Did Christ, the Holy Spirit, or the Apostles Have Freedom of Choice?

According to the scriptures, it is God’s will that we grant unto each other freedom of religion, yet they also state that God never has nor will He ever, grant unto anyone freedom of religion. The scriptures reveal unto that those of past dispensations that changed in any way the teachings provided by God, stood condemned. It is natural to assume, and God’s word verifies it, that people in modern times will also be condemned in their disobedience to God.

This article will provide evidence that only those who have New Testament scriptural authority for what they teach and will be saved. It will also be noted that not all in the religious world today actually have New Testament authority and, as a result, are changing the word of God, and are condemned.

God did not grant His teachers of the Old Testament and their followers freedom of religion ( II Peter 1:20-21 and Deuteronomy 18:20). Neither did he grant his own son, Jesus Christ, the privilege of deciding what would be taught or not taught. Christ did much teaching during his personal ministry, yet those things he taught were not of himself but of his Father. ( John 5:30, John 7:15-16, John 8:28-29, John 10:38, John 12:48-50, John 14:10, and John 17:14)

Jesus did a lot of teaching while he was here physically, but not all the teaching he had been ordained to do. Following his return to heaven, Christ through the Holy Spirit, continued to teach his apostles until all the New Testament had been revealed. ( John 14:25-26 and John 16:12-15) It should be noted that, that which Christ (through the Spirit) taught from heaven, was also not of himself but of his Father. Christ said unto the apostles, "… he (the Spirit) shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you…" ( John 16:14) and goes on in the next verse explaining his statement. He related how God spoke to him first and he then passed it on to them.

There are other scriptures which present this same fact from another point of view. God promised the world a new covenant ( Jeremiah 31:31-34) and Paul declares the teachings of Christ as found in the New Testament is that covenant promised in Jeremiah. ( Hebrews 8:6-13) God also made a promise through Moses of a new prophet through whom he would give this new covenant ( Deuteronomy 18:18-19) and the apostle Peter affirmed to the people that the new prophet was Christ. ( Acts 3:20-23) Paul also stated that God speaks to us through his Son, and that he, Paul, testified that he taught nothing but that which he received from Christ. ( Hebrews 1:2 and Galatians 1:11-12) Another reference to Paul may be found when he said, "… you received our word not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God." ( I Thessalonians 2:13) These scriptures prove that God failed to grant His son the freedom of choice to select what truths to teach and which ones to ignore. It becomes obvious then, that Christ’s teachings are the only spiritual teachings established totally by the words of his father.

Likewise, the Holy Spirit was involved in the production of the New Testament. ( John 14:25-26, John 16:12-15, Matthew 10:18-20, I Corinthians 2:6-13, and Ephesians 3:1-5) However, as with Christ, the Holy Spirit also was not granted freedom of religion. No, he was not at liberty to reveal unto the teachers and writers of God’s New Testament, one word which he had not received from Jesus. ( John 16:12-15)

This leads us to God last phase of making known unto the world the contents of the promised New Testament. ( Jeremiah 31:31-34) Recall that God first gave it to Christ word for word, Christ then gave those words, without additions or deletions, unto the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit gave those words (and only those words) to ordained men who were to teach and record them. The question then arises, did God allow those men the freedom to choose which of the scriptures to obey or not? The answer is emphatically no! ( Deuteronomy 18:20, I Corinthians 2:6-13, I Corinthians 14:37, I Thessalonians 4:1-2, I Thessalonians 2:13, and Galatians 1:11-12)

Since it is evident that the scriptures point out that God failed to permit any of the very special people discussed in this article the freedom to change anything from his word, how could one possibly believe or feel that God would allow any of us that privilege? The Apostle Paul, after saying he taught nothing but that which Jesus by the Spirit reveal unto him, he went on to explain what would occur if changes were made. The scriptures let all of us know that God would curse either man or angel who dared to teach that which he and his co-laborers had not taught. ( Galatians 1:6-12)

To close, it would be fair to say that we should grant unto one another the right to freedom of religion, yet we must keep in mind that the only freedom God grants us in that regard is the freedom to accept His religion.