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01.07. The Holy Scriptures.

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The Holy Scriptures. With the revelation, both general and special, we are acquainted by the Holy Scriptures.

It is important to see clearly the distinction and the connection which exist between the two. On the one hand there is an important difference between revelation and Scripture. Revelation sometimes preceded its description by a long time; for example, before Moses there was a revelation, but there was no Scripture. This revelation often contained much more than was later recorded in writing; the books of the prophets, for example, those of Amos, are often only a brief summary of what they spoke orally to their contemporaries; many prophets in the Old Testament and many apostles in the New Testament, who were all organs of special revelation, left nothing in writing; and even of Jesus we are told explicitly that he left many other books as well. He did many other signs, so many that if each one were written down, the world would not be able to contain the written books, John 20:30, John 21:25. Conversely, God may have revealed something to His prophets and apostles when they were writing, which they themselves did not know beforehand and therefore could not have preached to others. This is, for example, at least in part the case with the revelation which John received on Patmos about the future.

Scripture is therefore not the revelation itself, but the description, the record, from which the revelation can be known. When Scripture is called the record of revelation, however, one must guard against another error. There are those who not only distinguish between Revelation and Scripture, but also separate and disassociate them. They acknowledge that God worked in a special way in the revelation which preceded the Scriptures; but they further present it as if the description of this revelation had been left entirely to the individuals themselves and had not been subject to God’s special providence. Scripture is then still a record of revelation, but an accidental and imperfect one, so that we have great difficulty in deducing from it what does or does not belong to special revelation. From this point of view a great distinction is made between the Word of God and Holy Scripture, and we prefer to use the expression that Holy Scripture is not the Word of God, but that the Word of God is contained in Holy Scripture. This representation is already beforehand and in itself improbable. For, besides taking a far too mechanical view of the relationship between word and scripture, it also forgets that if God wished to grant a special revelation, which, as we have seen in the previous paragraph, was destined for all mankind in the seed of Abraham, that is, in Christ, He must also have taken special measures to preserve this revelation unalterably and to make it generally known by means of the Scriptures. For this purpose the written word also proves its worth in general. The written word differs from the spoken word in that it does not wither away into the air but remains; that it is not falsified as oral tradition but retains its purity; and that it is not limited to a few people who hear it, but can be extended to all peoples and to all times. Writing preserves the spoken word, frees it from decay and makes it universal. But we need not dwell any longer on this human reasoning. The idea that special revelation is from God, but that Scripture came into existence without His special care, is diametrically opposed to the testimony of Scripture itself. She repeatedly and emphatically declares that, as Scripture, she is also the Word of God. Scripture is distinct from previous revelation, but it is not separate from it. It is not a human, accidental, arbitrary, imperfect addition to Revelation, but is itself a constituent part of Revelation. It is the conclusion and the completion, the cornerstone and the keystone of it. In order to see this, we have only to look at the following clear testimonies, which Scripture contains.

