The word Inspiration itself is evidently a figure. It may be illustrated by another word. “Inspiration” is a breathing into: “influence” is a flowing into: neither word is self-explanatory; the former, like the latter, may clearly admit of degrees and modifications. The word Inspiration occurs twice in the English Version of the Bible. “But there is a spirit
ðíåõ͂ìá
in man: and the inspiration
ðíïç̀
of the Almighty giveth them understanding” (Job_32:8). “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God
èåḯðíåõóôïò
, and is profitable for doctrine,” etc. (2Ti_3:16). In the one passage instruction is the chief thought, in the other edification. The word occurs twice also in the Prayer-book. “Grant to us Thy humble servants that by Thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good,” etc. (Collect for the fifth Sunday after Easter). “Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love Thee,” etc. (Collect in the Communion service). In both these sanctification is the end in view. Definition is still wanting. In several passages of the Epistles (as, for example, Rom_15:4, and 2Pe_1:20-21) strong terms are employed to describe the objects and uses of Old Testament Scripture as a whole, and its source in the agency of the Holy Spirit. Nothing can be more inclusive than St. Paul’s
ï̔́óá ðñïåãñá́öç
, nothing more emphatic than St. Peter’s
å̓ëá́ëçóáí á̓ðï̀ Èåïõ͂
. Yet definition is still wanting alike of the word and of the thing. Theories of Inspiration have been many, but it is not in conjecture or in reasoning that our idea of it should be sought. The only true view of Inspiration will be that which is the net result of a lifelong study of Scripture itself, with all freedom in registering its phenomena, and all candour in pondering the question, “What saithit concerning itself?” It is easy to see (and the Church of the present day is honest in avowing it) that the real truth must lie somewhere between two extremes--the extreme of verbal inspiration on the one side, and the extreme of a merely human composition on the other.
I. Against the idea of a verbal inspiration of Scripture we are warned by many considerations. Amongst these we may place--
1. Its utter unlikeness to all God’s dealings in nature and grace. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom”--freedom, not bondage; freedom, not rigidity.
2. The language of the New Testament as to the difference between “letter” and “spirit,” between
ãñá́ììá
and
ðíåõ͂ìá
--the deadness of the one, the power of the other. As soon as Inspiration itself is tied to the clause and the sentence, to the precise shape and form of the utterance, and the black and white page of the written or printed book, it too is turned from the
ðïíç̀
into the
÷åéñḯãñáöïí
, and has lost the very
öïñá̀
of the Spirit which made it a
ðñïöçôåé́á
(2Pe_1:21).
3. Such passages, for example, as the opening verses of St. Luke’s Gospel, which speak only of diligent research and a thoughtful judgment as his guides in composing; or St. Paul’s expressions in the seventh chapter of his First Epistle to the Corinthians, as to his speaking not always with authority, but sometimes in the tone of suggestion and advice; or again, St. Peter’s remarks upon the Epistles of St. Paul, which in the same breath he describes, by clear implication, as “scriptures,” and yet characterises with a freedom which would be irreverent and almost impertinent if each line of those “scriptures” had been verbally inspired.
4. The observation of differences of style and method between one Scripture writer and another; the employment, for example, by one of irony and sarcasm, by another of no weapons but those of simple persuasion.
5. The fearful importance attached to each reading and each rendering of each verse and clause of Scripture, if one was, and another was not; the very word dictated or the very thought breathed from heaven.
6. Also the utter grotesqueness of such an idea as the revelation of science, whether astronomy, geology, or ethnology--which yet there would have been if, where such objects are involved, the phrases and the sentences had been literally and verbally inspired of God; implying an anticipation, perhaps by many centuries, of discoveries for which God had made provision in His other gift of reason, and which it would have been contrary to all His dealings thus to forestall. “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity”; that which lie had given faculties for finding out in time, He would not interpose, before the time came, to precipitate.
7. The terrible risk to mankind of pinning down the faith to statements utterly indifferent to spiritual profiting, which yet, if philosophically accurate, must for whole ages bear the appearance of error. And who shall guarantee the Bible, even if accurately written up to the science of the nineteenth century, from being condemned by the science of the twentieth?
II. If such are the confusions and contradictions of the one extreme, the other extreme is yet more perilous. The practical elimination (now so common)of the Divine element in’ Scripture is fatal in every sense to its inspiration.
1. It reduces Scripture to the level (at best) of works of human genius; and, when this is done, makes the question, for each book, a comparative one, in which some books would be exposed to a disparaging judgment.
2. It sends us back to human reasoning, which is on many topics (such, for example, as immortality, forgiveness, and spiritual grace) human guessing, for all our information on things of gravest concern.
3. It contradicts
(1) express declarations of the New Testament Scriptures as to the Divine authority of the Old, as well as
(2) express assertion of Divine illumination, promised and experienced, in the blew Testament writers themselves.
4. It does violence to the continuous doctrine of the Church of all ages, which has from the very first been express and peremptory in its view of the Divinity of the Scripture.
5. It leaves us practically destitute, even of a revelation. Because, though there might be a revelation without an inspiration (that is, a gospel of Christ, brought into the world by Him, and by Him communicated to His apostles, and by them to after ages, without a separate inspiration of the writers of its records), yet, as a matter of fact, it is by Scripture that we test our revelation, and that which shakes the authority of Scripture shakes the certainty of the revelation which Scripture enshrines.
III. Between these two extremes lies somewhere the very truth itself about inspiration. It would be arbitrary to define it so precisely as to unchristianise those who cannot see with us. That there is both a human and also a Divine element in the Bible is quite certain. Some things we may say with confidence.
1. Inspiration left the writer free to use his own phraseology, even his mode of illustrating and arguing.
2. It did not level the characteristic features of different minds,life one could imagine the Epistle to the Galatians written by St. John, or the Epistle of St. James written by St. Paul.
