THE SUPREMACY OF THE PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN WORD.
By W. A. Alway
TO-DAY, as in all past ages, there is an important issue dividing Christendom into two distinct classes, tho not necessarily along specific church lines. Nevertheless it is an issue so clear and vital, and exerting so important an influence on the decision of all religious questions that the respective representatives of these classes can not long travel the same pathway. I refer to the position accorded the previously-written word of God by its avowed friends. One class gives to the Bible the place of undisputed supremacy. To them its utterances are authoritative and conclusive, and by its standard all church discipline, spiritual gifts, and the utterances of its ordained representatives are tested. The other class is composed of all those who, while admitting the sacred character of the Scriptures, have for various reasons given them a secondary position, and have made supreme their own personal judgment, or the supposedly infallible decisions of church councils and popes, or the unquestioned authority of an earthly priesthood, perpetuated by a fleshly succession from some other human being believed to have been heaven-appointed. The testimony of the ancient prophet of God states an important truth affirming the impotency of man to successfully direct his own feet in the way of life. Jer. 10:23: “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” “He,” therefore, “that trusteth in his own heart is a fool” (Prov. 28:26); for “there is a way that seemeth* right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Since man can not be guided by any resource within himself, it must necessarily follow that He who has thus created man must also provide a standard outside, and independent of man’s own wisdom, desires, impulses, and passions, to which in safety to his own soul he must yield implicit submission. The psalmist in pursuance of this same thought says: “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?” Note the inspired reply. It is not by consulting his own highest conception of right, nor yet his emotions or desires; neither is he recommended to follow the highest standard of the cultured age in which he lives; but he cleanses his way “by taking heed thereto according to Thy word.” Ps. 119:9. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Verse 105. The Word Recorded for Future Generations.
Much of the Scriptures, perhaps the greatest portion of them, were prophetic in their character, and had specific application, not alone or mainly to the generation in which it was written, but to the peoples who were to live in the distant future. They outlived future events and revealed the dangers and deceptions that were to be avoided by God’s faithful children. Thus to the king of Babylon it was declared that the vision was given to make known “what shall be in the latter days.” Dan. 2:28. The vision of the eighth chapter was stated by the angel Gabriel to apply to the time of the end, and Daniel himself was commanded to seal up the vision “to the time of the end.” Dan. 12:4. The apostle Paul confirms this vital truth by the sweeping declaration that “whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we thru patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4); and we are admonished to give heed to these ancient writings “as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn.” 2 Peter 1:19. Speaking by the Holy Spirit, Stephen declared that the ancient fathers had “received the lively oracles” from God, not to be superseded by more modern commands, but to be preserved and delivered unto us—the church. Acts 7:38. Paul testifies that “all scripture is given by inspiration of God,” and is not to become a dead letter, obsolete in the practise of the church; but is to continue to be a living authoritative standard of doctrine, profitable for “instruction in righteousness.” 2 Tim. 3:15-17; 4:1, 2. After quoting several verses from the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, Peter, so far from affirming its obsolete character, testifies that it lived still and would abide forever. 1 Peter 1:23-25. W. A. ALWAY. [The concluding part of this article will be published next week. It will deal with “Christ and the Previously Written Word.”]