02. Supreme Authority of the Word of God
Supreme Authority of the Word of God
Chapter 1
“These are the faithful and true sayings of God (Revelation 19:9;Revelation 22:6). Its Divine authority and inspiration are primary and rudimentary, and therefore to be first of all and finally settled. In the Scriptures, God Himself is speaking to man, in many parts and ways, at different times and by various human instruments (Hebrews 1:1). Any theory of inspiration or interpretation which sacrifices or diminishes this majestic authority is fatal to the claims of the Word of God, as such, upon man’s acceptance and obedience. In Revelation 5, is found a pictorial exhibit of the authority and majesty of Holy Scripture. A scroll, written within and on the backside, and sealed with seven seals, is seen in the right hand of Him who is seated on the Throne, and it partakes of His own unapproachable glory. A seal stands in scripture for silence, mystery, completeness, but especially for the sacredness connected with authority, authenticity, inviolability. Whatever this particular scroll is, it represents some written word of God. We cannot escape the suggestion of divine sanction or authority as stamped upon Holy Scripture, and there is a hint of a sevenfold attestation which makes His Word the mirror of His attributes. It also bears seven seals:
1. The seal of omnipresence, eternity, immutability, in its production, independent and irrespective of time and place, variety of matter and diversity of human writers.
2. The seal of sovereignty and majesty, in the providential control of historic events, and of individual and collective history.
3. The seal of omniscience, wisdom, in its forecasts of the future and its revelations of the events of a remote and unhistoried past.
4. The seal of truth, veracity, verity, infallibility, in its general accuracy, not only in the ethical and spiritual realm, but in the whole sphere and domain of truth.
5. The Seal of Righteousness and Justice in its immaculate, moral and spiritual standards of character, conduct and administration.
6. The Seal of Omnipotence, Benevolence, and Love, in its moral and spiritual transformations and miracles of grace, its purpose and promise of regeneration.
7. The Seal of Infiniteness and Holiness in the superhuman revelation of the absolute perfection and glory of the divine character.
Such multiplied testimony puts upon the Word of God a sevenfold sanction of supreme authority. It asserts its divine origin with an emphasis to which nothing can be added. This most notable chapter is unique, as showing God’s opinion of his own Book: for, even if the scroll, here referred to, be only the Apocalypse itself, what is true of a part is true of the whole. Scanning the whole chapter we further see:
1. The unparalleled majesty of the Scriptures. No created intelligence, even though angelic, worthy to open the seals, take the scroll in hand, or even to look upon it.
2. The inviolable mystery of the Scriptures—sealed up with sevenfold secrecy apart from the one and only interpreting Power.
3. The inseparable unity of the Book and the Lamb—the written Word and the living Word. He only is worthy to take the scroll or capable of unloosing the seals.
4. The complex character of the person of Christ—Lion and Lamb in one, King and a Priest. Hence able to make us kings and priests.
5. The solvent power of the blood of Christ, which alone unlooses the seals and interprets the contents. Two thoughts pervade the Word—Priesthood and Kingship—and the Lamb and the Lion explain both.
It is necessary also to settle the question of the Inspiration of Scripture. It is divinely declared to be “theopneustic”—that is “God-in-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16). This language suggests a body of language, in-breathed with a spirit of divine life, somewhat as the body of the first man was when God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and he became a living soul: this is a living Book.
We need to distinguish between revelation, interpretation, illumination and inspiration.
Revelation is the divine impartation and communication of truth to the mind of man, whatever be its mode or channel (Romans 1:17; Romans 16:25; Ephesians 3:3-5; Amos 3:7).
Interpretation is the science of discovering and disclosing the true meaning of the holy oracles. It is sometimes a function of inspiration to enable a prophet or teacher to give an authoritative meaning to a divine utterance (Daniel 4:24-28; Daniel 5:17-28).
Illumination refers more to the province of the Spirit in so enlightening the mind of the believer as to enable him to discern, and in a measure beyond his natural, unaided powers to apprehend and comprehend the beauty and glory of a divine revelation (Ephesians 1:17-18; Ephesians 3:16-19).
Inspiration is rather the method of revelation rendering its subject capable of receiving and transmitting revealed truth, communicating it to others without error, either by tongue or pen. Obviously the value of a written revelation must depend upon its inspiration. As to the method of inspiration—the modus operandi of the Holy Spirit in revealing truth—it is inscrutable, wrapped in the mystery of silence, like His other operations in regeneration and miracle working (John 3:8). All we know or need to know about it is its effects; and these may be learned from the didactic statements of the Word itself, and the phenomena of its operation, as we may know the wind by its working. Inspiration rendered whomsoever it controlled an adequate medium or vehicle of God’s utterance, His mouthpiece or spokesman, so that “He spake by the mouth of His Holy prophets who have been since the World began” (Luke 1:70; Hebrews 1:1).
We need also carefully to define the measure of authority which Inspiration carries. The Bible is, in part, a record, embracing narratives of fact which form part of the history it records, and the sayings and doings of fallible and fallen human beings. In such cases Inspiration assures only the essential accuracy of the narrative, not the sanction of God’s approval of the utterances or conduct of the parties. But, in all cases where God speaks directly in His own person or by His appointed agents, Inspiration covers not only the truthfulness of the record but the sanction of the statements expressed.
