HOW THE BIBLE CAME FROM GOD.
By Daniel Van Pelt
Up on the top of the mount,—of dread Mount Sinai,—Moses received the two tables of stone. On them were written, by God's own finger, the law of the ten commandments. Could we but learn that the whole book of Holy Scripture was in some such way prepared by God,—written by his own hand,—it would be easy to comprehend how the Bible came from God. No one, however, has ever maintained such a theory of inspiration. But might not God have so possessed himself of the different men who composed the various parts of Scripture, that he, as it were, used their hands to write the words which he wished to be recorded for the instruction of men? If he had so done, it would practically have served the same purpose as actually to have written with his own divine finger. It would, with equal certainty, have been the word of God as given by himself. But if God had used these holy men of old thus (and some claim that he did) as mere instruments,—as mere pens, so to speak, in his hand,—would the characteristics of these different men have shone so clearly through what they wrote? Would there not have been a severe and solemn sameness from one end of Scripture to the other? Would it not have been all the same whether David or Solomon, Isaiah or Moses, Paul or Peter, penned the words? Could we have known the man from their writings! But this sameness we do not find; we find that the writings of one or the other are just such as we should expect from his known temperament, or the circumstances of his history. In some way, then, God used these holy men as men; as variously constituted, with minds and faculties of their own. He employed them in no mechanical way. As we read the Bible we observe certain very striking things. We behold Jehovah appearing unto Abraham, and telling him of future prosperity and greatness; that is, he holds audible converse with the patriarch, as a man speaketh with his friend, face to face. We see Moses in the mount, looking at heavenly things of which he must construct patterns upon the earth; namely, the tabernacle, with the priestly services and ceremonies thereof. We hear voices coming from Heaven to men, revealing strange portents. Later on we find prophets speaking with confidence about great future events; and specially about the coming of a great person, ages hence. We notice marvelous reasonings in the epistles, and mysterious signs in the closing book of Scripture. Now such things as these clearly came direct from God. They were special revelations, undoubtedly given by God; and necessarily so, as else they could never have been known. Neither is there any difficulty or obscurity about the way in which they were given by God; we, as it were, hear them with the ear, and see them with the eye. Is this, then, the inspiration of which the Bible speaks when it says: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God?" is this the way the Bible came to be? No; for if things unknown and unknowable alone constitute what was given by God, then a very large part of the Bible cannot be ascribed to him. For what becomes of all the historical matter it contains, whether in Old or New Testament? Such things as historical events were known by the writers before they wrote them, were known among the people; it needed no special aid from God to know them. But now as we look into some of these Bible histories, what do we observe? There is, for instance, that wondrous history which opens the volume. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The ring of eternity is in these words! But let us reckon from the creation of man, recorded in the first chapter of Genesis, to the death of Moses, in the last chapter of Deuteronomy; and more than twenty centuries intervene. How many volumes would be required to describe the history of the world from the time of Alexander the Great to the present hour? Yet the history of a period equally long is contained within a few pages of our ordinary Bibles. So hear what John says at the close of his gospel: "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." Why, then, leave out so many things, and complete the history of Christ within a few leaves of a single book? With such a vast amount of material before them, why and how did Moses and John select only certain parts? Ah! here entered the wisdom of God. He directed the minds of the writers in the choice of essentials; and so far what they wrote, of all that might have been written, was given by God. As, then, matters strike us thus far, inspiration of the Bible seems to include the revelation by God of the unknown and unknowable things; and the selection by God of known things. Such revelation made by God, and such selection directed by him, resulting in the sacred Scriptures, made them the gift of God. Thus we may look upon the whole Bible, part by part, as given by God. But we have hardly reached the true nature of inspiration as yet. Special audible, visible, or prophetical revelations, are means towards it. Selection of essential from among known matters, is one of the results of it. But neither states of ecstasy or exaltation, accompanying and facilitating revelation, nor suggestion, or direction, or superintendence in selection, either separately or combinedly, constitute inspiration. It is something deeper and more radical yet. The question remains, How did God reach these writers? How did the bible come from God through men? The answer is Scripture's own: "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." The world of thought and emotion is a strange world. Thoughts come and go; feelings are awakened and pass away,—and we know not whence they come, nor whither they go. It is indeed a world of caprice and waywardness. The body is subject to rigid laws. We must eat at regular intervals. We open the eyes, and the eyes must see. We move the feet, and the body must move along. Force may compel the body to occupy a certain position, even though we desire it not. It is different in the realm of thought and feeling. We discover no such rigid exactions here. Thought will be free, and the feelings cannot be forced. The influences at work are inscrutably subtle. We have a thought. Whence came it? Why came it just now? Why came it at all? Again, how did this feeling come so strongly and so suddenly upon us? We did not call it; it came unbidden! But just in the midst of this subtileness of influence, this caprice and wild freedom among the thoughts and feelings, we discover vast opportunities for the operations of God's Holy Spirit. It takes the man entirely as he is; makes no dead instrument of him, but uses him with all his peculiarities of mind and character. The thoughts come; the feelings are aroused; they move in the channels in which the man's other thoughts and feelings have moved and do move,—he speaks, he writes, and lo, the things that come from him are of God! These things came not by the will of the man, the writer; he did not sit down with the purpose of laboring to produce the thoughts. The thoughts came upon him by special divine influence, and what he thought and felt he brought forth in his own way. Yet in a high and real sense, also, what he brought forth was eminently of God. Thus came into existence the poetry of the Bible: the songs of David, the proverbs of Solomon, the deep reflections of Job. Thus the prophets spake, with the still more special aid of visions and voices superadded. Thus, in a natural and yet supernatural way, was Paul sustained in his high and abstruse reasonings. Thus entered the thoughts into the hearts of Paul and the other apostles, which took shape in tenderly affectionate counsels, and faithful and searching rebukes and expostulations. Thus the historians, as their eyes glanced over the teeming field of history, were strengthened and enlightened in their judgments, to choose the right and appropriate circumstances for the sacred record. Feeble, very feeble, after all we can say, must ever remain our conception of the great and wonderful fact of inspiration. Yet what we have just been saying may help along, at least to some extent, to make us understand how it is that the Bible, though written by men, came from God. His influence over the minds of these holy men could be, and was, direct and potent. He could and did so convey his truth unto them, that they need not be mistaken about its being from him. His influence, of course, was still near as they wrote. His omniscient eye was upon them, and he could prevent errors in the presentation. Therefore we can have perfect confidence that the Bible given by God not only contains, but is, his everlasting truth. We can build upon it for eternity! We can point humanity to it for the solution of all our doubts and fears, for the creation of mighty hopes that swallow up the grave itself! The Bible is an unspeakable gift, direct from God. Let men see to it how they use that gift!—Rev. Daniel Van Pelt.