Bible Ideas in Bible Words.
By Independent
It is the habit of some ministers in their sermons, whether written or ex tempore, to think and speak largely in the language of the Bible. Bible terms, Bible sentences, and parts of sentences, and Bible incidents and illustrations penetrate, color, and characterize their style. They thus think and speak apparently without effort, and almost without any special consciousness of so doing. They are thoroughly familiar with the Scriptures, alike in respect to their contents and forms of expression; and, hence, the language of the Bible naturally comes into their minds, and just as naturally flows from their lips. The Book of God is not a mere convenience to furnish a text on which to hang a sermon. It also furnishes thoughts, words, and whole sentences; and these materials are, in rich and ample profusion, scattered all through the discourses of these preachers. Any one who has ever read “Jay’s Exercises,” whether for the “morning” or the “evening,” must have been struck with this feature of his style. Both of these books consist of short sermons, and both supply an admirable illustration of Bible ideas in Bible words. We are of the opinion that the habit of such preachers is an exceedingly good one. The exact language of the Bible is certainly always in order on the preacher’s lips; and if it were more freely used than is generally the fact, the ministers of the gospel would not only pay a becoming tribute to the word of God, as the supreme authority for what they preach, but would add to the power and usefulness of their discourses. They would preach more like ambassadors for Christ, and less like one who is simply delivering a popular lecture, and concerned mainly to create a momentary sensation. If, for example, the theme of a particular sermon is what, among theologians, is usually designated as the atonement of Christ, we do not know what better thing the preacher can do than to state the doctrine in the words of the Bible, endeavoring with all fidelity and earnestness to impress upon his hearers their full import. These are the words which God has chosen to use for the doctrine; and this is a good reason why the preacher should use them. Where will he find any better words, truer words, or any words more adapted to convey the idea intended, or to impress the heart with that idea? Why not say that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures;” that he “tasted death for every man;” that he “his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree;” that he “hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God;” that he “hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us;” that he is “the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world;” and that “the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all”? These and other passages of similar import are Bible forms of stating the atonement upon which human salvation depends. The great fact which appears in such statements is that of Christ himself dying for sins and in behalf of sinners, as “the Lamb of God” laying down his own life, “the just for the unjust,” and becoming “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” The Bible has no hesitation in setting forth this fact with great prominence and constant reiteration, thus presenting a suffering Saviour who endured the bitter anguish of death on the cross in the plan and process of our redemption. This is the one aspect of Christ and his work which the Lord’s Supper especially emphasizes and commemorates, and which, by appointing the Supper for this purpose, he meant that his people should remember in all ages. The Christian pulpit certainly can do no better than to think and preach the doctrine just as the Bible thinks and preaches it. I need not, in order to make the doctrine intelligible to the head, or impressive to the heart, or unobjectionable to cavilers, supplement it with any human philosophy, and should not dodge or evade the plain statements of the Word of God on this subject. He who has read the Bible story of Christ’s death, and also what he himself and his apostles said about that death, is in possession of the best possible words to aid him in thinking of this death; and, if his ideas correspond with those of the Bible, then to aid him in expressing them to others. He need not concern himself with the theories or the rhetoric of men, since it will be enough to think as the Bible thinks, and preach what it declares. The rule of Bible ideas in Bible words has a pertinent illustration in Christ’s work of suffering for sinners. If the theme of a sermon be the doctrine of inspiration, then the thing for the preacher to do is to ascertain what the Bible says on this subject, and be sure to say the same things. The Bible does say that “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son;” and that “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.” “Which things also we speak,” says Paul, with reference to himself and his associates in the apostolic ministry, “not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.” Here is inspiration as the Bible states it. God spake by the prophets and by his Son; and “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” The apostles spake in the words “which the Holy Ghost teacheth.” God’s authority is annexed to the speaking, and is the voucher for its truthfulness. “Thus saith the Lord” is stamped upon the speaking. The thing spoken is the Word of God coming to the world in the language of men, and through a human medium. The vital fact in the doctrine of inspiration is God’s authority for the thing said or written; and this fact the Bible sets before us in the clearest possible manner. We cannot state the fact in better language than that which it uses. It would be easy to extend these illustrations indefinitely. What we desire to impress upon our readers, is the rule of Bible ideas in Bible words. There is no danger of overworking the rule, and thus making too much of Bible words. The danger is in the opposite direction, and that we shall treat the Bible as an old-fashioned book that, in its style and language, if not in its ideas, is out of date, and that needs to be modernized in order to be adjusted to the advanced thought of the nineteenth century. The Christian pulpit especially should guard itself against this peril, and hold fast “the form,” as well as the substance, “of sound words,” as found in the word of God, making that Word the supreme law of what it thinks and says. The more thoroughly it makes itself a Biblical pulpit, the more will it be in fact what it assumes to be, and the more useful will be its ministrations to the people. No man is fit to be a preacher of the gospel whose head and heart are not completely anchored in the Bible. This is the very first quality of a good preacher. One may be eloquent and attractive without this quality, but a good preacher he cannot be.—Independent.