First of all, God repeatedly instructs the prophets not only to communicate the revelation they have received orally, but also to record it in writing. In Exodus 17:14 Moses receives the command from the Lord to write down the story of the battle with and the victory over Amalek, which was of such great significance for Israel, in memory in the appropriate book of God’s saving acts. In Exodus 24:3-4, Exodus 24:7 and Exodus 34:27 he is commanded to write down the rights and the laws according to which God had made His covenant with Israel. And when Israel completed its wanderings in the wilderness and arrived in the fields of Moab near Jericho, it is expressly said that Moses described the journeys of the children of Israel by word of mouth, that is, at the command of the Lord, Numbers 33:2. The Lord also expressly said of the song sung by Moses in Deuteronomy 32:1-52 that it was to be written down and put into the mouth of the children of Israel, so that later, in days of apostasy, it would be a witness against them, Deuteronomy 31:19, Deuteronomy 31:22. Such commands, to record the received revelation, also occur later at the prophets, Isaiah 8:1, Isaiah 30:8, Jeremiah 25:13, Jeremiah 30:2, Jeremiah 36:2 Jeremiah 36:27-32, Ezekiel 24:2, Daniel 12:4, Habakkuk 2:2. Although these injunctions apply only to a small portion of Scripture, they nevertheless show that God, who strictly enjoins that one shall neither add to nor subtract from His words, Deuteronomy 4:2, Deuteronomy 12:32, Proverbs 30:6, has also extended His special care to the written record of revelation. In the second place, Moses and the prophets are clearly aware that they not only speak, but also proclaim the Word of God in writing. Thus Moses is not only called in a special way to be a guide to the people of Israel, Exodus 3:1-22, but the Lord also speaks to him face to face, like a man to his friend, Exodus 33:11, and makes known to him all his rights and statutes. The entire body of laws is attributed to the Lord in the books of Moses and throughout the Scriptures. He made known to Jacob His words, and to Israel His commands and His rights; so He has not done to any people, nor do they know His rights, Psalms 147:19-20; Psalms 103:7. Likewise the prophets are not only aware that they are called by the Lord, 1 Samuel 3:1-21, Isaiah 6:1-13, Jeremiah 1:1-19, Ezekiel 1:1-28, Ezekiel 2:1-10, Ezekiel 3:1-27, Amos 3:7-8, Amos 7:15 and received their revelation from Him, Isaiah 5:9, Isaiah 6:9, Isaiah 22:14, Isaiah 28:22, Jeremiah 1:9, Jeremiah 3:6, Jeremiah 20:7-9, Ezekiel 3:16, Ezekiel 3:26, Ezekiel 3:27, Amos 3:8 etc. - What Amos says, is their conviction: surely the Lord will not do a thing, unless he has revealed his secret to his servants the prophets, Amos 3:7, compare. Genesis 18:17. But they also know that when they write, they do not proclaim their own word, but the word of the Lord; just as Moses wrote his laws, so they introduce their special prophecies with the formula: Thus saith the Lord, or: The word of the Lord came to me, or . Thus saith the Lord, or the word of the Lord hath come unto me, or the sight, the word, the burden of the Lord, Isaiah 1:1, Isaiah 2:1; Isaiah 8:1, Isaiah 13:1, Jeremiah 1:2, Jeremiah 1:4, Jeremiah 1:11, Jeremiah 2:1, Ezekiel 1:1, Ezekiel 2:1, Ezekiel 3:1, Daniel 7:1, Amos 1:3, Amos 2:1, Amos 3:1, :1, , etc.

Thirdly, there is the testimony of the New Testament. Jesus and the apostles repeatedly quote statements from the Old Testament under the names of Moses, Isaiah, David, Daniel, Matthew 8:4, Matthew 15:7, Matthew 22:43, Matthew 24:15. But not less often they use the formula: It is written, Matthew 4:4, or: The Scriptures say, John 7:38, or: God says, Matthew 12:26, or: The Holy Spirit says, Hebrews 3:7 etc. By this method of quotation they clearly show that the Scriptures of the Old Covenant, although composed of different parts and originating from different authors, nevertheless constitute one organic whole, which also in its written form has God as its author. Jesus and the Apostles express this conviction not only indirectly, but also directly in clear terms. Jesus declares that Scripture cannot be broken, that is, dissolved, deprived of its authority, John 10:35, and that He also personally did not come for Himself to dissolve the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them, Matthew 5:17, Luke 16:27. The apostle Peter says, that the prophetic word is firm and reliable and a light in our path. And that is why it is so, because the prophecy contained in the Scriptures of the Old Testament is not based on a prediction and explanation of the future given by the prophets themselves, for the prophecy was not brought about in the past by the will of man; but holy men of God, driven by the Holy Spirit, have spoken it, 2 Peter 1:19-21, cf. 1 Peter 1:10-12. And in the same sense Paul declares that the holy Scriptures, which together make up the Old Testament, can make us wise unto salvation, if we examine and read them by faith which is in Christ Jesus. For all and every Scripture which is included in the Holy Scriptures is inspired of God (theopneustos = breathed of God, breathed by Him) and for that reason also useful for doctrine, for reproof (conviction and punishment), for correction and for instruction in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16.

