DIVINE INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES

God has been graciously pleased to reveal Himself, and His mind, having made known to us the mystery of His will. And He has given us a divinely inspired transcript of all this, which is spoken of as the “Holy Scriptures”. “Every scripture is divinely inspired” &c., 2 Tim 3: 16. “Prophecy was not ever uttered by the will of man, but holy men of God spake under the power of the Holy Ghost”, 2 Pet 1: 21.

It is not for man to criticise what God has caused to be written. In the presence of divine revelation, there is no place for human reason. Revelation is the province of faith. If God has spoken, man is responsible not to reason, but to believe. The gospel is preached for the “obedience of faith”, Rom 1: 5. To call in question what God has revealed is to give the lie to God. It is the height of human pride and folly for the creature to criticise what God has revealed. Human reason has its place in connection with the things of this world. Science is the discovery by human observation and reason of what exists, it cannot tell us how these things came to exist. Revelation tells us that all that exists came into being by the creative power of God, He “created all things by Jesus Christ”, Eph 3: 9. True science cannot therefore contradict revelation; if it does so, it is science falsely so called. Apart from divine revelation the creature would have been left in ignorance of God, in a state of darkness. Man by searching cannot find out God, the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.

What a great mercy it is that God has given, and preserved to us the Holy Scriptures. Without them we should have no standard of truth. “To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them”, Isa 8: 20. Men’s opinions constantly differ, the teachings of science vary from time to time, what was regarded as truth yesterday is discarded tomorrow.

The Lord and His apostles appealed frequently to the Old Testament Scriptures, thus putting on them the stamp of divine authority. He said the Scriptures “cannot be broken”, John 10: 35. He unfolded to the disciples in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself, Luke 24: 27, 45, &c.. He referred the rationalistic Sadducees to the Scriptures, and reproved them for their ignorance of them, Matt 22: 29.

In the temptation the Lord, in answering Satan, quoted from the book of Deuteronomy, the part of the Old Testament first called in question by the higher critics. Yet even Satan dare not call these Scriptures in question. He retreated before the word of God. The word of God is the sword of the Spirit. Paul reasoned with the Jews out of the Scriptures, proving that Jesus was the Christ, Acts 17: 2. He commended the Bereans, because they searched the Scriptures, to verify what he preached. Apollos mightily convinces the Jews publicly, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. Paul connected his gospel with the Scriptures, Rom 1: 2, 3; 1 Cor 15: 3 and 4. He reminded Timothy that from a child he had known the Holy Scriptures. No other writings could be rightly called “holy writings”. Peter recognised the writings of Paul as part of the Holy Scriptures, saying that the unlearned wrested his writings, as they did the other Scriptures. All the apostles in their writings appealed to the Old Testament.

The Scriptures together form one complete record of all that God has been pleased to reveal for our instruction. To call in question one part is to invalidate the whole. It must be received entirely or rejected entirely. We cannot choose what we will receive, and what we will reject. The Bible has been preserved to us and handed down as a whole, in spite of every effort of Satan and man to destroy it. That in itself proves that it is divine. The Bible is a wonderful book like no other. A book that has been compiled by the mind of man can be mastered by the mind of man, but no one has ever mastered the Bible. Those most deeply and spiritually taught would be the first to admit this. They turn to it continually to find in it fresh depths of wisdom and knowledge. This distinguishes it from every other book.

If we had no divinely inspired Scriptures of truth, we should be like a mariner at sea without stars, chart, or compass. We should be like a man walking in the dark, not knowing whither he was going. We should have nothing to fall back upon but the shifting opinions of mortal men. Christ is the key to the Scriptures, as He said, “They which testify of me”, John 5: 39. “He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself”, Luke 24: 27. The great subject of the Scriptures is the revelation of God in Christ. They are the compendium and standard of the truth. They set forth the relation of everything to God. They tell me the truth of what God is; they tell me the truth of what I am, my experience verifies them. Shall I be so foolish as to prefer my own ideas, or the teachings of fallible men, to that which God has caused to be written for our instruction and guidance, especially in things that pertain to our eternal destiny, things that none but God can know? One has come from God, One who is God, has come to tell us these things, and His words have been recorded by the Spirit of God in the Scriptures.

While it is possible there may have been minor imperfections in the copying of the Scriptures, in the days before printing, or in the translation, yet it is remarkable how God has preserved them; none of these things affect any vital doctrine. The better translation may make the passage clearer, or more emphatic. It is very wonderful, in spite of all the efforts of Satan and man to destroy it, how God has preserved the Bible to us; no other book has been preserved in the same way for thousands of years.

