Dreams, Visions And Enthusiasm

Although haphazard, I do have somewhat of a journal of my dreams. As I look back at them I am often confused. What do those symbols and stories mean? And how important are my dreams? Seldom, if ever, have I considered the possibility that they are messages from God. Yet I read many stories in the Bible about various believers receiving visions and dreams with messages and directions from God. Here's the Apostle Peter's vision just prior to a visit from men sent by the Roman centurion Cornelius, a devout man who believed in and prayed to God.

The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 

And there came a voice to him: "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." 

But Peter said, "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." 

And the voice came to him again a second time, "What God has made clean, do not call common." 

This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. 

Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood at the gate and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them." - Act 10:9-20 ESV (see also Acts 11:4-18)

My, but do I have a ton of questions when I read this account—not about Peter, but about why the Spirit has given this tale to us and what I personally am to make of it. Yes, I know that the story tells us that the Gospel is not to be confined to the Jews. It is for all men. But that's not what I'm getting at. What I want to know is whether you and I are being told to expect similar dreams or visions from God giving directions and messages?

The usual answer to these questions is No! The time for that ceased once God's revelation about Christ and His salvation was given and recorded by the Apostles. The Spirit does continue to speak to us, but always and only through the objective written Word of God. The Spirit does not speak through our own personal, subjective visions and dreams. In this context one may quote Paul's  instructions to young Pastor Timothy,

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. - 2Ti 3:14-17 ESV

The apostle seems to be saying that the God-breathed or inspired Scripture, both the Old and the New Testaments, is all the man of God needs to be competent and completely furnished to do his work. Teach the Scripture. You do not need additional visions and dreams, nor should you expect them. Study the Bible and seize whatever opportunities come along to share God's Word. Do not expect further visions like Peter's or the direct speaking of the Spirit such as we read about in the Acts of the Apostles (cf. Acts 11:27-30; 13:1-3; 16:9-10; 18:9-11). That time of the Apostles is past. 

Dr. Martin Luther was deeply concerned about this. He called it enthusiasm, the direct internal speaking of the Holy Spirit (the word enthusiasm originally meant 'God in me'). Luther's concerns grew particularly out of his conflicts with Thomas Müntzer, an early disciple of Luther who later broke with him. Müntzer believed that God's teachings came directly from the Holy Spirit. He opposed the doctrines of justification by faith alone and of the Scripture as the exclusive source of divine truth. As an exponent of the supremacy of the inner light of the Holy Spirit as against the authority of Scripture, Müntzer was said by Luther to have swallowed the Holy Spirit, “feathers and all” ( “Against the Heavenly Prophets in the Matter of Images and Sacraments.” Luther's Works. Vol. 40:83. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1958). Müntzer's enthusiasm ultimately led to a peasants' war and his own death. Luther writes about enthusiasm in the Book of Concord, Smalcald Articles (III:viii (9-13).

In short: enthusiasm clings to Adam and his children from the beginning to the end of the world—fed and spread among them as poison by the old dragon. It is the source, power, and might of all the heresies, even that of the papacy and Mohammed. Therefore we should and must insist that God does not want to deal with us human beings, except by means of his external Word and sacrament. Everything that boasts of being from the Spirit apart from such a Word and sacrament is of the devil. For God even desired to appear to Moses first in the burning bush and by means of the spoken word; no prophet—not even Elijah or Elisha—received the Spirit outside of or without the Ten Commandments; John the Baptist was not conceived without Gabriel’s preceding Word, nor did he leap in his mother’s womb without Mary’s voice; and St. Peter says: the prophets did not prophesy “by human will” but “by the Holy Spirit,” indeed, as “holy people of God.”However, without the external Word, they were not holy—much less would the Holy Spirit have moved them to speak while they were still unholy. Peter says they were holy because the Holy Spirit speaks through them.

OK, but that still doesn't answer my original concern about dreams and visions—or does it? What if you or I have what we consider to be a Peter-and-the-sheet experience or Paul's come-over-to-Macedonia call? We have not rejected the authority of Scripture and the central doctrine about God declaring us justified by faith in Jesus Christ alone. And yet you or I sense God's leading in a dream or vision. What about that? 


Let's come back to this vital topic and the Biblical worldview next time.