Finally, fourthly, as far as the Scriptures of the New Testament themselves are concerned, Jesus Himself left no scriptures, but He chose, called and empowered His Apostles, especially after His passing in the midst of the world, to act as His witnesses, Matthew 10:1, Mark 3:13, Luke 6:13, Luke 9:1, John 6:70. He equips them for this purpose with special gifts and powers, Matthew 10:1, Matthew 10:9, Mark 16:15 ff, Acts 2:43, Acts 5:12, Romans 15:19, 1 Thessalonians 2:4, especially with the Holy Spirit, who will remind them of everything Jesus said, John 14:26, and will also proclaim to them the things to come and thus guide them into all the truth, John 16:13. Thus it is not really the apostles themselves who testify of Christ, but it is the Holy Spirit who acts in and through them as Jesus’ witness, John 15:26-27. Just as the Son came to glorify the Father, John 17:4, so the Holy Spirit comes to glorify the Son, taking from the Son everything He speaks and does, John 16:14. The apostles had to bring this testimony of Christ not only to their own people and contemporaries in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, but to all mankind and to the ends of the earth. 16: 15, Acts 1:8. In this charge to go out into all the world, the command to also testify in writing about Jesus is not directly contained in so many words. But if the promise made to Abraham was to come to mankind in Christ, the Gospel could not reach its destination unless it was also recorded and thus preserved for all ages and extended to all nations. The Apostles, therefore, were so guided by the Holy Spirit in their missionary work that they naturally took up the pen and, through the Gospels and letters, gave witness to the fullness of grace and truth which was fresh in Christ. Not only in their oral preaching, but also in their writings they were consciously concerned to unfold the truth which God had revealed in Christ and made known to them through his Spirit.

Matthew writes the book of the generation, that is the history of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, Matthew 1:1. Mark relates how the Gospel began with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and took its origin from Him, Mark 1:1. Luke, after careful investigation and by means of a regular account, Luke wishes to provide Theophilus with certainty concerning those things that were absolutely certain in the circle of the faithful on the basis of the testimony of the Apostles, Luke 1:1-4. John writes his Gospel that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, we may have life in his name, John 20:32, and likewise says in his first letter that he proclaims what he has seen, heard, looked at, and touched with his hands from the Word of life, that we may have fellowship with the Apostles, and that this fellowship may also be with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, 1 John 1:1-3. Paul is convinced, that he was not only called an apostle by Jesus Christ Himself, Galatians 1:1, and received from Him his evangelie by revelation, Galatians 1:12, Ephesians 3:2-8, 1 Timothy 1:12, but that he also preaches the word of God by mouth and pen, 1 Thessalonians 2:13, 2 Thessalonians 2:15,2 Thessalonians 3:14, 1 Corinthians 2:4, 1 Corinthians 2:10-13, 2 Corinthians 2:17, so that whoever preaches another gospel is cursed, Galatians 1:8. And just as all the apostles linked the eternal life or death of mankind to the acceptance or rejection of their word, so John, the Apostle, in the last chapter of his Revelation, threatens a severe punishment to anyone who adds to or subtracts from the words of this book’s prophecy, Revelation 22:18. The special activity of the Holy Spirit, by which the recording of revelation was effected, is usually referred to by the name of inspiration, 2 Timothy 3:16. What this consisted of is elucidated by comparisons from nature and further explanations in Scripture. In general, a human being is susceptible to having thoughts of others taken into his consciousness and to being guided in his train of thought by others; all education and instruction, all knowledge and science, are based on this susceptibility. Usually this communication of thoughts by others to us takes place by means of signs or gestures, of spoken or written words. And we, with consciousness and intention, often with great effort, incorporate these thoughts into our imagination and thinking and make them a part of our soul life. But the phenomena of hypnotism, suggestion, etc., prove that even without any self-effort on our part, ideas and thoughts can be introduced into our consciousness and imposed as a dominating force on our will and actions. In this way, people can be reduced to mindless tools that simply carry out what someone else (the hypnotist) commands them to do. Scripture and experience show that in this way man is also susceptible to the influences and effects of evil spirits, so that he himself no longer speaks or acts, but is controlled in his thoughts and actions by the evil spirit. For example, in Mark 1:24 it is the evil spirit that speaks through the possessed person and recognizes Jesus as the Holy One of God.

