Using Scripture to Challenge and Correct Personal Experiences
Using Scripture to Challenge and Correct Personal Experiences
The biblical practice of self-examination is rooted in passages like 2 Corinthians 13:5, where Paul exhorts believers to "test your own selves, whether you are in the faith" [2]. This introspective process involves evaluating one's thoughts, feelings, and actions against the standard of Scripture.
Scripture serves as a corrective to personal experiences by providing an objective measure of truth. According to Charles Hodge, the Bible contains "all the facts concerning God, and Christ, ourselves, and our relations to our Maker and Redeemer" [5]. This comprehensive revelation enables believers to assess their experiences in light of divine truth. For instance, Psalm 26:2 expresses a desire for divine scrutiny: "Prove me, O Yahweh, and test me. Try my innermost being and my mind" [3].
The Reformed tradition, as represented by John Calvin, emphasizes the importance of aligning personal experiences with Scripture. Calvin notes that "we are bound to speak of God as reverently as we are bound to think of him" [7]. This reverence for God's Word ensures that personal experiences are evaluated in accordance with biblical teachings.
In contrast, relying solely on personal experience can lead to error. Hodge warns that "men have formed their opinions, or framed their doctrines on philosophical principles, or moral axioms, and thus have been led to adopt conclusions which contradict the inward teachings of the Spirit, and even their own religious consciousness" [6]. This highlights the need for Scripture to guide and correct personal experiences.
The process of self-examination involves prayerfully seeking divine guidance, as expressed in Psalm 26:2 and Psalm 139:23-24 [3, 4]. Torrey's Topical Textbook notes that self-examination should be conducted "with prayer for divine searching" and "with purpose of amendment" [4]. This ensures that personal experiences are evaluated in a spirit of humility and a willingness to conform to biblical truth.
The early Christian tradition also emphasized the importance of Scripture in evaluating personal experiences. The Ante-Nicene Fathers, for example, saw Scripture as the "criterion by which truth and heresy are distinguished" [8]. This patristic perspective underscores the enduring significance of Scripture in guiding Christian thought and experience.
The biblical book of Ecclesiastes provides an example of this process, as the author reflects on his experiences and evaluates them in light of wisdom and folly (Ecclesiastes 2:3) [1]. This introspective process demonstrates the value of using Scripture to challenge and correct personal experiences.
Sources
- Ecclesiastes “Ecclesiastes 2:3 (LEB) — I also ⌞explored⌟ ⌞the effects of indulging my flesh⌟ with wine. My mind guiding me with wisdom, ⌞I investigated⌟ folly so that I might discover what is good under heaven for ⌞humans⌟ to do ⌞during the days of their lives⌟.”
- 2 Corinthians “Test your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or don’t you know as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. -- 2 Corinthians 13:5”
- Psalms “Psalms 26:2 (LEB) — Prove me, O Yahweh, and test me. Try my ⌞innermost being⌟ and my ⌞mind⌟.”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Self-Examination — Enjoined -- 2Co 13:5. Necessary before the communion -- 1Co 11:28. Cause of difficulty in -- Jer 17:9. Should be engaged in With holy awe. -- Ps 4:4. With diligent search. -- Ps 77:6; La 3:40. With prayer for divine searching. -- Ps 26:2; 139:23,24. With purpose of amendment. -- Ps 119:59; La 3:40. Advantages of -- 1Co 11:31; Ga 6:4; 1Jo 3:20-22.”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 9: by God in His Word ( 1 Cor. ii. 10-16 ). It is not, therefore, a revelation of new truths, but an illumination of the mind, so that it apprehends the truth, excellence, and glory of things already revealed. And second, 16 This experience is depicted in the Word of God. The Bible gives us not only the facts concerning God, and Christ, ourselves, and our relations to our Maker and Redeemer, but also records the legitimate effects of those truths on the minds of believers. So that we cannot appeal to our own feelings or inward experience, as ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 103: guide to the knowledge of the truth. It has an authority second only to that of the Word of God. One great source of error in theology has always been the neglect of this inward guide. Men have formed their opinions, or framed their doctrines on philosophical principles, or moral axioms, and thus have been led to adopt conclusions which contradict the inward teachings of the Spirit, and even their own religious consciousness. The only question is, How can we distinguish the human from the divine? How can we determine what in our experien”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 29: they mean that which, after being idly devised, is superstitiously defended,—which tends more to strife than edification,—which is used either out of place, or with no benefit which offends pious ears by its harshness, and leads them away from the simplicity of God’s Word, I embrace their soberness with all my heart. For I think we are bound to speak of God as reverently as we are bound to think of him. As our own thoughts respecting him are foolish, so our own language respecting him is absurd. Still, however, some medium must be ”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 2: Hermas, Tatian, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria — CHAP. XVI.--SCRIPTURE THE CRITERION BY WHICH TRUTH AND HERESY ARE DISTINGUISHED.[3] (part 2): Scripture, in accordance with their lusts.[4] And the lover of truth, as I think, needs force of soul. For those who make the greatest attempts must fail in things of the highest importance; unless, receiving from the truth itself the rule of the truth, they cleave to the truth. But such people, in consequence of falling away from the right path, err in most individual points; as you might expect from not having the faculty fo”