One of the most difficult things for fallen human beings to do is to question the accuracy of our own perceptions. We instinctively trust what we have seen, felt, experienced, and concluded. When our experiences seem vivid and compelling, we are often tempted to make them the standard by which everything else is judged, including God's Word itself.
Jonathan Edwards understood this danger well. Writing in the context of revival, conversion, and religious affections, he repeatedly warned Christians against elevating subjective experience above the objective authority of Scripture.
“When Scripture and one’s own personal experience clash, we must defer to Scripture every time. ‘Experiences of Christians are to be brought to the touchstone of the infallible bar,’ said Edwards, ‘and to stand or fall by it; the Bible is not to be brought to their test and judged of by them.’ Edwards's conviction was precisely that of German Bible scholar Adolf Schlatter when he was being considered for a teaching appointment in Berlin a century ago. Asked whether he ‘stands on the Bible,’ Schlatter responded, ‘No, I stand under the Bible!’ It is deeply counter-instinctual to doubt the validity of our own experience. But one reason God has given us the Bible is to correct what we would otherwise deem to be infallible human experience.”
(Quotation from: Dane Ortlund, Edwards on the Christian Life: Alive to the Beauty of God, p. 107)
This is a needed reminder in every generation. Our experiences are real, but they are not infallible. Our feelings are powerful, but they are not authoritative. Our perceptions may be sincere, but sincerity alone does not make them true.
The Christian life requires a continual posture of humility before God's Word. The question is not, “Does Scripture agree with my experience?” but rather, “Is my understanding of my experience being shaped and interpreted by Scripture?”
This principle touches countless areas of life. When God's providence feels confusing, will we trust His promises? When our hearts condemn us, will we believe what God says about our justification in Christ? When culture tells us one thing and Scripture tells us another, which voice will carry greater weight? When our emotions pull us in one direction and God's commands in another, which authority will govern our steps?
Perhaps the most searching question is this: Are there any areas of your life where you are asking Scripture to submit to your experience rather than asking your experience to submit to Scripture?
Or, as Schlatter so memorably put it, are you standing on the Bible or standing under it?