God’s Leading & Freedom
This is quite an important topic as most all Christians believe God leads in some manner. However, how He exactly directs us remains controversial.
To discover how God leads we should again consider scripture, because this is the source of truth (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Peter 3:16; 1 Thessalonians 2:13). Specifically, we need to consider relevant verses in the epistles because this is the section of the Bible by which God directs Christians.
Other scripture speaks to God’s leadership in the Old Testament and the gospels, but these are for different times, before the church. Now that the revelation is complete, and believers are indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit, God’s way of leading differs than earlier times.
How does God lead Christians in the church age?
The Bible
God’s leadership for Christians is through two agents, the Holy Spirit and Christ, through one medium, God’s word, the Bible. Let us examine these.
- Christ – The Bible says in this age God speaks through his Son (Hebrews 1:2). Otherwise, all the previous means to provide revelation, for example angels, dreams, direct messaging, visions, and prophets, are no longer used. Further, God speaks through Christ by His word, revealed in the scripture, which we discuss below.
- The Holy Spirit – The Spirit guides us by teaching us truth, in other words, what Christ said, (14:6, 16:13) and using His word as a sword to enable us (Ephesians 6:17).
Why is God’s word a basis for His leadership?
The Bible is truth to us from God. Therefore, the Bible provides a basis of leadership by the Spirit and Christ. The process of how God gave this truth is important in providing a basis of biblical authority:
- God gave truth to Christ (John 8:40-45; John 14:6).
- Christ taught the apostles this truth (John 17:7-8) and especially through the apostle Paul, through the Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16) to complete the knowledge associated with Christ’s first coming (Colossians 1:25; Ephesians 3:5).
- The apostles, and especially Paul, then taught the truth to the second-generation Christians under apostolic authority (Titus 1:3; 1 Timothy 6:14; 2 Peter 3:2).
- During the second generation of the church, this truth was written down to provide our canon of scriptures which is the basis of God speaking to us today.
How does God lead Christians in practice?
In short, the Bible indicates that neither God or the Spirit lead us like a dog on the leash. Importantly, God’s leading is evident not by a moment to moment guiding, it is observed as a result!
Scriptural basis of leading
There are two verses that mention being led by the Spirit in the New Testament: (Please see Figure 1 below)
- Romans 8:14 – This verse indicates that those who are led by the Spirit are sons of God. Being a Son of God is demonstrated by being pure and blameless while living in a sinful world (Philippians 2:13-15). In other words, living a Christlike existence in the world shows you are a Son of God and so are led by the Spirit.
- Galatians 5:18 – This verse notes those who are led by the Spirit are benefited by not being under the law (Old Testament law). Further, not being constrained by the law allows the Spirit to produce mature fruit (Galatians 5:23). In other words, Christians who demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit show not only they are not constrained by the law (V23), but are led by the Spirit (V18) to a mature result (V22-23). Therefore, someone who demonstrates the fruit of the Spirit indicates they led by the Spirit, as per Romans 8:14.
Functional outworking of ‘God’s leading’
The details of the biblical principles of God’s leading might be the 5 ‘Fs’ (Please see Figure 2:
- Foundation (start with the Bible)– Hebrews 1:2 states that in the church age God speaks through his Son. His words are in the Bible. Specifically, for the church, God’s guidance for our decision-making is in the epistles. Further, the Spirit uses God’s expressed word as His sword, both internally (Hebrews 4:12) and externally, to demonstrate his power (Ephesians 6:17).
- Freedom (we possess broad choice in our life’s path) – We have relatively few specific commands in scripture, but the ones that exist protect us from going ‘out of bounds’ from God’s playing field. Therefore, when we act in life within His gracious boundaries we possess wide freedom to serve Him in faith. We can choose to use in this world what we wish through prayer and the Bible (1 Timothy 4:4-5).
- Further, our wonderful freedom in Christ is greater than the world’s because we know that we are liberated from sin, have a heavenly home and we have truth, as revealed in the Bible, to live wise and useful lives (Colossians 2:3).
- In contrast, the world is bound by cultural norms, fads, jealousies and a quest for truth. All these efforts are ultimately fruitless in the spiritual sphere as well as costly in time and money.
- Faith (our action) – We are commanded to do everything by faith (Romans 14:23).
- Knowing scripture leads us to make choices in faith that will please and glorify God (Colossians 3:16-17).
- Importantly, we should not condemn ourselves when stepping out in faith in accordance to scripture as best we can. In other words, do not feel guilty (Romans 4:22)!
- Filling (maturing) – The relevant vital verse, Ephesians 5:18, uses alcohol as a negative example of mental control. The alcohol contrasts to a mature Christian who is controlled by the Spirit. The verse indicates that being controlled by the Spirit is through being ‘filled. The word ‘fill’ in Greek (Gr: pluroo, πληρόω) has a secondary meaning of ‘complete’ or ‘mature’.
- Maturing (filling) occurs by the Spirit as we live by faith and seek God through the Bible (Galatians 3:3-5, 2 Corinthians 3:18). Importantly, the Spirit uses the Bible to mature us (Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12).
- As we mature by the Spirit we are able to make better life choices as we live by faith (Hebrews 5:13-14).
- Fruit (the results) – This is the outcome of God’s maturing us, the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 5:9). There are other signs of maturity (undoubtedly caused by the Spirit) in Scripture but these are the ones directly related to the Spirit by the Bible.
As an example, biblical leading is more like living in a democracy than in a despotic or communist regime. In the latter two cases, the state plans a person’s life and leads them by a very visible method. The person’s own choices are very restricted. In contrast, in a democracy a person has freedom to choose within the broad confines of the law to make individual life choices. Despite the uncertainty, they can have faith that there is a generally healthy societal structure to support them. Further, the personal character that is formed by the culture in a democracy encourages self-determination and responsibility. This process of self- itself matures the individual and their ability to make even better life choices. A person on the outside sees the results of the culture encouraging self-determination and responsibility but they do not see their individual’s method. So it is also in seeing the results of faith.
To summarize, God’s leading in scripture is by His word applied in faith and freedom (individual choice). By this method of faith and freedom we learn to make better choices in life. Over time we then develop a pure and fruitful individual character (this is His leading). His leading is only observed by the results of the Spirit maturing us.
William C. Stewart, MD
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