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EDITOR'S NOTE: The
following is a transcription of a taped exchange between Thomas Warren and
Guy N. Woods in which Warren asserted that the Holy Spirit aids the Christian
directly, "in conjunction with" the word of God. This
exchange took place at the Freed-Hardeman College Lectureship Forum which was
conducted Feb. 8-9, 1967. This was the first public assertion of this error
to which Mac Deaver is heir and which he teaches today.
Warren
The Holy Spirit is given to the children of God as an earnest of their
eternal inheritance. Now that means we are given the Holy Spirit as a pledge
that we will receive the rest which is eternal life in heaven. This is not
given to the child of the devil who is out in the world, though he's on his
way to becoming a child of God remains a child of the devil until he's
baptized out of the world into Christ. The Holy Spirit is given to strengthen
the spirit of the inward man. Paul prayed for that. I told some brethren
recently that I wasn't going to get too excited about this until they stop
practicing what I preach. As I emphasized last evening, when men go into
hospitals where terminal cancer cases are, they pray for those people to be
strengthened by his Spirit in the inward man, I'm certain that you do. And I
believe the Bible authorizes us to tell a man who says 'I'm weak.' I know
what the Bible tells me to do, I can see here's the path down which I should
walk, but I need some help from God and Paul prayed for the Ephesian brethren
that they might have that help and the help that he talked about was to be
strengthened by his Spirit in the inner man and that was in conjunction with
the word of God. And if that be heresy, brethren, make the most of it.
The Holy Spirit dwells in the body of the child of God. Paul reasons in First
Corinthians, chapter six, he said, "Your body, your physical body,
is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you." And then he then
contemplates the possibility of a man taking his body and joining it to a
harlot. He pictures this as a crime so heinous as to be almost unthinkable.
Shall you take that body, that temple in which the Holy Spirit himself
dwells, when he says, "which is in you." Now this is true of a man
- a man in the world can receive the word of God, but you're not a child of
God until you're baptized into Christ. Let me note this in closing. We
receive the word before we're baptized (Acts 2:41), we receive the
Spirit after we're baptized (Acts 2:38; Gal. 4:6). We receive the word
in order to become sons of God (Acts 2:42). We are sons of God,
or we receive the Holy Spirit because we are sons of God. Brethren,
that has been taught by faithful brethren since the Lord's church was
restored in this land of ours. It is taught by the great majority, I have no
doubt, of faithful brethren today. I plead with you, that you be willing to
examine the evidence. That we all remain brethren and work together. So far
as I'm concerned, I have just as much love for brother Woods and those who
stand for him as I ever did and it is beyond my ability to describe. It is my
earnest prayer, with all of my heart, that we shall work with one another,
and this is the basic plea that I was making, and not not against one
another. Let us deal with issues that arise among us, but let us learn that
the great task that is before us is to carry the gospel to the world, and we
are hardly touching the hem of the garment. If you don't believe that's so,
then I plead with you to examine what's going on in the world. Thank you,
brethren.
Woods
Unfortunately, brother Warren feels that these remarks, whether with
reference to higher education or with reference to the Holy Spirit, are
directed at him. Now, I know not why he draws that conclusion. Unless he
feels he has to defend the position every time it's attacked. Now brother
Warren is not the only one in the country that holds these views, and so far
as he is concerned, he has a perfect right, number one, to believe what he
wants to regarding it. And I have not the least desire in any fashion
whatever to, in any way to disturb him or embarrass him. I have not mentioned
his name. Much of what I said today had no relation whatever to him. I felt
that he took a full hour last night to justify his position, but not
satisfied, he wants a further effort today. As for the twenty five minutes, I
was quite a part of a discussion over yonder today but I didn't get up there
because I thought, "well I'll take care of it this afternoon," but
I had a speech of last night to refer to, at least indirectly and also the
matters discussed over there, so I took the time to set out the issue. Now, I
would like to say, once for all, we're not opposed to higher education. If
brother Warren wants to get a doctor's degree, that's his business and I
don't consider that anybody has any right to even criticize him for it. But
now, I'll tell you what I don't appreciate - now that the subject is
up - the insinuation that all gospel preachers, without such, are ignorant
characters, unable to meet the issues of the day. Now these brethren will
serve their cause better if they quit making that insinuation.
