How Does the Holy Spirit Lead the Church into Truth? A brief study on John 14:26 & John 16:13

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth” John 16:13

“But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you.” John 14:26

Let us first note something very important regarding the context of these passages. Both of them are stated by Jesus at the Last Supper, meaning He is saying this specifically to His Apostles. He is not proclaiming this, for example, at the Sermon on the Mount. This is a very specific teaching given to the Apostles. And we know that the Apostles have successors.

Acts 1:20 teaches, “Let their habitation become desolate, and let there be none to dwell therein. And his bishopric let another take.” This is said by St. Peter after the death of Judas. His bishopric must be filled, also translated as “his office.” In 2 Timothy 2:2, St. Paul tells the young bishop St. Timothy, “And the things which thou hast heard of me by many witnesses, the same commend to faithful men, who shall be fit to teach others also.” So we see the template in place for apostolic succession.

Going back to the Last Supper, Our Lord is with His Apostles, and tells them that the Holy Ghost will teach them all things, and will lead them into all truth. The Greek word for “you” in these passages is hymas, and in both circumstances, it is used as a personal possessive pronoun in the plural, meaning Our Lord is addressing the Apostles directly. He is not saying this applies to every single person who professes to believe in Him, but rather to His direct audience, which in this context is only the Apostles.

Protestants like to read these passages and think that when Jesus says, “He will you all truth” and “He will teach you all things,” that He is speaking to every person reading the passage. However, the Greek emphatically contradicts this interpretation. Jesus is clearly saying this specifically to the Apostles directly. Since Acts 1:20 teaches that the office of a successor to an Apostle is called Bishopric, wherein we get the word Bishop, this would also mean then that the teaching carries with the one who fills the office.

However, Protestants are not happy with this Scriptural belief, so they have tried to argue that every person who professes to believe in Jesus is equally a successor to the Apostles. But again, they have to take their issue up with Sacred Scripture. St. Paul teaches plainly in 1 Corinthians 12:27-29, “Now you are the body of Christ, and members of member. And God indeed hath set some in the church; first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly doctors; after that miracles… Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all doctors?”

Notice that St. Paul does not tell the Christians in Corinth that they are all successors to the Apostles merely due to their belief in Christ. He clearly distinguishes the varied roles and offices within the Church. He says we all comprise the Body (those who belong to the one true Church), however within that Body, God has established a hierarchy of order, beginning with the Apostles. He then rules out any possible pride the Corinthians may have by rhetorically asking, “Are all Apostles?” The answer of course is no. Not all are Apostles. Matthias succeeded Judas, so he legitimately was a successor to the Apostles as a Bishop. The same would hold true for men like St. Titus and St. Timothy, both of whom were Bishops.

Now, does Sacred Scripture give us any precedent for showing the Holy Spirit leading the Church into truth? Yes, it most certainly does. We see it right in Acts 15 at the Council of Jerusalem. A doctrinal controversy has shaken the infant Church. Do Gentiles have to be circumcised to be members of the Body of Christ? After much dispute, discussion, and discernment, St. Peter dogmatically concludes that Gentiles do not need to be circumcised. But then something very interesting is stated by the Apostles of the Council. In Acts 15:28 we read, “For it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to lay no further burden upon you than these necessary things.”

So there you have it right from Sacred Scripture. The Holy Ghost worked with the Apostles, and their successors that were present such as St. Matthias, in revealing the truth and protecting the Church from error. It happened at a Council. Thus, we see the proper application of John 14:26 and John 16:13. It is unfortunate that Martin Luther, John Calvin, and those who follow their pernicious heresies then all reject the Council of Trent, just as the Arians rejected the Council of Nicaea. They are rejecting the Holy Ghost, who leads the Church and teaches the Church through the authoritative decrees and pronouncements of the successors to St. Peter and the Apostles.

St. Irenaeus, 3rd generation Christian who was discipled by St. Polycarp (who himself was a student of St. John the Apostle) writes in 180 AD, “Where the charismata of the Lord are given, there must we seek the truth, with those to whom belongs the ecclesiastical succession from the Apostles, and the unadulterated and incorruptible word. It is they who are the guardians of our faith, and securely expound the Scriptures to us.”

Tertullian, who wrote in the late 2nd century to the early 3rd century, stated, “Suppose now that the Church has erred. This would mean that the Holy Spirit has not watched over the Church so as to guide it into the truth, although He was sent by Christ, and asked from the Father for this very purpose—that He might be the teacher of truth.”

So does the Holy Spirit teach us and lead us into all truth? He most certainly does. He is the author of source of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and He protects the teaching authority of the Church from dogmatically proclaiming error. And this makes sense, since Our Lord said to St. Peter in Matthew 16, and to the Apostles in Matthew 18, that whatever is bound will be bound in Heaven. And we know from Titus 1:2 that God can not bind a lie. Acts 15 shows us exactly how the Holy Spirit teaches and leads and guides into truth. It is through the Apostles and their successors. And are all Apostles? No. Bishops are successors to the Apostles.

Protestantism begins with a core heresy which states that the Holy Spirit leads every individual person who professes belief in Christ to know doctrinal truth with certainty. This is not a Christian teaching nor does it derive from a Christian worldview. The Holy Spirit leads individual people to the Body of Christ, to the one true Church. And from there, He teaches and leads and guides. If Protestantism is true, then that would mean every individual Christian is a Pope unto themselves, and it also means that the Holy Spirit is a poor Teacher and Guide since Protestantism has given us 45,000 denominations (and counting).

What is the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of individual Christians (those belonging to the one true Church)? We find that in Galatians 5:22-24, “But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, Mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's, have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” So Sacred Scripture reveals to us that the Holy Spirit is given to individual Christians so that we can live holy lives through utilizing His gifts to us. We receive the Holy Spirit for sanctification, so we can be holy. Not so we can each try to determine dogmatic truths pertaining to faith and morals, since that is His role specifically with the successors of St. Peter and the Apostles, as we have now seen with Sacred Scripture and also the Church Fathers.

I hope this brief article helps to plant a seed in some way, so that people reading this can recant their heresies and come to the Christian Religion established by Jesus, which is found in the Catholic Church.