3. It did not supersede the necessity of diligence in investigating facts, nor the possibility of discrepancies in recording them; though it is more than probable that most or all of these would be reconciled if we knew all.
4. While it left the man free in the exercise of all that was distinctive in his nature, education, and habits of thought, it communicated nevertheless an elevation of tone, an earnestness of purpose, a force and fire of holy influence, quite apart and different from that observable in common men.
5. It communicated knowledge to the man of things otherwise indiscoverable, and also to the writer of things which it was the will of God to say by him to the hearer or reader.
IV. While we refrain from definition, it is our duty as Christians to form a high conception of the thing itself for which inspiration is the name.
1. Let usthink what would have become of the
ðáñáöḉêç
itself, under whichever or whatever dispensation, if it had been left to depend upon oral transmission.
2. Let us give weight to the passages (some of them quoted above) which assert Inspiration in the strongest possible terms.
3. Most of all, let us live so much in the study of Scripture, as to acquire that reverent and devout conception of it which is ever deepest and strongest in those who best know it. A Christian man able to treat the Bible slightingly would be a contradiction in terms. (Dean Vaughan.)
Inspiration
The word which is here rendered “inspired of God” is common enough in heathen writers, but this is the only place in which it occurs in Holy Scripture. As the word was common in heathen writers, so is the idea. “Best,” says an ancient Greek poet, “is the word of inspired wisdom.” Another Greek writer speaks of “dreams inspired of God.” The Roman orator Cicero says, “No man was ever great without a certain Divine inspiration.” This last example reminds us that in the Bible also inspiration is in the first instance the attribute of men, not of books. The prophet in the Old Testament is also called the man of the Spirit. Men from God, the Second Epistle of Peter tells us, spake as they were moved of the Holy Ghost. There is a spirit in man, we read in Job, and theinspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. The Divine breath, for that is the idea contained in the words “inspired of God,” is first in a human soul; it is only through the soul that it can be communicated to any word or work. Scripture can only be a body of inspired writings because it is the work of a body of inspired men. Now let us approach the subject from this side, and I think it will lead us to some serviceable truths. All men are not equally capable of inspiration--some have a much greater fitness than others for receiving the Spirit of God. If we wish to see the perfect type of inspiration--inspiration not limited or hampered by any unfitness in its instrument--we must find one in whom there is no sin, but an entire and perfect sympathy with the mind and will of God. One such there is in Scripture, and one only--the man Christ Jesus. No one ever had the Spirit without measure except Him; in other words, no one ever walked the earth besides who was in the true and full sense inspired of God. The Divine breath was in Him, and Him only, the life of every thought and word. Hence the words of Christ have a solitary and supreme value. He says so Himself: “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” The difficulties which are felt at the present time in connection with inspiration should all be brought under review in this light. Every scripture, the text tells us, at least by implication, has a Divine breath in it; there is a Divine purpose which it has onceserved, and which, at a certain stage of human progress, it may profitably serve still; but not every scripture is equally inspired; not every scripture has the final and permanent validity of the words of Christ; and as long as these last find their way to our hearts and work the will of Christ in us, we need not disquiet ourselves because we cannot define the inspiration of Esther, for instance, or of Second Chronicles. When we take the words of Christ as the perfect type of inspired words, and the record of them as the perfect type of inspired Scripture, we see what the essential contents and purpose of inspiration must be. Christ’s words are not monotonous; they are inexhaustible in their fulness; but in them all there is theundertone: One thing is needful. Christ is always saying the same things, and about the same things. The nature of God, the will of God, the true life and destiny of man--these and all that gathers round these are His theme. He aims at making men wise, but it is wise unto Salvation. He never taught a school of history or of science, or even of speculative theology. It was His meat to do the will of Him that sent Him, to declare that will, to win others to do it likewise. We cannot come nearer than the study of His words brings us to a true idea of inspiration; and if what I have said is true at all, it follows that inspiration has to do only with the will of God. The man of the Spirit is not necessarily an infallible observer, an infallible scientist, an infallible historian; in matters unconnected with his inspiration he may share the ignorance or the prejudices of his uninspired contemporaries; but he is, in the measure of his inspiration, an infallible interpreter of the will of God. Could anything be more true than that the words of Christ are profitable for doctrine, or to put it in commoner words, useful for teaching? The truth about God and man and all spiritual realities is revealed in them, and brought home to the mind and heart. They have filled and fertilised the intellect of Christendom for centuries. Are they not useful also for reproof, or more exactly, for conviction? Are there any words in the world that can quicken a dead conscience and make it sting, like His? How many of us have been revealed to ourselves as we listened to Him, and been compelled to cry like the woman of Samaria--“Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did”? Are they not profitable also for correction, for the putting right of what is wrong, and for discipline inrighteousness? But, some one may say, though all this is plain enough in regard to Christ’s words, it is very difficult to apply it to everything in the Bible--for instance, to the historical books; yet the text speaks of every scripture. That is true, and no doubt by every scripture the apostle has the Old Testament in view; there was no other scripture to speak of when he wrote. But I think a little patience and attention will show that this general and practical definition of inspiration is applicable to the whole of the Bible; and if the Bible, from first to last, has this inspiring and educative power for practical spiritual purposes, we must not deny its inspiration on other and alien grounds. Let us take examples from the historical books to make clear what I mean. There are parts of the Old Testament that belong to the clear daylight of history--for example, the story of the last years of David. That story is told in 2 Samuel, from chap. 11. onward. I hardly need to recall it even by mentioning the names of Bathsheba, Uriah, Amnon, Tamar, Absalom, Ahithophel, Joab, Shimei. No one knows who wrote it, but it is not possible to doubt that it rests on