Divine Mandates

Divine Mandates
I was cruising through the book of Acts the other day and ran across some passages that led to some interesting observations. Consider the following two passages:

Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus. (Acts 13:1-4, emphasis added)

Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas--Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren, and they sent this letter by them, The apostles and the brethren who are elders, to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles, greetings. "Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls, it seemed good to us, having become of one mind, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell. (Acts 15:22-29, emphasis added)

In the first passage, a definitive revelation from the Holy Spirit was given, and Luke records that the "Holy Spirit" sent out the missionaries. In the second passage, the apostles used human reasoning and Scripture (and not revelation or prophecy) to resolve the issues in the Acts 15 conflict. Their explanation didn't claim a divine authority; they said "it seemed."

More Evidence
I got curious; was this just a coincidence or was I onto a consistent pattern? I did a little bit more reading in Acts, now looking for decisions and actions attributed to God or men. Let's look at some other results of divine action:

Acts 2:14-17-- the baptism of the Holy Spirit is attributed to God via the prophecy of Joel.
Acts 2:24 (et. al.)-- the resurrection of Jesus is attributed to God.
Acts 2:32, 39-- the ministry of the apostles was of God.
Acts 3:6, 16-- healing of the cripple at the temple attributed to the name of Jesus.
Acts 4:19-- Peter and John attribute their preaching to obedience of the command of God.
Acts 8:26, 29-- An angel and the Spirit directed Philip to find the Ethiopian eunuch.
Acts 9:10, 17-- Ananias' visit to Paul was specifically directed by Jesus.
Acts 10:3-- Peter's visit to Cornelius' was specifically directed by God via a vision of an angel to Cornelius (10:3, 22) and to Peter (10:10, 19, 11:5, 12). The other apostles that the baptism of the Holy Spirit given to Cornelius and his companions was a mark directly from God of his approval of the Gentiles (11:18).
Acts 11:7, 11, 17-- Peter's release from prison was orchestrated by an angel.
Acts 12:23-- The death of Herod is directly attributed to an angel of the Lord.
Acts 14:17-- God's work in nature is heralded to the Lycaonians.
Acts 14:27-- The reports of miracles and Gentile conversions to the faith is attributed to God.
Acts 16:6-10-- The mission call to Macedonia is attributed to God and the Holy Spirit.

Now look at some actions by Christians in Acts that are not attributed to God but rather are human decisions:

Acts 14:6-7-- Apostles fleeing Iconium and preaching elsewhere.
Acts 14:20-- Apostles leave Lycaonia for Derbe.
Acts 15:36-- Mission plans discussed by Paul and Barnabas.
Acts 15:37, 40-- Selection of mission partners a matter of human choice by Barnabas and Paul.
Acts 16:13-- Specific location of outreach a product of human reason.

I could go on with more examples, but after a short time in Acts I was convinced-- and astonished. When specific actions were attributed to God, there was always a specific vision or word from God exactly as the person claimed. And human decisions, even by Spirit-led people, were consistently expressed as human decisions. Nobody dared put God's name on something that they did.

God Did It?
People today have a propensity for attributing things to God. For example, there are claims like "God put such and such on my heart" or how "God has appointed" a certain person to a role as a leader, or how some plans are "from the Spirit." Members of our movement say these type of things frequently.

But we aren't the only ones doing this sort of thing. Recently I received an email-advertisement for the latest Max Lucado book, in which he was said to have been "tapped on the shoulder by God" at his conversion.

Such language may reflect a sincere thought that God has led the person to whatever is under consideration. Indeed, it sounds more spiritual, as though God was being given the glory. But there is a problem with these type of claims.

How God Does Things, Past and Present
Before the message of the gospel was established, God spoke the word of his covenants directly to men-- Moses (Exodus 3:4ff), John the Baptist (John 1:33). Jesus spoke to the apostles in person over a period of three years; he also revealed this same gospel to Paul (Galatians 1:12).

Now that God has completed his revelation to mankind in the message of his Son (e.g. Hebrews 1:1-2, Galatians 1:6ff), our objective today is not to aspire to a "new revelation" but to be faithful to an old revelation-- the message of the Scriptures.

Beyond the message, God chose to specifically direct the church in certain instances in ways we've observed above. But over time the apostles and other early Christians were to rely on the indwelling Spirit, no doubt as a model for the church in later years when prophecy would be "done away" (1 Corinthians 13:8).

In the absense of specific and unambigious words from God, today we rely upon his leading through the indwelling Holy Spirit:

For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)
Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you. (Philippians 3:15)

God can work in us by the Holy Spirit, but we cannot rightly claim specific guidance as in Biblical cases where a direct and specific divine word was given. Our actions and decisions, sincere and spiritual as they might be, are still our actions and decisions.

The Biblical example of discussing the actions and decisions of Spirit-guided people is to attribute them primarily to people first and to God second, with an aspect of uncertainty precisely because of the lack of a specific, unambiguous word from the Lord. This is the pattern we ought to follow today.

Why So Conservative?
Why should we be so conservative about claiming God's guidance? Isn't it just giving God the glory? Perhaps we should ask why the apostles were so conservative about putting God's name on things-- why didn't they just "give God the glory?"

I think the apostles realized the difference between when God really did say something and other instances because they experienced both, and they knew the difference. They also might have remembered what the Law said about being truthful witnesses about God:

But the prophet who shall speak a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.
And you may say in your heart, `How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?'
When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18:20)

The apostles and prophets in Biblical times always had a definitive word of the Lord (a dream, revelation, vision, or an appearance by an angel) to substantiate things that they claimed were from God. When such a divine word was missing, they were honest and straightforward about it and attributed actions and decisions to themselves and not God.

Unless someone has heard directly and definitively from God Almighty, no claim of specific divine guidance can be Biblically approved and validated. It is not merely a matter of semantics, it is a matter of telling the truth about God.