Seeking extra-biblical revelations has been one of the most significant stumbling blocks to my faith. It began when I was a new Christian and heard a preacher say believers ought to hear God’s voice outside the Bible.
He misused John 10:27, which says, “My sheep hears my voice and I know them, and they follow me,” to teach God gives us private revelations and we ought to learn how to discern His voice. And as I shared in the previous post, I wasted my time seeking signs, audible voices, and impressions rather than searching the Sacred Scripture.
My quest to hear God’s voice was mostly a failure and it significantly affected my faith for years.
First, it made doubt God’s character and love. What kind of Father would refuse to speak to His child? Would a good Father ignore my many cries and pleas to hear His voice? Then it made me doubt my salvation. If indeed Jesus’ sheep hear His voice, then surely my inability to hear the Shepherd meant I was not His. Lastly, it made me resent God. For a while, I didn’t want to read my Bible, pray, obey Him, or do anything that would please God. I hated John 10:27 and almost crossed it out of my Bible.
It was a miserable period in my life. My greatest source of comfort, the Father of mercies, became my greatest source of torment! but the Lord graciously brought me out of this season and led me to His Holy Scripture. I have realized since then that extra-biblical revelations pose many more threats to believers besides a stunted spiritual growth. Here are just a few.
1. It misrepresents God.
According to proponents of extra-biblical revelations, hearing God’s voice is a gained skill. God is always speaking, and we can’t hear Him until we learn to discern His voice. One pastor even described it as tuning a radio until we find the right frequency where God’s voice is airing. The problem with this theology is that it weakens God and makes Him incapable of communicating with us unless we do something.
He is not only impotent but also incoherent. When God supposedly gives private revelations today, His messages are often vague, cryptic, and require further messages to understand. This is not who Yahweh is; He is not an author of confusion. When He speaks, He is clear and doesn’t need us to learn how to hear Him.
2. It denies the sufficiency of Scripture
The Bible is God’s last word to us and is enough. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” Seeking extra-biblical revelations means we don’t believe the Bible is enough for our spiritual needs. Even worse, it means we don’t believe God’s testimony about His Word and hence make Him a liar. (I will write about the sufficiency of Scripture in the next post.)
3. It belittles the authority of Scripture
Proponents of extra-biblical revelations say Scripture is the inspired authoritative word of God while His other means of communication are not. But there is no biblical precedent of God ever speaking fallibly or non-authoritatively. If God speaks to us outside the Bible, then it must be every bit as authoritative and inspired as Scripture. He cannot speak authoritatively through one medium, but less through another. It is “thus says the Lord,” period. Extra-biblical revelations, therefore, elevate subjective experiences on the same level—if not over, as Scripture. This not only undermines the authority of the Bible but also its uniqueness.
4. It leads people away from the Bible
None of the books I have read about hearing God’s voice ever encouraged me to read my Bible more. But it encouraged me to seek extra-biblical revelations. During my first year as a Christian, I spent much more time trying to hear God’s still small voice than reading my Bible. Before I ever cracked open a book on hermeneutics, I had read three on hearing God’s voice. And these books, though they often mention Bible reading, it is never the priority. They always present private revelations as the veritable treasure, the prize to pursue. Why bother with plain old stale Scripture when you can have an exhilarating time hearing fresh words from God addressed only to you?
5. It is a gateway to false teachings
Many false religions began because someone believed they heard from God outside of Scripture. For instance, Mormonism started because Joseph Smith believed God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and told him all churches and creeds were false. Islam started because Muhammad received visitations from the angel Gabriel, who gave him a new revelation, which became the Qur’an.
Today, extra-biblical messages may lead to dangerous false teachings such as New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), Prosperity Gospel, Word of Faith, and Charismatic beliefs (modern-day prophets, praying in gibberish tongues, gifts of healing.). When I was trying to hear God’s voice outside of Scripture, the vast majority of my teachers were involved in one or more of these movements. And it didn’t take long before I started hearing about their other beliefs.
6. It promotes a form of Gnosticism
Gnosticism was a first-century heresy that claimed salvation came through a secret knowledge or special revelation. Its adherents believed God disclosed hidden extra-biblical knowledge about Himself to an elite few and that was the basis of salvation. Although most proponents of extra-biblical revelation today don’t claim to be saved by personal revelations, they still promote a form of Gnosticism when they claim to have received a word from God others don’t have. It creates an elite group of believers who have special knowledge that others do not have. For instance, one of my ex-favorite teachers said God told him He was about to do things in the Church that would make Pentecost day look like child play.
Gnosticism is unbiblical. John the apostle denounced it in his first epistle and said, “But you have being anointed by the Holy one and you all have knowledge.” (1 John 2:20). God’s Word and Spirit is all we need to hear from God’ and it is available to all believers.
If private revelations agree with Scripture, they are needless, and if they disagree, they are false.
John Owen
Friends, God has already told us everything we need to know in the Bible, and seeking new revelations is dangerous and unnecessary. Unless we have plumbed the depths of Scripture, uncover all its treasures, and applied them to our lives, we have no business pursuing extra-biblical revelations. Let’s focus on the Word we have, trust God when He says it is enough and be content with it.
Really good article and really well written.
Thank you Nathan!
Great article. Very true.
Well, be sure to keep that verse crossed out, because it’s “my Sheep read my book because I don’t talk to them any more. My sheep read my book, and it reads them, and they believe it: And I give unto them a trip to heaven if they belive the right things.” Your god only talks to you through a book because your god is actually the text of that book, including the PseudoPauline quotes used to deify it. The only difference between Jesus and Judas is that Jesus took his body with him. The only difference between Jesus’ ghost… Read more »
Hi Gordon,
I obviously don’t agree with you but thank you for expressing your view.