the authority of some one in immediate contact with the facts. Now consider how it might have been written. A newspaper reporter often hasto deal with the same materials, and the chances are a thousand to one that in his hands they minister to the defilement and degradation of the community. A secular historian would probably handle them lightly, as the inevitable disorders of an oriental despotism--the natural result of such a situation as David occupied. In neither case would there be room to speak of inspiration. But as it stands in the Bible, that terrible record of crime and its consequences, is in the full sense of the word inspired. It is not written by a sensational reporter, or a pragmatical historian, but by a man of the Spirit. We see lust and blood in it, not with the sensual eye which feels the fascination of moral horrors, but with the holy eye of God. No man ever read it but was awed, shocked, disciplined in righteousness by pity and fear. It is in that sense that the story is inspired. The facts were not inspired; they were the common property of men with and without the Spirit. There could not be a more signal illustration of the power of inspiration than that a narrative like this--all of foulest crime compact--should have virtue in it, when told by an inspired man, to quicken the conscience, and educate the man of God. Take one example more, in some ways the most difficult of all, the first eleven chapters of Genesis. According to the usual chronology these cover a space of something like two thousand years. They do not contain many incidents--Creation, the Fall, the Flood, the origin and dispersion of the nations, are the chief. Now nobody lived through all that period, and at the very earliest these narratives were not written as we have them for centuries after it expired. To what extent they embody traditions; how nearly or how remotely, in any given case, tradition may be related to things as they actually happened; whether a primitive revelation survives in them here or there--all these are questions on which men have been very positive, but on which simple regard for truth precludes positiveness. And what I want to insist upon here, is that the inspirationof these chapters, like that of the rest of the Bible, is not affected by any decision to which we may come on these points. Inspiration has to do with the spirit of the writer, not with his materials. The inspiration of Luke did not provide him with facts about the life of Jesus; he had to learn them from eyewitnesses and catechists; he had to scrutinise and compare documents like another historian. Neither did inspiration, as I believe, supply the writer of Genesis with his materials. What is inspired in his story is what speaks to the spirit, what serves to convict, to correct, to discipline in righteousness; and judged by this standard, there isnothing in the Bible better entitled to claim inspiration than the story, e.g., of the Fall. Compare such a narrative with the use made of similar materials by a pagan writer--a comparison that can fortunately be made--and we see how wonderfully the author must have been filled and uplifted by a Spirit above his own. It is because his writing has this spiritual quality, this permanent power to reveal to us both God and our own heart, that it answers to the description given by Paul of every inspired Scripture. There is only one proof, in the long run, that the Spirit of God is in the Bible; and that is, that it exerts its power through the Bible. The perfection of Scripture is perfection for its purpose, and that purpose is the transformation of character. (James Denney, B. D.)
The inspiration and utility of the Scriptures
I.The inspiration of the scriptures.
1. What is inspiration? It is not revelation, but the infallible record of an infallible revelation.
2. The extent of inspiration. How far were these men guided by the Holy Ghost in the composition of the Scriptures? To every line and word. Yet was not the self-control or intelligent consciousness of the writer destroyed. Each writer retains his own style (see 1Co_2:13; 1Co_12:6).
3. The object of inspiration. To give certainty to that written under its guidance.
4. The proofs of inspiration. Internal evidence. Arguments drawn from the history of these books, from their contents. Christ’s appeal to the Old Testament as of Divine origin. The claim of both writers of Old and New Testaments.
II. The utility of the scriptures. “profitable for,” etc.
1. As an unvarying standard of doctrine. Not a theological statement, but the germ of all true doctrine. From it all doctrine must be derived, and to it all doctrine must be referred.
2. Useful in the confutation of allreligious error. “Profitable for reproof.”
3. Useful as an infallible standard of right and wrong. We cannot trust a pope, a church.
4. Useful for instruction in righteousness. By following its teachings we are brought into fuller measures of perfection. Our sanctification is by the Word. “Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth.” (James Hunter.)
Inspired Scriptures, and their Divine purpose
I.The nature of the writings here spoken of.
II. The object for which the scriptures were written. This object is twofold; first, what the Bible would make man; and next, holy it would accomplish its purpose.
1. What the Scriptures would make man. “That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” It does this by first making him a “man of God.” Religion is not an abstraction--it is a Divine life, and a life which in man makes him a man of God.
2. The standard after which he ever aims is perfection!
3. But we have not only the standard announced, we have also the style of the spiritual education determined--“that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished.”
III. How the scriptures propose making “men of God, throughly furnished, unto all good works.” “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable.”
1. “For doctrine”; that is, for conveying those truths and that learning needful to salvation.
2. Becoming “profitable for reproof.” This word “reproof,” means “conviction.”
3. It becomes “profitable for correction.” This is equally necessary in a volume suitable to save men.
4. Lastly--by “instruction of righteousness.” The unlearning of man’s love to sin, the undoing of his evil habits--this is correction. But after all this is but the negative part of Christian character. It is the abegnation of evil. Christianity inculcates positive good.
IV. The work which holy Scripture is yet destined to do.
1. By the Bible the Church of God mast be purified.
2. By the Bible, as an instrument, the Jews must be converted.
3. By the Bible the great apostasy must be destroyed.
4. By the Bible, instrumentally, the heathen must be converted. (A. M. Brown, LL. D.)
The Bible superhuman
Ishall content myself with stating some plain facts about the Bible, which can neither be denied nor explained away. And the ground I shall take up is this--
I. That these facts ought to satisfy every reasonable inquirer that the bible is of God, and not of man.
1. It is a fact that there is a superhuman fulness and richness in the contents of the Bible. It throws more light on a vast number of most important subjects than allthe other books in the world put together. It boldly handles matters which are beyond the reach of man when left to himself.
