Protecting Sola Scriptura from Sophism: Excursus concerning the Holy Spirit's Role in Biblical Interpretation

 Some might look at what I have written thus far and argue that it seems more mechanical and that the Holy Spirit is able to bring one to the truth in his reading of Scripture without following the logic of proper hermeneutics and exegesis. Of course, this is absolutely true, since God can do anything. In fact, the Holy Spirit is able to lead people into all truth through a sunset or a Harry Potter novel.

The real question, however, is what we can expect the Holy Spirit to do based upon the revelation He has given us in the Bible. Every person can claim to have the Holy Spirit, but how does anyone know whether this claim is true, especially in light of completely contradictory interpretations of the Bible that are so legion today? 

The point I want to make briefly here is this: the Holy Spirit is going to use the logic of language to interpret the text in accordance with the logic of the language He used to have the text written in the first place. 

He could have communicated His truth to the world in some other way. He could have made it intuitive to every man and left it there. He could have done it through feelings. But He didn't. He used languages, now foreign and ancient to us, from cultures, now foreign and ancient to us, and the logic of referential meaning to communicate truth to us. If that is what God used to communicate, and we have no other reliable revelation to argue otherwise, then we must conclude that is what God uses to communicate, and follow the interpretive methods that are supported by it while rejecting the interpretive methods that are not.

In other words, what I have argued thus far in this series IS what the Holy Spirit uses to help us interpret the Bible accurately. Anyone who claims to be interpreting the text by the Holy Spirit who ignores these and ends up with interpretations that contradict their conclusions should be dismissed as one who is mistaken.