“Verbal Inspiration” is a term much misunderstood. It does not, of course, mean that every word found in Scripture is God’s word or represents His mind, for some words record the acts of the erring and the ungodly, or are their sayings, and in some instances Satan is the speaker. Any theory would be absurd that clothes all words found in Scripture with equal authority or importance. But whatever is meant to convey God’s thought is used with a purpose and adapted to its end, so that, as the Angel said to John, on, Patmos: “These are the true sayings of God” (Revelation 19:9).
Every student must observe what in Holy Scripture carries authority, and what only accuracy. Satan’s words to Eve (Genesis 3:1-5), though accurately recorded, are false and misleading in intention and sentiment, exactly contrary to God’s mind. The greater part of the book of Job, though an inspired record of events and sayings, is expressly disowned of God as not rightly spoken (Job 42:7). More than this, many other well meant words and deeds of men, embodied in the history, here recorded, may lack authority because due to imperfect knowledge of the mind of God or partial obedience to His will. Even prophets and apostles, apart from their character and capacity as such, being only fallible men, were liable to mistakes (1 Kings 19:4; Galatians 2:11-14). A very instructive instance of this principle may be found in 2 Samuel 7:2-7. David declares his purpose to build God a house, and his reasons are both devout and unselfish: he is unwilling to have his own palace outshine the dwelling place of Jehovah. Not only so but, on communicating to the prophet Nathan his purpose, he meets with entire approval; the prophet bids him do all that is in his heart, assuring him that the Lord is with him. Did the narrative give no further light, we should infer this to be a God-inspired thought of David; but the prophet is bidden to go to the King and tell him that he is not to build the house—that privilege being reserved for Solomon. Here the narrative is inspired, but the proposed action is not. It was well meant but not in God’s plan—a very conspicuous example of the principle that many a good man says and does what is not authorized by God; and that the fact that such words or deeds are recorded in Scripture carries no necessary sanction of them as prompted of God.
We must therefore discriminate and distinguish three degrees of authority in the inspired record:
1. An authoritative narrative where sentiments and acts are not sanctioned and may be disowned as disapproved of God.
2. An authoritative narrative where sentiments and acts are not expressly approved or disapproved and must be judged by the general standards of Scripture teaching.
3. An authoritative narrative where the sentiments and acts are inspired and controlled by the Spirit of God, and therefore represent His mind and will (Example, 2 Samuel 7:4-17).
Lack of proper discrimination in matters such as these has often led to much confusion and needless controversy.
But, with these careful limitations, Verbal Inspiration is an absolute necessity if, in any proper sense, there be divine inspiration at all. As Dean Burgon has expressed it, what music would be without notes, a mathematical sum without figures, so would an inspired book be without words controlled by the inspiring Spirit.
We have taken pains to determine this principle at the outset, for without such foundation we have no solid bottom for the studies which follow. The more carefully this Book of God is examined, the more exact do its choice and use of words appear, and the more precise its phrases and terms and even grammatical forms. It is a matter of great importance to scrutinize the very language God employs to convey His mind, and in all the details which follow part of the purpose is both to demonstrate and illustrate the significance of every atom of Scripture—what our Lord called every “jot and tittle.” The following important considerations should always be borne in mind:
1. It is not necessary that the man inspired shall always understand his own message, for even the “prophets inquired and searched diligently” after the meaning of their own predictions which were an enigma even to themselves (1 Peter 1:11-12).
2. It is not necessary to comprehend the mode of inspiration. All we are concerned with is the result, the investment of the message with unique authority as from God, who was pleased thus to supply to men a final standard of doctrine and duty.
3. Inspiration is affirmed, of course, only of the original documents, now no longer extant. Many mistakes may have been made by copyists, and some interpolations by officious scribes and translators are fallible. It is the part of reverent criticism to seek, by careful examination and comparison of all existing documents, to detect errors and restore as far as possible the Scriptures in their original purity.
4. Inspiration is not affected by minor differences in various narratives. While God used men as media of communication, they were not mere machines, but were left to use their faculties in individual freedom. Hence arose peculiarities, not only of style, but of treatment, according as the same utterances or occurrences might impress each observer or narrator. But this, instead of impairing, rather increases, the trustworthiness of the record, as it proves that there could have been no prior agreement or conspiracy among the various writers.
5. Most so-called discrepancies or disagreements disappear, when the various records are regarded as partial, rather than complete, as each of the four Gospel narratives may present some features not found in the rest, but capable of being combined with the others in one full statement. For example, the complete inscription over the cross was: “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Of this inscription of ten words, Matthew records eight, Mark five, Luke seven, and John eight, and not the same in any two cases; but the full inscription includes all the words found in any record. There is, therefore, no antagonism or contradiction.
6. That which is essential in inspiration is the action of the mind of God upon the mind of man, in such way and measure as to quicken and qualify the human medium for the true conveyance of the Divine message. Revelation expresses the informing process, and inspiration the imparting.