2. It is another fact that there is a superhuman wisdom, sublimity, and majesty in the style of the Bible. Strange and unlikely as it was, the writers of Scripture have produced a book which even at this day is utterly unrivalled. With all our boasted attainments in scienceand art and learning we can produce nothing that can be compared with the Bible. To talk of comparing the Bible with other “sacred books” so called, such asthe Koran, the Shasters, or the book of Mormon, is positively absurd. You might as well compare the sun with a rushlight--or Skiddaw with a mole-hill--or Saint Paul’s with an Irish hovel--or the Portland vase with a garden pot--or the Koh-i-noor diamond with a bit of glass. God seems to have allowed the existence of these pretended revelations in order to prove the immeasurable superiority of His own Word.
3. It is another fact, that there is a superhuman accuracy in the facts and statements of the Bible, which is above man. Here is a book which has been finished and before the world for nearly 1800 years. These 1800 years have been the busiest and most changeful period the world has ever seen. During this period the greatest discoveries have been made in science, the greatest alterations in the ways and customs of society, the greatest improvements in the habits and usages of life. But all this time men have never discovered a really weak point or a defect in the Bible. Over and over again the enemies of the Bible have fancied they have detected defects. Again and again they have proved to be mistaken. The march of intellect never overtakes it. The wisdom of wise men never gets beyond it. The science of philosophers never proves it wrong. The discoveries of travellers never convict it of mistakes. Are the ruins of Nineveh and Egypt ransacked and explored? Nothing is found that overturns one jot or tittle of the Bible’s historical statements.
4. It is another fact that there is in the Bible a superhuman suitableness to the spiritual wants of all mankind. It feeds the mind of the labourer in his cottage, and it satisfies the gigantic intellects of Newton, Chalmers, Brewster, and Faraday. It is the only book, moreover, which seems always fresh and evergreen and new. I place these four facts about the Bible before you, and I ask you to consider them well. Take them all four together, treat them fairly, and look at them honestly. Upon any other principle than that of Divine inspiration, those four facts appear to me inexplicable and unaccountable. Not only were its writers isolated and cut off in a peculiar manner from other nations, but they belonged to a people who have never produced any other book of note except the Bible! There is not the slightest proof that, unassisted and left to themselves, they were capable of writing anything remarkable, like the Greeks and Romans. Yet these men have given the world a volume which for depth, sublimity, accuracy, and suitableness to the wants of man, is perfectly unrivalled. How can this be explained? To my mind there is only one answer. The writers of the Bible were Divinely helped and qualified for the work which they did.
II. Let us now consider the privileges which the possession of an inspired book confers upon us.
1. It is a privilege to possess the only book which gives a reasonable account of the beginning and end of the globe on which we live.
2. It is a privilege to possess the only book which gives a true and faithful account of man.
3. It is a privilege to possess the only book which gives us true views of God.
4. It is a privilege to possess the only book which gives a clear account of the full, perfect, and complete provision which God has made for the salvation of fallen man.
5. Finally, it is a privilege to possess the only book which explains the state of things that we see in the world around us.
III. Let us now consider the duties which the possession of God’s oracles entails upon us.
1. First and foremost, let us honour the Bible by making it the supreme rule of faith, the standard measure of truth and error, of right and wrong in our churches.
2. In the next place, if we believe the Bible to be “the oracles of God,” let us show the reality of our belief by endeavouring to spread it throughout the world. (Bp. Ryle.)
Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures
I. In confirmation of this doctrine, we would ask attention to the following considerations and arguments.
1. We would offer a short, clear, and strong argument, from Mr. Wesley. “The Bible,” says he, “must be the invention either of good men or angels, bad men or devils, or of God.”
(1) It could not be the invention of good men or angels; for they neither could nor would make a book, and tell lies all the time they were writing it, saying, “Thus saith the Lord,” when it was their own invention.
(2) It could not be the invention of bad men or devils; for they would not make a book which commands all duty, forbids all sin, and condemns their souls to hell to all eternity.
(3) Therefore we must draw this conclusion, that the Bible must have been given by Divine inspiration--that it is the work of God.
2. Our second argument is derived from prophecy. The ability to foretell future events, especially hundreds of years beforehand, belongs to God alone.
3. The declarations of the Scriptures themselves plainly prove this doctrine. But will not this be proving inspiration by inspiration? It would be so, indeed, did we assume the Bible in this argument to be inspired. But now we take it only as a book of truth, declaring true doctrines and true history; as such we receive it, and by itself prove its inspiration.
II. We pass to consider some objections.
1. The first, and one which is frequently in the mouths of infidels, is that there are contradictions in the Scriptures, and therefore they cannot be inspired.
2. Another class of objections against the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures is founded on the imperfect state of the text, its variations in the reading and punctuations.
3. Another objection which has been urged against plenary or verbal inspiration is founded on the individuality of the sacred writers. The following is our answer:--God speaks to man after the manner of men; and hence He uses human language, and, of course, human language with its imperfections.
Inferences:
1. If the Holy Scriptures are Divinely inspired, human reason ought to be held in abeyance to their teachings.
2. If Divinely inspired, they must teach us truth without any admixture of error.
3. We also infer that, if Divinely inspired, they contain a sufficiency of truth for our salvation. (Stephen M. Vail, M. A.)
The Word of God commended to the man of God in the perilous times of the last days
1. The subject of this text is our own precious Bible.
2. And, assuredly, of the very deepest interest must such a subject be to the sort of person to whom in the text the Spirit, by Paul, addresses Himself, on the Divine inspiration, and authority, and profitableness of the Bible. For it is to “the man of God” the apostle here speaks in commendation of the Word of God. It is to one he writes who (2Ti_3:14-15) had “learned” and “been assured” of “the things” revealed in “the Holy Scriptures,” which “from a child he had known”--who had experimentally proved them to be “able to make him wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” To that sort of person no theme could be more attractive of the deepest interest, than the incalculable preciousness of the Holy Bible (Psa_19:7-11). One thing only could enhance such a man’s estimate of their infinite value, and that one thing was the character of “the times” in which, as peculiarly threatening of dangerous assaults on the Christian faith, the apostle commended the profitableness of the Scriptures and exhorted the man of God to continue to confide in the profitableness of “all Scripture” as “given by inspiration of God.”
