Experience is a dangerous ground upon which to test ultimate truth, because our experiences may vary, and our interpretation of an experience, however genuine, may be wrong. Scripture clearly says to “test the spirits, whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1). No human can test spiritual realities without the Word of God.

— John Napier, Theologe und Pastor

Related Bible passage: 1JH.4.1

Topics: The Bible & the Word of God, Wisdom & Understanding, Faith & Trust

John Napier

John Napier ist ein evangelikaler Theologe und Pastor, der nach seiner Promotion am Dallas Theological Seminary im gemeindlichen und akademischen Dienst in den USA sowie in Australien wirkte. Er wurde insbesondere durch sein Werk Charismatic Challenge bekannt, in dem er eine klassisch cessationistische Haltung vertritt und die Abgeschlossenheit des biblischen Kanons hervorhebt. Bibellesern vermittelt sein Werk eine theologische Einordnung geistlicher Gaben und betont die alleinige Genügsamkeit der Heiligen Schrift gegenüber erfahrungsorientierten Strömungen.

All quotes by John Napier (9)

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The Bible is almost bursting with good news for bad people.
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I read the Bible the way I harvest my apple tree: I shake it, and what falls down and is ripe, I take. The rest I leave hanging for now.
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The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid.
Martin Luther

The law is divine and holy. Let the law have its glory, but yet no law, be it never so divine and holy, ought to teach me that I am justified, and shall live through it. I grant it may teach me that I ought to love God and my neighbor; also to live in love, soberness, patience, etc., but it ought not to show me how I should be delivered from sin, the devil, death, and hell. Here I must take counsel of the gospel. I must hearken to the gospel, which teaches me, not what I ought to do but what Jesus Christ the Son of God hath done for me: that He suffered and died to deliver me from sin and death. The gospel wills me to receive this, and to believe it. And this is the truth of the gospel. Most necessary it is, therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads continually.
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Jesus was not a theologian. He was God who told stories.
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