Another phenomenon which may serve to clarify the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is what is known as inspiration among artists. All great thinkers and poets have the experience that the best and most beautiful things they have produced are not due to their own efforts but to thoughts that suddenly come to them. Of course, such an experience does not exclude previous research and thought; genius does not make effort and diligence superfluous. But even though study is generally an indispensable condition for gaining such experiences, they are not necessarily the logical conclusion or the mature result of them. There is always a mysterious force at work in genius that cannot be calculated. Nietzsche wrote of it to his sister: You cannot comprehend the violence of such creations; one is full of passionate enthusiasm, rapture and tension, one hears and sees nothing, one takes. The thought strikes like lightning. Everything happens involuntarily to the highest degree, as if in a storm of feeling of freedom, of independence, of power, of divinity; that is my experience of inspiration.

If such phenomena already occur in the ordinary life of man or artist, all grounds for opposing God’s influence on the thoughts and will of His creatures are lost. God dwells with His Spirit in all things created, Genesis 1:3, Psalms 33:6, Psalms 104:30, and especially in man, who was created by the Spirit of God and made alive by the breath of the Almighty, Job 33:4, Psalms 139:1-16 ff; in Him we live, move and are, Acts 17:28. Thinking, willing and acting is also in its sinful direction under the dominion of God; nothing happens without His foreknowledge and counsel, Ephesians 1:11. The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord as streams of water; He inclines it to everything He wants, Proverbs 21:1. He weighs the hearts and all the steps of men, Proverbs 5:21, Proverbs 16:9, Proverbs 19:21, Proverbs 21:2. In another and much more intimate way God dwells with His Spirit in the hearts of His children; by that Spirit He brings them to the confession of Christ as Lord, John 12:3, makes them know the things that have been given to them, 1 Corinthians 2:12; 1 John 2:20, 1 John 3:24; 1 John 4:6-13, 1 Corinthians 2:12, 1 John 2:20, 1 John 3:24, 1 John 4:6-13, grants them gifts of wisdom and knowledge, 1 Corinthians 12:8, and works in them both the will and the work, according to His good pleasure, Php 2:13.

All these workings of God’s Spirit in the world and in the church are not the same as the inspiration given to the prophets and the apostles, but they can serve to clarify and explain. If there is a dwelling and working of the Spirit of God in all creatures, not just in name but in deed and in truth, if the same Spirit again dwells in a special sense in God’s children, all reason to consider the peculiar activity referred to by the name of inspiration impossible or improbable is removed. But then again, it is necessary to understand the difference between the working of God’s Spirit in the world and the church, and that in the prophets and apostles. The difference becomes clear when we compare Romans 8:14 with 2 Peter 1:21. In the former, Paul says that all those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God; but Peter explains in the quoted text that the holy men of God, the prophets, were driven by the Holy Spirit and thus brought forth prophecy. The guidance of the Spirit is the part of all believers and consists in an enlightenment of the intellect and a guidance and control of will and affections, through which they receive knowledge, desire and strength to do what is pleasing to God. But the inspiration of the Spirit was given only to the prophets and apostles, and consisted of a revival and an impetus to make known to mankind the revelation of God’s counsel which they had received. The character of the inspiration is further defined by the formula, used more than once, that what is written in the Old Testament was spoken of the Lord by (through) the prophet, Matthew 1:22, Matthew 2:15, Matthew 2:17, Matthew 2:23, Matthew 3:3, Matthew 4:14, etc. In Greek a preposition is used with the Lord, indicating Him as the origin of what is spoken; but the preposition used with the prophets indicates that they are the means, the organs, through which God has spoken. This is still more evident when it is said that God spoke through the mouth of His prophets, Luke 1:70, Acts 1:16, Acts 3:18, Acts 4:25. The doctrine which Scripture offers us is thus that God or his Spirit is the actual author or speaker of his word, but that in speaking he made use of the prophets and apostles as his organs.

