26-CHAPTER XXI INSPIRATION ACCEPTED BY THE LORD HIMSELF AND HIS APOSTLES

CHAPTER XXI INSPIRATION ACCEPTED BY THE LORD HIMSELF AND HIS APOSTLES We believe in a reliable, full inspiration on the authority of on the authority of the Lord Jesus and His apostles.

"Thus saith the Lord!" Christ Himself asserted that "the Scripture [that which is written, not merely the thought or theme] cannot be broken" (John 10:34-35; Gk. graphe, from graph to write). Here He refers to a word of the Bible which comes in only this single place in the whole Old Testament. So according to the conception of the Lord whoever breaks the force of this one word, which comes only once in one psalm (Psalms 82:6), dissolves the whole organism of the "Scripture." The Bible may be compared to the seamless robe of Jesus, or to a carpet or a house. One has only to step off the carpet at one place to be off it all, or to go out of only one door to be outside of the whole house. Thus firm was the belief of Christ in the organic character of the "Scripture." To the disciples He said:"all things must needs be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms concerning Me . . . Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day" (Luke 24:44-47). In the Sermon on the Mount He had said:"Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one letter or one dash shall in no wise pass away from the law till all things be accomplished" (Matthew 5:18). For Christ, the personal living word (John 1:1, John 1:14), one "jot" or one "title" of the written word had more value than all starry worlds or sun systems of the whole universe. Here we have authoritative proof in especially weighty form; and Paul, His greatest apostle, confesses, "I believe in all things which are written in the law and the prophets" (Acts 24:14). Therefore faith in the Holy Scripture as being revelation, and in its inde­structible authority, is no unspiritual, narrow-minded deifying of the letter but has on its side the greatest minds in history, includ­ing the Son of God Himself. "The revelation stands, nay, it continues for us in the Scripture:it is continuing—there is no avoiding it—in the Bible texts, in the words and sentences, in that which the prophets and apostles desired to say, and have said, as their testimony."

It is foolish to object by quoting the words of Paul that "the letter killeth" (2 Corinthians 3:6); for there "letter" says nothing as regards the sacred text and the manner of its inspiration, but refers simply to the Old Testament law as it presents externally its demand which results in the death of the still unrenewed man. This is in contrast to the spiritual revelation of the new covenant as it witnesses in the renewed man organically, inwardly, and makes him to live. And has not Christ Himself most plainly acknowledged just those parts of the Old Testament which today are most hotly attacked, such as the historicity of Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:8; John 8:44), the fact of the Flood (Matthew 24:37-38), the miraculous experience of the prophet Jonah (Matthew 12:39-40)? Did He not most strikingly acknowledge the book of Daniel? For from this very book, today so much attacked by unbelief, He chose the chief symbolic designation of His own person ("Son of man," Daniel 7:13-14; Matthew 26:64), yea, He associated Himself with this book by the single oath which He took during His life on earth (Matthew 26:63-64). And again, it is in this very book of Daniel that there is rooted the chief description of the message of Christ, "kingdom of heaven" (kingly realm, lordship of the heavens, Daniel 4:26; "the heavens do rule").

Then also the most part of His references to Isaiah are drawn from the second part of the book of this prophet (chs. 40-66), which modern unbelief or half-belief ascribes to the so-called "Deutero-Isaiah" (Gr. deuteros— second). But the Lord, as also Paul, select passages from this second part and say "Isaiah says" (Romans 10:16 with Isaiah 53:1; Romans 10:20 with Isaiah 65:1; Luke 4:18 with Isaiah 61:1; John 12:38 with Isaiah 53:1; John 1:23 with Isaiah 40:3).

It is further striking that all three quotations with which in the temptation Jesus smote the enemy come from the book of Deuteronomy, the very portion of the Pentateuch (five books of Moses) which unbelief declares to be not genuine (Matthew 4:4 with Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:7 with Deuteronomy 6:16; Matthew 4:10 with Deuteronomy 6:13).

All this testimony acquires a yet more convincing force from the fact that the Lord and His apostles treat the first chapters of the Bible, and so many other attacked portions of the Old Testament, not only as reports of real historical events, but even draw from them doctrinal inferences. The fact that man was made in the image of God (James 3:9 with Genesis 1:27), the God-appointed order of monogamy (Matthew 19:4-9 with Genesis 2:23-24), the serpent nature of Satan (Revelation 20:2 "that old Serpent" with Genesis 3:1-24), the sentence of death that has been passed upon man­kind (1 Corinthians 15:21-22), the organic character of the church of

Christ (Christ the "last Adam"; Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22), the transfiguration of the body of those raised from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:45-49)—how great and central are all those Biblical appointments and truths. And by Christ and His apostles they were all connected with historical accounts from the ancient Bible history, partly as fulfillment, partly as opposed thereto. Therefore said Prof. Ebrard, "Is the New Testament truth? Then Genesis 1:1-31; Genesis 2:1-25; Genesis 3:1-24 is history."

It is impossible to maintain an unbroken faith in Christ and at the same time to put away this evident fact, perhaps with the help of certain speculations concerning the self-humiliation (kenosis) of Christ, or by denying the freedom from error of the incarnate Son of God, or even by believing that, against His better knowledge (!), for educative purposes, or in condescension, Christ accommodated Himself to the errors of His contemp­oraries. That the Lord accommodated Himself to the language of His time is evident; but that He accommodated Himself to the errors of His time is utterly irreconcilable with His perfect truth Savior and His divinity. The reliability of the Bible and the reliability of the Lord Jesus belong together.

Thus we open up the question of the Bible centrally, that is, from the centre of the Bible, Jesus Christ. We believe in the Bible on His account. From faith in Christ we reach full faith in His Word also. In Christ, the centre of God’s revelation, we have also the centre of a view of the Bible which is according to God.

Moreover, this alone is consistent with faith. For Christ Himself is the "Logos," the original form of the word, the personal, living "word," the true and faithful Witness (John 1:1; Revelation 1:5), the mouth of the eternal truth, yea, the truth itself (John 14:6). And it was His Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, Who inspired the prophets (1 Peter 1:11), and the "testimony of Jesus" is the "spirit of prophecy" (Revelation 19:10). But here we stand on the ground of faith. Even in purely human life, authority stands as something that cannot be "proved" but must be experienced.

Everything living we perceive through intuition (direct, inward sight). The deity of Jesus of Nazareth, and there with His unconditional authority in all questions of faith and life, cannot be proved mathematically; but truth proves itself. Here enters experience of Christ, heart experience.