3. And yet, though thus employed as the means of enforcing his exhortation to Timothy to “continue in the things which he had learned,” the “perilous” controversies of “the times” are not suffered by any insinuation on the part of the apostle to disturb the certainty in which his young disciple had “been assured” of “the things which he had learned.”
4. Are we “men of God,” “taught of God” to know Him, and with profoundest reverence to acknowledge His authority speaking in His own Word? Then we are of those who spiritually see. To our renewed hearts, as to open healthy eyes, the light of Holy Scripture has come and entered in, carrying with it its own evidence of its Divine authority, and with a power that is irresistible.
I. Whence have we the Bible? It is “of God”--its authority is Divine. When God speaks the highest exercise of man’s reason surely is, in silent submission, to believe and obey, simply because it is the Word of God that is spoken. It is the exercise of a prerogative the noblest birthright of man, to believe God’s truth. In that submission of human reason to the authority of Divine truth, man escapes into freedom! The truth as nothing else can do, emancipates the mind from the debasing slavery to the opinions of men. It puts man as to unseen things in immediate and direct communication alone with God. No creature is allowed to intervene as the Lord of the conscience, when, for the authority of God speaking in it, the word in Holy Scripture is believed. God is then by His Word and Spirit in actual contact with your soul, for your enjoying the most ennobling fellowship with Himself, in the light of truth, and in the perfect freedom of a willing obedience of the truth.
II. In what manner is it given us by God?--“It is given by inspiration of god!“The text here, you observe, does not point to such a mode of communication with man as was used in the Garden of Eden, when, in the cool of the day, the voice of God was heard by Adam talking with him. Nor yet does the text here refer to such a mode of writing down what the voice of God had uttered in man’s hearing, as was once and again practised, when, on two tables of stone, the ten words of the Holy Moral Law were engraven by the immediate finger of God. The text does plainly testify to the Word of God being written, but observe, to that result being attained by what is called “inspiration.” It is God-breathed. That, what is written in the Bible is the Word of God, results from the inspiration by God of men employed by Him to write it. The Word in Holy Scripture results from that miraculous operation of the Spirit of God, whereby He did so communicate Himself to the writers of these Scriptures for the revelation of His will to man, as to secure theinfallible truth and Divine authority of what is written in the Bible. Of the manner of that miraculous operation of the Spirit of God we know nothing.
III. To what extent is theBible inspired?--“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” It is thus that the Divine Author of the book Himself declares to what extent it is inspired. In whatever manner the Divine influence that “gave the Word” worked--by whatever means, by means of however many varied manuscripts, as by many different compilers--the result we have in this Bible is throughout Divinely inspired.
IV. With what design has it been given by inspiration of God? It was given to be profitable, in order “that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works,” and for that end profitable in a way manifold and many-sided.
1. The Bible is “profitable for doctrine.” By its revelation of truth as an objective reality, it really gives man truth to love. It thus stands in the boldest contrast to the utterly unsatisfying vanity of modern rationalism, which gives you nothing but the question whether there be revealed truth at all.
2. The Bible is “profitable, too, for reproof.” By its deep and searching spirituality the Bible deals with man’s state as a sinner before God. It reveals the truth as to man lost. It reaches the deepest needs of his condition. It thus utterly dispels all the delusive fancies of modern rationalism, whereby man is tempted to think well of himself; and so to count that a gain to him which, if ever lie be saved, he must be content to count as loss for Christ.
3. The Bible is profitable, besides, “for correction” of every such groundless hope in man. By the revelation of grace to us as fallen, and of deliverance from the guilt and power of our sin by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the Bible gives a Divine contradiction to every rationalistic theory of human progress, by which redemption is attempted to be explained without the cross and the sacrifice of the Redeemer.
4. The Bible is profitable, finally, for instruction (or discipline) in the life and walk of righteousness. In direct opposition to the wild ravings of modern rationalism about “emancipation from the external law of revealed truth”--for the solemn rebuke of that delusive licence which is sought in following the light within us, rather than the Word of God without us--the Bible plainly asserts that, “under the law to Christ,” this is the love of the new life in Christ, that we keep His commandments--a life of obedience of “the law of liberty”--even as Christ Himself “kept His Father’s commandments and abode in His love.” (R. H. Muir.)
On the Scriptures
I.Human ability has been inadequate to the production of anything which would justify us in attributing to it the production of the scriptures.
II. God having graciously resolved to recover the human race from thestate into which they had fallen, and to this end having spoke in times long past to the fathers by the prophets, and in the latter days to the world, by His Son, it is reasonable to suppose that, for the benefit of the generations to come for ever, He would cause a record to be madeof the communications of His will.
III. The connection and agreement of the several parts of the sacred volume, intimate strongly its divine inspiration.
IV. Tradition has accompanied the holy volume in all ages and places of its being, testifying its claim to be considered as the word of god.
V. The providential care of god over the holy scriptures may well lead us to believe that they are his offspring.
VI. The completeness of the sacred writings, whereby I mean their sufficiency and perfection as a rule of faith and conduct; their adequateness to our necessities in this present state.
1. This we may clearly deduce from what has already been established. Being “given by inspiration of God,” the Scriptures must be perfect for the purpose whereunto He sends them; and if they are finished, so that no further addition to them is to be expected, they must be perfect in all generations for ever, for the use of the children of men.