We would, however, be greatly misunderstanding Scripture if we were to infer from this notion that the prophets and apostles had been organs without consciousness or will, and that they had served only as a ״speech channel’ in the hand of the Holy Spirit. For not only does God always honor His own work and never treat His reasonable creatures as if they were senseless beings, but the Scriptures strongly contradict this ״mechanical" conception of inspiration. Although the prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, they themselves spoke (2 Peter 1:21). The words which they wrote are repeatedly cited as their own words, Matthew 22:43, Matthew 22:45, John 1:23, John 5:46, Romans 10:20, etc. As in the receiving, so also in the recording of the revelation they remain fully conscious of themselves; their own activity is not suppressed but lifted up, strengthened and purified by the impulse of the Spirit; they themselves diligently investigate, Luke 1:3, they think and act, and they are not afraid to act. They think about and remember the revelation they have received in the past, John 14:26, John 1:1-3, they make use of historical sources, Numbers 21:14, John 10:13, etc., they find a way to communicate with the Holy Spirit etc.; they find, as e.g. the psalmists, in their own experiences the material for their song; and in all the writings from which the Bible is composed, the own disposition and nature, the own development and education, the own language and style of the various authors are expressed. The study of Scripture teaches us not only about the one word of God, but also about the different personalities of the Bible writers. What a difference there is between the books of Kings and those of the Chronicles, between Isaiah and Jeremiah, between Matthew and Luke, between John and Peter and Paul.

Here again, as in all God’s works, diversity emerges from unity and unity from diversity. When God spoke to us through the prophets and apostles, He took their entire personalities, which He had formed Himself, into His service and made them the self-conscious and self-operating organ of His inspiration. And this inspiration therefore bore no mechanical, but a ״organic" character. In this view of inspiration we can also do full justice to the human side of Scripture. The Bible did not fall out of the sky all at once, but came into being gradually. The Old Testament, as we use it, contains thirty-nine books: five law books, twelve historical (Joshua to Esther), five poetical (Job to Song of Songs) and seventeen prophetic books. This order is not temporal, for many historical books, e.g. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, are of much later date than many poetic and prophetic books, and among the prophetic books many small ones, such as Joel, Obadiah, Amos, Hosea, are older than the much larger books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. But the order is businesslike and takes similar books together. The genesis of all these books has taken place gradually, in the course of many centuries, under very different circumstances, through the labors of very different men. In the science of theology there is a special subject which is concerned with the investigation of the circumstances under which a certain book of the Bible came into being, by whom it was written, to whom it was addressed, etc. Because of the misuse that has been made of this discipline, it has acquired an unfavorable name, and everyone has heard of it, that the ״critics, as they say, have torn out page after page from the Bible". But the abuse does not take away the use here either. For a proper understanding of Scripture as a whole and of each of its parts in particular, it is of great importance to know precisely how it came into being over time and under what circumstances each book of Scripture came into being. Knowledge of this will eventually benefit the explanation of the Word of God. We learn from it that the inspiration of God’s Spirit has had a deep and broad impact on the lives and thoughts of God’s holy men. For centuries, up to the time of Moses, there has been no Scripture, no written Word of God. At least we have no knowledge of it. In itself it is not at all impossible that even before Moses there were written records of some word or incident of great importance to the history of special revelation which was later recorded and preserved in his books. Not so long ago, this claim would have been considered foolish, because it was then believed that the art of writing was not yet known in the days of Moses. But today, thanks to the discoveries in Babylon and Egypt, we are better informed and we know not only that the art of writing was known long before Moses, but also that it was widely used.

