come From?
We began by asking whether faith comes from Scripture, preaching, personal conviction, or the Holy Spirit.
The passages examined suggest that these should not automatically be treated as competing explanations.
The proclamation concerning Christ communicates the message. Scripture provides the written testimony through which that message can be examined. The New Testament also attributes significant work to the Holy Spirit in relation to Christ and believers.
But the precise relationship among hearing, understanding, believing, and the Spirit’s activity requires careful interpretation.
We should not claim more certainty than the passages themselves establish.
Nor should we confuse our experience of faith with a universal explanation of how every believer must experience it.
The investigation has brought us to another important question.
If the Holy Spirit is active among believers, who actually receives Him?
Was the Spirit given only to the apostles? Did other disciples receive Him? What about the Samaritans and the Gentiles?
And when Scripture speaks of the gift of the Holy Spirit, does it mean the Spirit Himself, a particular spiritual ability, or something else?
Those questions lead directly to our next investigation.
Previous Investigation: Part Two — How Do I Know What to Believe?
Next Investigation: Part Four — Who Received the Holy Spirit?
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Scripture references use the Christian Standard Bible (CSB) as the English reference translation. Passages are discussed and paraphrased unless otherwise indicated.