2. And this, if we now advert to the sacred writings, will be found to be really the case. Upon every subject of a religious or moral nature, concerning which mankind have been inquisitive, we may here find ample information. And concerning the conduct which is proper, in every situation in which mankind may be placed, we may here find explicit instruction.
3. But, it may be objected, if the Scriptures are thus complete, whence is it that so many to whom they are sent, are brought by them neither to right faith nor to right practice?
4. And this brings me to observe in illustration of the completeness of the sacred volume, that if any who have access to it are deficient in knowledge or virtue, the cause of the deficiency is altogether in themselves. The Law of the Lord is perfect; and His Spirit is ready to render His Word efficacious to every attentive and humble mind. But we must approach it with docility. It is owing to men’s lusts and passions, to the pride of their minds, to the perverseness of their hearts, to the carnality and viciousness of their lives, that they do not all perceive the excellence and perfection of the Word of God, and find it a savour of life unto life to their souls.
VII. We find ourselves in possession of a volume, wonderfully adapted to the necessities of our nature, and “given by inspiration of God.” It becomes us to inquire, what is the object for which it is given?
1. And let me observe that it is for no purpose of benefit to the Almighty that the volume of His Word is given to our world. Neither our faith nor our obedience can profit the Most High.
2. I must also premise that whether any other beings than ourselves are interested in them, and whether their contents will be of utility to us in the other world, arequestions which need not be discussed as essential to the inquiry we are about to consider. It is enough, in order to raise our estimation of them, to be assured that into the mysteries revealed to us the angels desire to look, and that by thedispensations of God to the Church on earth His manifold wisdom is made known to higher orders of beings. From the nature of things we may also be certain that those general principles of duty and virtue which have not respect to mutable stations and relations are the principles by which the conduct of perfect beings is regulated in all worlds.
3. But what I am now principally concerned to consider is the end or uses of the sacred volume to men, to whom it is given, in the present world. And this is nothing less than our recovery from the state of ignorance, sinfulness, and misery into which we are fallen, and our exaltation to the hope of eternal life. That I may more distinctly set before you the gracious design of the Almighty in giving us the volume of His Word, allow me more particularly to observe that it is the efficacious means of all those changes and graces by which the Christian character is formed and perfected. We are told, you know, that we must be born again in order to the knowledge and enjoyment of the kingdom of God. It is through the instrumentality of the Scriptures that this regeneration is accomplished. They are the seed of this new birth. Again: it is necessary that we should be sanctified and made holy in heart and life before we can enter into the kingdom of heaven. And the Holy Scriptures are the means by which the Spirit of God accomplishes this important part of our salvation. Further: it is required of us to grow in grace; and we have need to be constantly nourished in all goodness, if we would not relapse into our vile state, but advance to perfection in knowledge and virtue. The sacred writings are the granary from which this daily sustenance of our souls is to be obtained. They reveal the truths, they contain the virtues, they give efficacy to the ordinances, by which we are nourished into eternal life. Finally: it is necessary to our comfort, and to the full accomplishment of our deliverance from the miseries of our natural state, that we should have joy and peace in believing. And the reservoir of all spiritual joy is the Word of God--the gospel of our salvation.
VIII. From these truths there are several inferences of a very serious nature and great practical importance to which I must now ask your attentive consideration.
1. And from the views we have taken of the sacred volume we may perceive its claim to our highest estimation.
2. But if we value the Scriptures we shall also study them. The consequences of not reading theHoly Scriptures are of a more serious nature and greater in extent than you may suppose. It is to this, I apprehend, that we are to attribute, in a great measure, the total ignorance of religion in some and the decay of it in others. It is in this that we are to look for the cause of the instability of Christians. Here we may find the reason why error prevails. Here we may discover the source of fanaticism and of superstition. To this it is owing that the best seem unconscious of the degree of holiness to which they are called; and that all rest easy under imperfections of knowledge and deficiencies of virtue which a thorough acquaintance with the Scriptures would both reprove and correct.
3. In the course of our observations upon the Holy Scriptures, we have shown that God hath a merciful purpose in conferring them upon us, even to recover us from our ignorance, sinfulness, and misery, and exalt us to the hope of everlasting life. It behoves us, therefore, to inquire how far His desire and gracious intention have been accomplished in us? And this inquiry you will most safely answer, not by adverting to your occasional feelings and transient fervours, but by looking to your principles and your lives. Areyou brought to a clear knowledge of the only true God, and of Jesus Christ whom He hath sent? Are those traits of excellence which are distinctly exemplified in the lives of the Scripture worthies, and which are all combined and perfected in the example of our blessed Lord, imitated by you in the several conditions and relations in which the Most High hath placed you? If, at the day of judgment, we shall be found, notwithstanding cur advantages, to have remained unchanged and unrenewed, the very heathens will rise up in judgment and condemn us.
4. On this solemn account I cannot forbear adding what is powerfully enforced by our subject, the importance of bringing to the oracles of truth, whenever we recur to them, becoming dispositions and conduct. Endeavour, if possible, to make it the standard by which you would regulate all your thoughts and actions.
5. The character of the sacred writings, and your privilege in possessing them, impose on you an obligation to extend the knowledge of them as far as you are able, and especially to make them the source from which you furnish your children with the principles and rules of life. (Bp. Dehon.)