We know of histories and laws which have been preserved in writing and which were written down hundreds of years before Moses. There is therefore nothing improper in the assertion that Moses also made use of older written sources for his description of history and legislation. The story in Genesis 14:1-24, for example, may very well be based on a written tradition.

However, we do not know this with certainty and, in general, it can be said that there was no written word of God before Moses. That is why there was a word of God, because special revelation began immediately after the fall, and so there was already a canon in this sense, i.e. a rule of faith and life. Mankind has never been without the Word of God; always, from its earliest beginnings, it has been in possession not only of the general revelation of God in nature and conscience, but also of a special revelation in word and history. But that word of God was not immediately written down, but was orally transmitted into the families and the generations from parents to children. In those days, when mankind was still small and shared in the blessing of an advanced age, when kinship, family consciousness and respect for the past meant so much more than they do now, this form of tradition was sufficient for the pure preservation and propagation of the Word of God. But in time, as mankind expanded and fell into all kinds of idolatry and superstition, this was no longer possible. And with Moses begins the written record of the Word of God. Perhaps there were already written documents, which he recorded and processed; as mentioned above, we do not know for sure, but the probability increases when we consider that written records by Moses himself are only mentioned in a few places in the so-called five books of Moses, namely Exodus 17:14 . It is therefore quite possible that various parts of the five books of Moses already existed in earlier times, or were added to and reworked by Moses himself or by others at Moses’ command, or later after his death. This last statement was generally accepted in earlier times with regard to the account of Moses’ death, Deuteronomy 34:1-12, but in view of additions, for example, as in Genesis 12:6, Genesis 13:7, Genesis 36:31, etc., it must also be extended to other passages. To the Divine authority this adds and subtracts nothing; and by the expression which occurs repeatedly in Scripture: the law or the book of Moses, 1 Kings 2:3, 2 Kings 14:6, Malachi 4:4, Mark 12:26, Luke 24:27, Luke 24:44, John 5:46-47 this is not contradicted. For the five books of Moses remain the book or law of Moses, even though some passages were borrowed by him from other sources, described by his servants at his behest, or reworked in his spirit by later authors. As a rule, Paul did not write his letters himself either, but had them written, 1 Corinthians 16:21. And the book of Psalms is sometimes attributed in its entirety to David, because he is the founder of psalmody, although several psalms are not by David, but by others. On the basis of this Mosaic legislation, that is to say, on the basis of God’s covenant, which God had made with the patriarchs, confirmed with Israel at Sinai, and ״ordained’ in the Law of Moses, there arose later in the history of Israel under the guidance of the Holy Spirit three kinds of sacred literature: prophecy, psalmody and chokmah. These special gifts of the Holy Spirit were in addition to the natural gifts of the Semitic race and especially of the people of Israel, but they went beyond them and were given a vocation in the service of the Kingdom of God and for the benefit of mankind as a whole. The prophecy starts already with Abraham, Genesis 17:1-27, Genesis 2:7, Amos 1:7, Psalms 105:15, Jacob, Genesis 49:1-33, Moses, Numbers 11:25, Deuteronomy 18:18, Deuteronomy 34:10, Hosea 12:14, and Miriam, Exodus 15:20, Numbers 12:2, but then comes especially through and after Samuel and accompanies Israel’s history until long after the exile. The books of the prophets in the Hebrew Old Testament are divided into two great groups, into the ״first" and the ״last" prophets. Under the prophets are summarized the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. The reason why these books are called "the first prophets" is that they were written by prophets and they relate to those prophets who preceded the later ones.

