Ping
“Without the work of the Holy Spirit, however, a non-Christian cannot truly understand the significance of a particular text for salvation or come to saving faith.”
Let me break that down a little further...
Without the work of the Holy Spirit, however, a non-Christian cannot .... come to saving faith.
Either this is not true or the Holy Spirit was within me BEFORE I was saved.
I believe BOTH to be true. I came to be saved through reading the bible.
Galatians 1:15 English Standard Version (ESV)
15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace,
Psalm 71:6 English Standard Version (ESV)
6 Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.
Isaiah 49:15 English Standard Version (ESV)
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
Isaiah 44:24 English Standard Version (ESV)
24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
who formed you from the womb:
“I am the Lord, who made all things,
who alone stretched out the heavens,
who spread out the earth by myself,
Another relevant verse is John 6:45. Christ Himself said: “It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—”
I remember trying to read Scripture as a young person and it never made sense.
When I got saved, one of the first things I knew I needed to do (not that anyone person told me to) was to go out and buy a Bible.
I didn’t even have a clue where to go to do that.
I started reading it and could not get enough of it. So much truth that I could see that I completely missed before.
And still, to this day, as I read passages that I am well familiar with, the Holy Spirit STILL illuminates it and reveals new truth to me through it.
And when we die and get to spend eternity with God in heaven, it still will not be enough to exhaust knowledge of Him.