The true teachings of the Bible
“Every Scripture inspired of God,” is the declaration, “is profitable.” Profitable for what? Well, “for teaching, for reproof, for correction.” It is a good teaching-book. It is a good book out of which to get instruction, provided you seek the right sort of instruction--instruction in righteousness. What is righteousness? Right living. In the Old Testament and the New the ideal pattern is that of a man living right in himself, in his social and civic relations, in his whole orb of self. A man must have some ideal pattern before him, and he must live according to it. The Bible is said to be inspired--that part of it which is inspired. “Every Scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” For what purpose? Why, “that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.” There are two radical views of the function of sacred Scripture. First, it is held that it is a book proceeding directly from the mind of God, in the same sense in which Milton’s poems proceeded from his mind, or in which Newton’s discoveries proceeded from his mind, or in which any legislation proceeds from the minds of the legislators, and that it contains a substantial revelation of God’s moral government, both in this life and in the other world. In part, it is such a book; but that is not the genius of the Bible. Such is not the grand end of this book. The second view is the Scriptural theory. It is contained in the text. The Bible is a book that under takes to teach men how to live so that they shall live hereafter; and in regard to that aim and design of the Bible there is no divergence of opinion. All Scripture, then, is not inspired. Why should we suppose that the genealogies, and the land laws, or the laws of property, among the Jews, needed to be either inspired or revealed? Was it to supersede the natural operation of human reason that the Bible was given? If the division of property sprang up in the Hebrew commonwealth, and if there were many minute economies, all of which were of a nature such as that they could be born out of the human mind, and it was perfectly within the power of the human mind to write them down, what inspiration was needed for that purpose? No inspiration is necessary to record things that common human intelligence cannot miss, and cannot very well fail of recording. Proverbs and national songs, manners and customs, of the Hebrew commonwealth--all lay within the natural function of human reason; and when it is said, “All Scripture that is inspired,” doubtless it was with the conception that many of these things were natural and not supernatural. The existence of God; a belief in the moral order of the universe, or supervising Divine Providence; conscience, or the knowledge of what is right and what is wrong, and sensibility to that which is right as well as reaction from that which is wrong; the nature of things that are right and the nature of things that are wrong; sanctions for virtue, and sanctions also, penal, for vice, selfishness, wickedness, cruelty--all these things are constitutional, if I may say so, in the Bible. Here, then, is the life that you must not live, and here is the life that you must live. Was there ever a man that wanted to take anything away from that? The whole Bible is aa attempt to correct a man, and take him away from this under-passionate life of which we have been hearing the registration, and to persuade him to come out of it into the higher and spiritual life. The genius of the Bible is to lift men to righteousness, and to show the things to be avoided, and the things to be taken on. It is a book of instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished to every good work; and here are the work and the qualities. Now, I should like to know if there is any infidel in this world on that subject, or can be. A great many do not believe that God can exist in three persons; but is there anybody that ever doubted that love was beautiful, was true, was desirable? A great many men have had theories of the Atonement of Jesus Christ; there are some fifteen or twenty different theories or modifications on that subject; but did men ever have any difference of opinion as to love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, or any of these other qualities? About them there is absolute unity. (H. W. Beecher.)
The Divine authority and perfection of the Scriptures
I.That the scriptures are given by inspiration of God.
1. In order to judge whether persons are inspired, we must carefully inquire into their moral character; into their doctrine or message; and into the credentials or proofs of their mission.
2. The other external proof of an inspired person is the fulfilment of prophecy.
II. The perfection or sufficiency of the Scriptures.
1. They are profitable for doctrine to acquaint us with our lost and miserable condition by the entrance of sin into theworld, and the train of fatal consequences that attended it; with our recovery by Christ; the covenants of redemption and grace; the offices of Father, Son, and Spirit in the work of our redemption, and with all those other mysteries which were kept secret since the world began, but are now made manifest by the Holy Scriptures for the obedience of faith (Rom_16:26).
2. For reproof, or the discovery of our pernicious errors in doctrine and practice.
3. The Scriptures are profitable for correction of vice and wickedness. “Wherewithal,” says the Psalmist, “should a young man cleanse his way but by taking heed thereto according to the Word of God?” There we have a collection of all Christian graces and duties, with their opposite vices. The fruits of the spirit and of the flesh are distinguished with the greatest propriety; and the most engaging motives to the practice of the one, and awful threatenings against the other, are represented with the greatest strength and advantage.
4. For instruction in righteousness. That is, either in the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe, or in the practice of moral righteousness, the nature and excellency of which is better explained and illustrated in the sermons of our blessed Saviour than in all the writings of the ancient philosophers.
III. The clearness and perspicuity of the Scriptures.
1. They were written in the vulgar language, and therefore designed for the use of the common people.
2. Our Saviour, in His sermons to the people, appeals to the Scriptures, and exhorts His countrymen, the Jews, to search them. The Bereans are commended for this practice (Act_17:11), and Timothy appears to have been acquainted with them from his childhood. If, then, it be proper to teach our children the Scriptures, and if it be the duty of grown persons to search them, it must follow that they are sufficiently clear in all points necessary to salvation.
Lessons:
1. Hence we may learn that the religion of a Christian should be his Bible, because it contains the whole revealed will of God, and is a perfect rule of faith and practice.
2. Let us be thankful that we have the Scriptures in the vulgar language.
3. Let Christians of all ranks and capacities revive this neglected duty of reading the Scriptures in their families and closets: it is both a delightful and useful employment.
4. When we read the Scriptures, let us consider them, not as the words of men, but as in deed and truth the Word of God.
5. In judging of controversies among Christians, let us not be carried away by the authority of great names or the numbers of them that are on one side, but keep close to the Scriptures.
6. When we read the Scriptures, let us pray for the instructions and teachings of the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to remove the prejudices and enlighten the understandings of those who are truly sincere. (Daniel Neal.)
