Second, the enthusiast who boasts of the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit.
Second, the enthusiast who boasts of the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit.
§ 460. (II) We prove that the enthusiast who boasts of the internal testimony of the Spirit and of new revelations cannot be the judge of controversies concerning doctrines of faith in this way: Whosesoever judgment (1) is not founded on the Scriptures; (2) is liable to the tricks of Satan; (3) is subject to the examination of others; (4) is sometimes opposed to the judgment of the Holy Spirit as He speaks in the Scriptures; (5) is always doubtful and uncertain: such a person cannot be acknowledged as the infallible judge of controversies in the Church.
The judgment of an enthusiast who boasts of an internal revelation of the Spirit: (1) Is not founded on Scripture, for nowhere are we sent back to internal revelations, to an inner word, etc., but “to the Law and to the testimony” [Isa. 8:20]. (2) Is liable to satanic deceptions (1 Kings 22:22; 2 Cor. 11:14), which experience proves in the case of those who, deprived of the revlation of the Spirit, suffered themselves to be driven into serious errors, murders, whoredoms, etc. (3) Is subject to the examination of others (1 Cor. 14:29; 1 Thess. 5:21; 1 John 4:1). (4) Is sometimes opposed to the judgment of the Holy Spirit as He speaks in Scripture, as is proved by an examination of those revelations that is established according to the rule of Scripture. (5) Is doubtful and uncertain (2 Cor. 2:11).
Therefore an enthusiast who boasts of an internal revelation of the Spirit cannot be acknowledged as the infallible judge of controversies in the Church. Chrysostom puts it beautifully in his sermon De Spiritu sancto adorando: “Many boast of the Holy Spirit, but those who are speaking their own words are falsely using Him as their excuse. As Christ testified that He was not speaking of Himself because He was speaking from the Law and the prophets, so also, if anything beside the Gospel is brought in under the name of the Spirit, let us not believe it. For just as Christ is the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets, so the Spirit is the fulfillment of the Gospel.”