I. The Inspiration Of The Scriptures. This may be shown by the combined testimony of Moses, the Psalmist, the Prophets of our Lord, and also of the Apostles and Evangelists. Consider:
1. The language of Moses. Now what does Moses say of his own writings? “Thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep His statutes and His commandments, which are written in this book of the law.”
2. The language of the Psalmist. David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel, claims inspiration for those psalms which are of his own composition. “The Spirit of the Lord,” he says, “spake by me.” And what are his other testimonies respecting the word of God at large? Very wonderful, he says, are its properties. It is the grand instrument, he tells us, in the sinner’s conversion. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.”
3. The language of the prophets. What does Jeremiah say concerning his own writings? The Lord commanded Jeremiah to set down in a book certain prophecies. Those prophecies Baruch read in the audience of the king and the princes. And what is said respecting Baruch’s reading? “Then read he in the book the words of the Lord in the house of the Lord.” He read in the book “the words of the Lord.”
4. The language of Christ. He met His adversaries with the Scripture.
5. The language of the Evangelists and Apostles. Our Lord, before His departure, promised to send to His disciples the Holy Ghost. “And when He is come, He will bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have spoken unto you.” The Evangelists and Apostles, therefore, wrote under the controlling power of the Holy Ghost. “All Scripture, wrote St. Peter,” is given by inspiration of God,” or, is “God-breathed.” That Scripture Timothy had known from a child; arid that Scripture was able to make Timothy “wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” By that term “Scripture,” which was able to make its readers savingly acquainted with Christ, was meant the Old Testament writings. Now, these Old Testament books are directly quoted or alluded to in the New Testament several hundreds of times. There are more than eighty such references in St. Matthew; more than thirty in St. Mark; more than fifty in St. Luke; forty in St. John; more than fifty in the Acts of the Apostles; more than seventy in the Romans.
II. Words of counsel.
1. Beware of the sin of unbelief. God has given us-a revelation. The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken. That revelation contains difficulties and mysteries. Our Lord was satisfied with the Old Testament, and we, therefore, should surely be satisfied. But we have, in addition, a most clear commentary on the Old Testament. We have the New Testament.
2. Cultivate a childlike spirit. Our Lord has plainly told us that, except we be converted and become as little children, we shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
3. Receive all that the Bible reveals. In the Bible, as St Peter tells us, there are many things “hard to be understood.” This is no more than we ought to expect, when the infinite God reveals Himself to a finite being like man. Those things, however, which are necessary for our salvation--sin, death, hell, heaven, the general resurrection, the atonement of Christ, the work of the Spirit--are written so plainly “that he may run that reads.” (C. Clayton, M. A.)
God the Author of Scripture
Who built St. Paul’s Cathedral? So many masons, carpenters, iron-workers, carvers, painters--and then there was Wren. Yes, there was Christopher Wren. He was not a mason, nor a carpenter, nor an ironworker. He never laid a single stone, drove a nail, or forged a railing. What did he do? He did it all. He planned the splendid edifice: inspired with his thought and purpose all their toil, and wrought through every worker. They were his “hands,” and people flock to-day in their thousands from all over the world to see Christopher Wren’s masterpiece. Who wrote the Bible? Moses, David, Isaiah, John, Paul? Yes. But the Holy Spirit did it all. “Holy men of old spake as they were borne along by the Holy Ghost.”
Plenary inspiration of Scripture
In an interesting little pamphlet, written by the late Dr. A. J. Gordon, and called “Three weeks with Joseph Rabinowitz,” there are several striking expressions uttered by the Russian Jew. “What is your view of inspiration?” we asked him, in order to draw him out concerning certain much-mooted questions Of our time. “My view is,” he said, holding up his Hebrew Bible, “that this is the Word of God; the Spirit of God dwells in it; when I read it, I know that God is speaking to me; and when I preach it, I say to the people, ‘Be silent, and hear what Jehovah will say to you.’ As for comparing the inspiration of Scripture with that of Homer or Shakespeare,” he continued, “it is not a question of degree, but of kind.. Electricity will pass through an iron bar, but it will not go through a rod of glass, however beautiful and transparent, because it has no affinity for it. So the Spirit of God dwells in the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures, because these are His proper medium, but not in Homer or Shakespeare, because He has no affinity with these writings.”