Well, may I say further that repeatedly we were assured that somebody needs
to prepare themselves to meet the issues of the day. Well, apparently we have
nobody that can meet the issues of the day. Well now, we've got a lot of men
with doctors degrees. Norvel Young, Batsell Baxter, they're by the dozens
around over the country. Have these fellows been failing all these years? So
now, brother Warren, we are not uh, if anybody has said something about this
that upset you, certainly it's not my intention to and I apologize if I've
said one word that reflected upon your effort to get an education. May the
Lord bless you in it, and I certainly have no criticism to offer because I
don't think anybody'll ever shake the faith of Tom Warren regarding the
inspiration of the Bible and so on. And because I don't believe there's a
better man on earth than Tom Warren. But I think he's unduly exercised about
this matter and he's too sensitive about and I wouldn't have mentioned this
if he hadn't himself injected it because we all love him. We're not mad at
you brother Tom. And I would be glad if he would just simply, as far as
possible, be able to harmonize... if his view is the same as brother Nichols.
Brother Nichols' is the same as mine, so that makes us the same. I would just
like to ask a question or two. Brother Warren, what is it that the Holy
Spirit does to you that the word can't? Would you come up here and tell us?
Warren
Brother Woods, I've explained that last evening and today. I've explained
that the Holy Spirit is given as a seal to the child of God. This is not the
word of God, it is the Holy Spirit himself. The Holy Spirit is given as the
earnest of our inheritance. This is not the word of God. Both of these, Ephesians
1:13 and 14. Paul prayed that the brethren might be strengthened
by his Spirit in the inward man, and as I've indicated in First
Corinthians six, the Holy Spirit is given as a deterrent to sin, in
addition to the word of God, in conjunction with the word of God. The Holy
Spirit which is in you, the very use of the fact that he refers to the body
of the Christian, that it is a temple of the Holy Spirit, indicates that
we're to contemplate our bodies as a dwelling place of the Spirit as a strong
deterrent to sin and he contemplates the particular sin of fornication. Now
there are four things that the Holy Spirit does not separate and apart
or independent of the word, but in conjunction with the word.
Woods
Well, that's not what I asked you. I asked you, "What does it do that
the word doesn't?" You're telling me that it does that with the
word.
Warren
If there's anything that I emphasized, brother Woods, it is that it does nothing
not in conjunction with the word. I emphasize that by saying over and over,
"It is not disjunction, which would mean independence, but conjunction."
Woods
Can you say then, that the Holy Spirit operates, insofar as the Christian is
concerned, only by means of the word?
Warren
I believe the Holy Spirit himself dwells in our bodies.
Woods
That is not the question. Answer the question. Can or does the Holy Spirit do
anything apart from the word of truth, to us?
Warren
Well, I'd rather answer the question the way...in my own language. The Holy
Spirit dwells in the child of God and in conjunction with the word of
God. It is the Holy Spirit himself. Not only the word of God. Now
brother Woods, I'll be as good to you as you were to me. Do we receive the
Holy Spirit when we receive the word of God?
Woods
I have already answered that.
Warren
What did you say?
Woods
I pointed out that when a person obeys the gospel, of course the word enters
into his heart and governs his life. But may I point out to you, that that is
because as brother Lipscomb said it permeates his life. Now it's very true,
you take a little leaven and put in a meal. There's a time when it's just the
leaven by itself and the meal is separated. That would represent the fact
that the word is preached and perhaps is received. But then as it influences
the life, controls the life, as brother Lipscomb so ably pointed out, then of
course he is filled with the Spirit, as Paul said, "Let the word of
Christ dwell in you richly." But I want to answer those four points
now...
Warren
Just a minute, brother Woods. You didn't answer the question that I asked. I
asked, "Do you receive the Holy Spirit when you receive the word of
God?" Now we receive the word of God before we're baptized. Now does a
man receive the word of God before he's baptized, does he receive the Holy
Spirit when he receives that word?
Woods
I just explained it to you, brother Warren. As a matter of fact, brother
Warren is wanting me to put in his words what he was unwilling to do in mine,
but let me answer your four points, let me answer your four points. Number
one, he says that the Holy Spirit is given us as a seal. I remember,
at least 35 years ago, in discussing that with brother Joe S. Warlick who had
heard Baptist preachers make that argument in debate. He said the seal there
is a stamp. That is, it is a mark of approval upon the individual. The stamp
of the approval of the Holy Spirit upon the Christian and it's that kind of a
seal.
Secondly, with reference to the earnest, the word "earnest" just
means a part payment. Now does he mean that the Holy Spirit is the part
payment? If so, that means we'll all get the baptism of the Spirit over
yonder, because an earnest must be paid in exactly the same thing. It has no
reference there to the Spirit as such. The earnest there is a down payment on
salvation in heaven. That's what it means. He's mistaking the meaning of the
passage completely.
And thirdly, with reference to our bodies being a temple of the Spirit,
nobody questions that at all. That's not the issue. The issue is how?
But our time of five minutes over. Surely, brother Warren, you had ample
opportunity to state your position. Are you satisfied?
Warren
Well, I'm satisfied with mine. I'm not too satisfied with yours.
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