How many Christians have you heard argue using the following Scripture to support whatever it is they are personally invested in?
"When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth."
"I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now."
I have heard this more times than I can count. In fact, I heard it again this past Sunday in our congregational meeting.
Let us examine the context, shall we? The setting takes place shortly after Jesus and the apostles had eaten the Last Supper. Judas Iscariot had already gone out. Jesus was giving some final words of counsel to His eleven faithful apostles. In due course of this counsel, Jesus says, "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come" (John 16:12-13).
Did you notice that these words were not spoken to the crowds? Did you notice that these words were not spoken to the seventy disciples Jesus had sent out? These words are not even spoken to you and me. These words were only spoken to the eleven apostles!
This passage is a reiteration of what Jesus had previously told His apostles moments before: "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you" (John 14:26). Did Jesus ever say anything personally to you? So how could the Spirit bring to remembrance in you all that Jesus had said?
The early Christians understood John 16:12-13 to apply only to the apostles—at least to direct revelation from God. Not everything Jesus said to His apostles applies to all Christians, or even to the same degree. To believe otherwise is to be ignorant of context and Scripture.
If the Holy Spirit guides us to all truth, then He also guided the Christians of the 2nd and 3rd centuries to all truth as well. Our truth should be the same as theirs. If it is not, one of us has not been following the Spirit's guidance. Guess which one that is logically likely to be?