[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you for your reply!

Protestants believe in the sufficiency of scripture.

Indeed, as compared to the Catholic doctrine of tradition being equal to Scripture. But the Scriptures tell us that it is the Spirit who leads us into Truth. The Scripture has this to say of itself:

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. – 2 Timothy 3:15-17

But there is more to understanding than Scriptures alone -John 5 above and :

Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. – Matthew 22:29

Martin Luther understood this. At the Imperial Diet at Worms he said:

"Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason - I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other - my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen."

You continued:

Neither man [Calvin or Arminius] taught or believed in "personal revelation" or took their doctrine from that. Both men were scholars that drew their doctrine from scripture.

If either man relied on the Holy Spirit to understand the Scriptures, he had a personal revelation. If not, then no matter how much they knew of Scriptures as scholars, they would be lacking the most important understanding, the power of God. I have not studied either Calvin or Arminius because, like Martin Luther, I too am "captive of the Word of God".

This is not a promise of 'PERSONAL Revelation' It is a promise of Illumination .I have to honest AG , what I have read in the last couple of days sounds like gnosticism.

Sigh. God knows that I am not gnostic, even if you don’t.

We have a semantic problem, Rnmomof7. To you, the indwelling Holy Spirit gives illumination which you assert is not the same thing as a personal revelation. We might be able to clear the air better if you would define those terms the way you understand them.

[RnMomof7]

We have a semantic problem, Rnmomof7. To you, the indwelling Holy Spirit gives illumination which you assert is not the same thing as a personal revelation. We might be able to clear the air better if you would define those terms the way you understand them.

Indeed it seems we do. (BTW I have gotten mail that indicates others did not understand you either .) I hope that what you are calling "personal revelation " is actually" illumination "

MY definition would be , Personal Revelation would be extra scriptural .adding something new to scripture.

Illumination is having the Holy Spirit bring life to a passage for the reader, giving an insight or making it personal (applicable to the life of the reader )

Offical definitions

Revelation -From God to man (man hears what God wants written)

Inspiration:  From man to paper (man writes that which God wants written)

Illumination:  From paper to heart (man receives that which God has written)

http://withchrist.org/revelation.htm