The inspiration of the Scriptures
I.The nature of the inspiration. Inspiration means that which is breathed into the human mind of God. In the same way as Christ breathed upon the apostles, and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” so inspired men receive that influence and power which enlightens, and purifies, and sustains their judgment and their capacity whilst they are writing it. Exactly in the same way as a musician, out of an instrument, by the touch of his fingers, will evoke such sounds, such harmonies, as his own skill, his own will, or his own pleasure may design, the writers of the Holy Scriptures are the instruments outof which the Holy Ghost evokes the melodies of truth--the harmonies of heavenly and Divine doctrine--that which makes us happy in time, and prepares us for the happiness of eternity. There is a slight distinction to be made between inspiration and dictation. Dictation addresses itself to the ear, and goes through the ear into the understanding and the heart; inspiration is more that which is within a man--it is a power dwelling in the interior of his soul, and influencing his thoughts and expressions accordingly.
1. There is inspiration in matters historical--that which relates to the histories and biographies contained in the Bible.
2. We come to the inspiration which is doctrinal, or which has to do with abstract truth, such truth as the human faculties could never elicit, invent, or evolve; such truth as, if known at all by man, must be made known by God.
3. I advert to that inspiration which I denominate legislative--that which is associated with thegiving of law and the enunciation of commandments.
4. There is the inspiration which is devotional.
5. I shall mention but one other form: that is, the form of prophecy--the inspiration which relates to the prophetic Word. I take this to be the fullest, most perfect, and unmingled of all the inspirations, because to man in no case is there vouchsafed any foresight.
II. Some of the leading evidences, the more striking proofs, that the Bible does come from that sacred and celestial source to which we ascribe it.
1. First it claims to be so; it says of itself that it is so. Moses did as the Lord commanded him. Again and again we read, “the Lord spake unto Moses”; and every prophet came with this annunciation, “Thus saith the Lord.” We find Paul saying, “I command; yet not I, but the Lord”; “The Spirit speaketh expressly”; “Ye have received the Word of God.”
2. There is another evidence which arises from the nature of its contents--from the original, exalted, enlightened, amazing principles, which it contains. I hold it as an axiom that God only can reveal God--that God is never known but by His own teaching and by His own inspiration. Here is God revealed.
3. There is also an argument arising from the self-evidencing power of truth. Light is self-evidencing. When a child sees light, it does not want any logical argument to say that it is light. When mind flashes, when intellect sparkles, when genius coruscates, you say, this is mind; you want no other evidence--the thing demonstrates itself. So does the truth in the book of God. Read out the doctrine, make known the precept, let us see the history; why, it is of God; it carries its own evidence.
4. Then there is the harmony of all its parts.
5. I must add the evidence of its holiness. The Bible, received in the heart and mind, makes a man pure, gentle, and Christlike; received into a family, it makes a scene of peace and unity; received into a nation, it purifies and elevates; and the world, did it receive the Bible and act upon its principles, would be paradisaical; almost all the miseries of it would be gone at a stroke; whatever is peaceful and felicitous for the glory of God and for the happiness of man would multiply, prosper, and abound.
6. There is one other argument, that arising from prophecy, in connection with the total want of human foresight, and the vastness and extent of this proof: “We have a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto we do well to take heed, as to a light shining in a dark place.”
III. The use and purpose: “That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” You note the expression, “man of God.” I take it to be a very noble and magnificent thing to be a man; I glorify God every day of my life that I am a man; I mean, that I have the capacities, the mind, the thinking powers, the will of a man. Then it is said, “man of God.” There are the faculties consecrated, the grace and light, the emanation and power of Deity beaming upon the man, making him a “man of God.” (James Stratten.)
The inspiration of Scripture
We can form no more distinct conception of what inspiration is in itself than that implied in the word--the breathing of God upon, or into, the minds of His servants. He imparted to them an extraordinary degree of influence, whereby they were instructed what and how to speak and write. This special Divine influence distinguishes them from all other teachers, and their writings from all other books. The manner of inspiration is beyond our knowledge; indeed, the working and influence of the Divine Being anywhere are to us a profound mystery. Motion, life, and growth, the fruitfulness of the earth, and the order and harmony of all things must be traced to Him; but how they are produced we know not. In Him we live and move and have our being; He besets us behind and before, and lays His hand upon us; but His manner of doing this is too wonderful for us to understand. We are bound to recognise His influence in the mental power, wisdom, and goodness of men; but how He comes into contact with the mind it is impossible to explain. So also of the prophets and apostles. They were inspired of God; He breathed into their minds, and endued them with a supernatural power of seeing and teaching spiritual truth--this we know; but beyond this point we cannot pass. Observe a threefold effect of inspiration--the revelation of truth, intensity of feeling, and abiding power in the words.
I. First, the inspired man was a “seer”; the veil was turned aside, and he was permitted to look into the sanctuary of truth. Think of the Hebrew prophets to whose writings the text refers. The unity, personality, and spirituality of God were revealed to them. They beheld His glory as others did not, and therefore spoke of it in sublime and incomparable language. The teaching of the Bible should be judged of by this: Do the prophets and apostles reveal spiritual truths in a clearer light than the ancient philosophers did? To this a thoughtful man can only return one answer--they do. Read, for instance, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, and then turn to the Epistles of St. Paul, and I think you will be obliged to acknowledge that moral and spiritual truth shines in the verses of the apostle with a brilliancy and strength not to be found in the words, wise and beautiful though they are, of the imperial Stoic. Seeing, then, that the prophets and apostles speak with such deep spiritual insight, the question is, How this came to pass? They were not philosophers, scholars, and orators, as the great and learned men of Greece and Rome were. The true explanation is, “holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
II. Their mental illumination was accompanied by deep and intense feeling. Their spirits were “moved”--they felt the burden of “the word of the Lord”--the truth was in their heart “as a burning fire.” Therefore speech became a necessity, for by speaking they lightened the burden that oppressed them and gave out the fire that burned in their bosoms. When they had messages of peace and good tidings to deliver, their “doctrine dropped as the rain, their speech distilled as the dew, and as the sma
