p. 547 | REVELATION AND INSPIRATION

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 9, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 35.

REVELATION AND INSPIRATION.

By Samuel T. Spear, D. D.

THE entire teaching of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, on all subjects contained therein, is embraced in the general term "revelation," as ordinarily used among Christians. This revelation, considered as existing in the printed form, and found in a single volume, is usually called "The Bible."

The question whether the original record, of which this Bible is a translation or a copy, while human in its relation to those who wrote it, was also divine in the sense that God inspired and directed the writers thereof, and thus annexed his authority to what they wrote, cannot be determined by any a priori process of speculation. We are not competent to decide beforehand how God, if giving a revelation to this world other than that of the light of nature, would do so, whether it would be by a direct and special inspiration of all men, or by the inspiration of some men to act as his messengers and the teachers of others. The latter is the method which appears in the Bible itself, and if we accept this book at all as containing a revelation from God, then we must equally accept its teaching in regard to its own inspiration as the main, if not exclusive, guide of thought on the subject. What, then, does the Bible say on this point? The answer of this question will be the purpose of the present article.

1. The New Testament fully commits its authority to the inspiration and divine authority of the Old Testament. Paul, in his epistle to the Hebrews, referring to the Old Testament, expressly says: "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." Heb. 1:1, 2. The same apostle, having reminded Timothy that "from a child" he had known "the holy Scriptures," immediately adds that "all Scripture"—namely, the entire body of writings then known as "the holy Scriptures"—"is given by inspiration of God." 2 Tim. 3:15, 16. Peter, referring to the same Scriptures, declares that "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost;" and in the same connection, and with the same reference, he speaks of the "more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well to take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place." 2 Peter 1:18, 21.

The phrases, "As the Holy Ghost saith," and "It is written," are common methods in which the writers of the New Testament often refer to the Scriptures of the Old Testament as of divine authority. Every attentive reader of the Bible must be familiar with this fact. Christ and his apostles were in the habit of quoting from the Old Testament Scriptures, as the means of confirming their own teaching, without the remotest hint that they were not, as a whole and in all their parts, absolutely authoritative. The phrase "oracles of God," which means the sayings of God, is in the New Testament applied to these Scriptures; and sometimes they are spoken of as "the word of God." Rom. 3:2, and 1 Peter 4:11. "Thus saith the Lord" is the imprimatur which is scattered all through the writings of the Old Testament; and the New Testament gives its sanction to this view.

In a word, the Old Testament, according to the teaching of Christ and his apostles, was "given by inspiration of God," and rested, as it now rests, upon his authority. If we accept the New Testament as of divine authority, we must equally accept the Old Testament as having the same authority. It is not logically possible to avoid this necessity.

2. The writings composing the New Testament, with the exception of the Gospel of Mark, that of Luke, and the book of Acts, are the products of apostolic pens; and, in the following passages, Christ, before his death, made definite promises to his apostles in respect to their inspiration.

"And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." Matt. 10:18-20.

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." John 14:26. "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth . . . and he will show you things to come." John 16:13.

Here, in his own language, is the inspiration which Christ, before his death, promised to "the apostles whom he had chosen," as the means of qualifying them for the work assigned to them. The promise is that the Holy Ghost would bring his teaching to their remembrance, guide them into all truth, give them

the words which they ought to speak, show them "things to come," and permanently "abide" with them. When Christ met his apostles, just prior to his ascension, he thus summarized this promise: "But ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." Acts 1:5. This was said only seven days before the wonderful scenes of the Pentecostal day, when the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles and they spake with "other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts 2:4. The sermon preached by Peter on that day was not thought out beforehand, but was prepared on the spot, and for the occasion, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, alike in respect to the ideas conveyed and the language used by the apostle. What he said the Holy Ghost said through him. The record extends the inspiration to the utterance, as well as to the thoughts uttered.

This case, moreover, is a typical one in the sense that it represents the inspiration of the Holy Ghost as it was to continue to the apostles, and as in fact it did continue with them, throughout their entire career, thereby qualifying them, whether in speaking or writing, truthfully to report the life of Christ, to repeat his sayings, to state the plan and will of God in respect to human salvation, and, in short, to speak and write under a guidance of the Holy Ghost that invested their words with divine authority. They in all respects conducted their ministry, and some of them wrote epistles, as if they were speaking and writing by the authority and under the direction of God. This they assumed in their own behalf; and to the truth of the assumption, as well as to the ministry based upon it, God himself bore "witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will." Heb. 2:4. Inspiration, in a sense and to an extent that protected them against error in ideas and in the use of words, while lying upon the face of their ministry as an assumption on their part, is no more than what Christ had expressly promised to them.

3. Paul, the most voluminous writer in the New Testament, was not one of the original twelve apostles, but was, by a special call after Christ had ascended into Heaven, converted and appointed unto the apostleship. He claimed to be an apostle and to have been taught "by the revelation of Jesus Christ." Gal. 1:12. What he thought in regard to his own inspiration, as well as that of the other apostles, appears in the following words from his pen:—

"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." 1 Cor. 2:12, 13.

The inspiration, here asserted, is not limited to ideas, leaving the language used to the uncertainties of human nature, but extends to the words employed, and if this was true when the apostles spoke, it must have been equally true when he wrote, unless he himself, as he did in one or two instances, makes an express disclaimer otherwise.

It was the general practice of Paul, in writing his epistles, to announce himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ, thereby implying his inspiration and authority to bind the faith and conscience of those to whom he wrote. "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God," are the words with which he opens his epistle to the Romans. The ensuing parts of this epistle, containing an elaborate expansion of the gospel system, are presented, not as if he were merely giving his opinions upon his own authority, but as if he were, what he professed to be, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to whom God had revealed his Son, and who was qualified, in the words "which the Holy Ghost teacheth," to explain the doctrine of God in regard to that Son. To the Galatians he thus announced himself: "Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead." To the Thessalonians he said: "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord." 1 Thess. 4:15. He assumed that inspiration attached to the apostleship which he had received from Jesus Christ, "for obedience to the faith among all nations," and in this respect he magnified his office, and claimed the exercise of its powers. His language, whether in speaking or writing, is that of authority, not his own, but of the Lord, whose cause he represented.—Samuel T. Spear, D. D., in N. Y. Independent.

(Concluded next week.)