Nowadays in some streams of the Church are taught new revelations and practices not mentioned by our Lord Jesus. They are supposedly from the Holy Spirit. But did Jesus inform us that the Spirit would bring such new teachings? Let us examine this important question.
Here is what Jesus said in John 14 where he introduced the Holy Spirit:
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth.
If we want to receive the Spirit of truth, we must keep his commands. And who is the Spirit of truth? In John 14:6 Jesus solemnly declared: “I am the way, the life, and the truth.” The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ himself.
Then Jesus continued:
…21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Jesus places utmost emphasis on his disciples keeping his commands. Obedience to his commands is the actual proof to him that we really love him as many of us say we do.
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
Once again Jesus emphasizes the absolute necessity of obeying his teaching—or his commands—if we say that we love him. If we do not obey his teaching and his commands, it means that we actually do not love him.
Then Jesus explains for us the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you ALL THINGS and will remind you of EVERYTHING I have said to you.
The Spirit of Jesus will teach us ALL THINGS, and will remind us of EVERYTHING he said to us. By “all things” did Jesus include new things which he never taught? Or did he simply mean everything that he said to his disciples?
From the absolute necessity Jesus placed on disciples obeying the commands and teachings he gave them in the gospels, we must conclude that he was referring to everything he said to his disciples there as recorded in the gospels—and not to some “new” teaching supposedly to be brought by his Spirit in the Last Days.
The role of the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of Jesus Christ—is not to teach and bring us new things not taught by him in the gospels. It is rather to teach and remind us of everything he said to his disciples in the gospels.
Therefore we should be wary of “new” teachings today not taught by Jesus in the gospels and not mentioned in the New Testament. The current emphasis on “the anointing” in some streams of the Church today is one example of such a teaching. In the gospels Jesus never taught that in the Last Days there would be a “special anointing” on a few selected servants of God enabling them to minister to others in some spectacular supernatural manner. Neither does the rest of the New Testament mention such an anointing. In New Testament Scripture, the only one anointed to minister to others supernaturally—to save, heal, deliver, restore, and make whole—is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Another example is the teaching and practice of “strategic-level spiritual warfare” popular in some streams of the Church—something never taught or commanded by Jesus Christ.
The only exception is the teaching about grace revealed by the Lord to the Apostle Paul after His death, resurrection, and ascension.
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Was every word spoken by Jesus directly from the Father?