Nothing But the Truth

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH

John 16:12-15

12 "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

NIV

There is no need to live in the dark, to live ignorant of all truth for the Spirit dwells within us. Some would say, whom we agree with, that we have been baptized in the Spirit. John the Baptist was quite clear in his message to the people. He told them that he baptized with water, but He, referring to Jesus, will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Now it may be true that some believers have not yet been baptized with the Spirit and thus not be aware of all truth. They could know some truth, enough to be known as a believer, but there is still all truth that is not exposed to them. It is also true some believe that when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior the Spirit comes to dwell within. That seems to be right in the sense according to Trinitarian doctrine, as to how can the three be separated if they are one, yet each is a person. Although Jesus was God, he still was not the Father or the Spirit. So then it is not automatic that the Spirit arrives at the same time we accept Jesus. We need to experience what the disciples did when Jesus baptized them in the Spirit. Certainly, the disciples were believers, but they also needed the power of the Holy Spirit who came to them in flames of fire. Paul found gentile believers who had been baptized in John's baptism, and when he baptized them in the name of the Lord and laid hands on them the Holy Spirit came on them. It would seem the baptism was the moment the Spirit arrived, but that is not what is said. It was when Paul laid hands on them is when the Holy Spirit arrived. That does not mean it was the baptism, but the laying on of hands, which brought the Spirit. In either case, we do not automatically receive the Spirit, we must seek him in an experience that would be considered a baptism. Having the Spirit means everything. Without the Spirit, we lack truth. We may know Jesus, but there are still, what would be called mysteries, in the scriptures. Why could God hide the truth from us? Why would he write a mystery novel? What would be the purpose of withholding the truth from us? We simply cannot find any good reason God would do anything other than making all truth known to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. The reason he had everything recorded was so that we would know then all the truth about Him. However, he knows that us mere humans may not be able to comprehend all truth in our own finite minds, so He sent the Spirit to speak into our heart and minds all truth. So then is it essential we receive the Spirit, in the same manner, we received Jesus. So then being a believer we are fully engaged in the truth, and thus seeing no mystery. If we are not baptized in the Spirit then we lack that power, we lack all truth. Being a believer we have to take the words of Jesus as true and He is the one who says the Spirit will lead us into all truth and the Spirit will make known to us what is known to Jesus. He also says that all that belongs to the Father is His, so then the Spirit will make known to us all that is known by the Father. That is not a fiction or a mystery, but it is nothing but the truth, the whole truth.