GREENWICH, APRIL 16TH, 1902
GREENWICH, APRIL 16TH, 1902
My Dear Brother, — A sharp attack of lumbago which has confined me to bed for the last two days, has hindered my answering your letter sooner, so I must ask you to excuse the delay. I am very sorry that you should have been disturbed by any statements that have come under your attention, at the same time you can well understand that I can hardly accept responsibility for things that are put forward by brothers as their own apprehension, though I may and do regret the bold way in which things are sometimes conveyed, and the unnecessary forcing on the attention of saints of points as to which there might be divergence of judgment. This does not make for peace and is to be deprecated. As regards the particular matter to which you refer, I can hardly believe that there is any brother in fellowship who would deliberately assert that the Scriptures are not the ‘word of God’, or any meeting that would tolerate such an idea. Of course much would depend on what has been in a man’s intention in making a statement, and many modifications might be brought in. If it were in the [p. 185] intention of a brother to lay stress on the intensely moral force of the expression ‘Word of God’ in its use in Scripture, in contrast to the formal liberal thought, or on the contrast between revelation and inspiration, I could sympathise with him, but this would in no wise deny that the Scripture is the Word of God. It is probably the fact that there never was any revelation of God or of His mind that was made directly through Scripture. In the earliest, God spoke on mount Sinai, or to Moses from off the mercy-seat, then holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, then the Word of God came to John the baptist in the wilderness, then He whom God sent spoke the words of God, for God gave not the Spirit by measure to Him, then the mystery was made known to the apostles and prophets by the Spirit. The true idea of revelation is the direct communication of God’s mind to man without the intervention of any agency. And in the present time the truth is maintained here by the Spirit of truth. God in His mercy has been pleased to give an inspired record of His communications, and of the circumstances in which they came, and the effects produced by them, and this as being inspired and authoritative is the Word of God and cannot be broken; but this cannot set aside the living way in which God has seen fit to put Himself in communication with men, especially in ‘the Son’. I only throw this out as possibly the meaning of the brother to whom you refer, though I have no idea who it may be, and do not intend to hold myself responsible for his statements, but only suggest what may have underlain his thoughts. May the good Lord give us grace to follow the things that make for peace and whereby we may edify one another.
With love in the Lord,
Believe me,
Your affectionate brother,
F. E. Raven.