We must remember that we cannot understand the Scriptures, save by the teaching of the Holy Spirit. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned”, 1 Cor 2: 14. We may find many things in the Scriptures which at present we do not understand, but at any rate we must receive them, and wait upon God to give us understanding. The more we understand the Scriptures, as taught of God, the more their divine authorship becomes apparent. To one thus taught of God they need no external corroborative evidence. None but those spiritually ignorant could have any doubt on this point. In divine things, those who think themselves wise become fools. God makes foolish the wisdom of this world, and takes the wise in their own craftiness. “Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes”, Matt 11: 25.

I will now give further quotations to show how inseparably the Old and New Testaments are bound up together. Christ, as we have already said, abundantly authenticated the Old Testament Scriptures, as we and the Jews have them, by His frequent quotations from them. “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself”. Again, He said: “All things … which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me”. “Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, ‘Thus it is written” &c., Luke 24: 27 and 44-46. “Did not Moses give you the law?” &c., John 7: 19. “There is one that accuseth you, even Moses in whom ye trust, for had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me”, John 5: 45, 46. “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them ... If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead”, Luke 16: 29. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets ... till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law”, Matt 5: 17, 18. In Luke 4, the Lord authenticated the prophet Isaiah, and the books of the Kings, reading from the former, and quoting the history of Elijah and Elisha. Even the book of Daniel, the prophet which has been specially called in question by the higher critics, is authenticated by the Lord’s quotation from it, Matt 24: 15.

All this proves that if the Old Testament Scriptures be rejected, the teaching of Christ, and also of the apostles, must also be rejected, and that of all the other New Testament writers, for they likewise everywhere affirm the inspiration of the Old Testament Scriptures. We may consider a few of their quotations. The apostle Paul, in the epistle to the Romans, substantiates his teaching by quoting frequently from the Old Testament, see Rom 1: 2 and 3; 3: 10-19; 4: 3-8, 17-23; 5: 12-14; 7: 1, 2; 8: 36; 9: 4, 7-33; 10: 5, 11-15; 11: 2, 8, 9, 26; 13: 9; 14: 11; 15: 3, 4, 8, 9-13; 1 Cor 9: 9; 10: 1-14; 11: 8; 15: 3, 4, 54, 55; 2 Cor 3: 7-15; Gal 3: 6, 8-11, 14-18; 4: 22-30. See also many quotations all through the epistle to the Hebrews. In Acts 2, Peter’s address is based on quotations from the Old Testament, and he frequently appeals to them in the following chapters. So also Stephen in his address to the Jews in Acts 7. Paul, whenever he addresses the Jews, appeals to their own scriptures, Acts 13 and 22.

Peter in his first epistle declares that the Spirit of Christ was in the prophets, chap 1: 10-12. See also chap 2 4-9, 24, 25; 3: 20. In his second epistle he recognises the prophetic word, as that spoken by holy men of God, under the power of the Holy Ghost, “the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost”, 2 Pet 1: 21. In chapter 3, he refers to the flood, and the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, thus accrediting the account given in the book of Genesis.

The apostle John, also, frequently refers to the Scriptures of the Old Testament. He declares that the law was given by Moses. John the baptist cites the prophet Isaiah for the explanation of his ministry. When Philip finds Nathaniel, he says, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write”, John 1: 45. And Nathaniel in his confession quotes Psalm 2. The apostle refers to the lifting up of the serpent, as recorded in the book of Numbers, chap 3: 14. In chapter 5: 39 the Lord accredits the Scriptures saying, “they testify of me”. In chapter 6, He refers to the account of the manna as given in Exodus. In chapter 19, Psalm 34: 20 and Zech 12: 10 are quoted.

The apostle James refers to the dispersion of the twelve tribes as given in the Old Testament, to the history of Abraham, the giving of the law, to Rahab, to the history of Job, and to Elijah. He quotes from the book of Proverbs, and accredits the prophets as having spoken in the name of the Lord.

The apostle Jude authenticates the book of Genesis, referring to the account of Adam, Enoch, Cain, Korah, and Balaam, and to the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah. The four evangelists frequently refer to the Old Testament Scriptures, as did the Lord Himself; the instances are too many to cite.

A large part of the Revelation is built up on the prophet Daniel. Indeed, it indicates the future fulfilment of that prophetic testimony.

It is very striking to see how many of the different books of the Old Testament have been verified by the quotations of the New Testament writers. The divine stamp has thus been unmistakably put upon them. All this goes to prove that the Scriptures hang together as one complete whole, to invalidate one part is to invalidate the whole. It is not left to us to pick and choose what we will receive, and what we will reject. It all bears the divine stamp, and must be received in its entirety. It is by that by which men will be judged, if they reject the testimony of God. In these days when scepticism is so rapidly increasing among the religious teachers in Christendom, may we value increasingly and cleave tenaciously to the Holy Scriptures.

December 1924