Especially in the books of the Chronicles, mention is made several times of the historical writings of prophets, 1 Chronicles 29:1-30, 2 Chronicles 9:29, 2 Chronicles 20:34, etc. The prophets whose activities are described in the historical books are nowadays often called prophets of the deed, in distinction to the later written prophets. This name is not incorrect, provided that one keeps in mind that all prophets, past and later, have been prophets of the word. They all spoke and testified; their name in Hebrew, nabi, probably already indicates this, Exodus 4:16, Exodus 7:1, and the basic features of prophetic preaching are already contained in the testimony of the oldest prophets. But the prophets of the older period differ from the later ones in two respects: First, they limited their view to the internal affairs of the people of Israel and did not yet include other nations in their circle of vision; and second, they paid more attention to the present than to the future; their words of exhortation and warning usually had an immediate, practical purpose; it was the period in which, under and for a long time after the reigns of David and Solomon, the hope remained that Israel would keep God’s covenant and walk in His ways. But when, in the ninth century B.C., Israel gradually became involved in foreign politics and, ignoring its own calling and destiny, allowed itself to be drawn into it, the prophets turned their attention to the surrounding peoples and expected the complete fulfilment of God’s promises no longer to take place in the apostate present, but in the Messianic future to be brought about by God Himself. Standing on their watchtowers, they see across the width and the length of the earth, they interpret the signs of the times not by their own understanding and interpretation, but by the light of the Holy Spirit, 1 Peter 1:4, 2 Peter 2:20-21, and they test them by the light of the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 2:20-21, and compare all situations in Israel in the religious, moral, political and social fields, and all the relations of Israel to other nations, to Edom, Moab, Asshur, Chaldaea, Egypt, etc., to the central covenant in which Jehovah stands with his people. And then they all, each according to his nature and time in his own way, but still announce the essentially same word of God: they make known to Israel his sins and God’s punishments; they comfort the people of the Lord with the unchangeableness of his covenant, the promise of his faithfulness, the forgiveness of all their iniquities; and they point everyone’s eye to the joyful future, in which God himself under the king from the house of David will extend his rule over Israel and over all the nations. But this gives the word that they proclaim in God’s name a significance that goes far beyond the present. It no longer has its limit and purpose in the Israel of old, but it has a content and scope that extends to the ends of the earth and can only be fulfilled in mankind. The word of prophecy is now passing into writing; from the ninth century before Christ, from the days of Joel or Obadiah, the prophets began to record the contents of their sermons, sometimes on explicit divine instructions. 8:1, Habakkuk 2:, Isaiah 36:2, and with the clearly expressed intention that this word may remain until the last day, forever, until eternity, Isaiah 30:8, and be recognized by later generations in its truthfulness, Isaiah 34:16. The psalmody runs parallel to the prophecy; it too is of ancient date. Song and music were loved in Israel, 1 Samuel 18:7. 2 Samuel 19:35, , Amos 6:5 etc. Songs with different subjects are preserved in the historical books: the song of the sword, Genesis 4:23-24, the song of the well, Numbers 21:17-18, the song of the conquest of Hesbon, Numbers 21:27-30, the song of the crossing of the Red Sea, Exodus 15:1-7, the song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32:1-52, the song of Deborah, Richt. 5, the song of Hanna, 1 Samuel 2:1-36, the lament of David on the death of Saul and Jonathan, 2 Sam., and on the death of Abner, 2 Samuel 3:33-34 etc.; the Book of the Righteous, which is quoted in Joshua 10:13, 2 Samuel 1:18, seems to have contained many songs. Furthermore, many songs occur in the writings of the prophets, e.g., in Isaiah 5:1-30 : The song of the vineyard, Isaiah 14:1-32. The song of mockery of the fallen king of Babylon, Isaiah 38:9 f.: The psalm of Hiskiah, Jonah 2:1-10 the prayer of Jonah, Habakkuk 3:1-19 the hymn of Habakuk etc. Many of these songs are closely related to the psalms and pass unnoticed into them here. Between prophecy and psalmody there is an intimate connection, which is even expressed in the form; both arise from a mighty inspiration of the Holy Spirit, both draw the whole world of nature and history into their circle of vision, both see all things by the light of the word of God, both aim at the proclamation of the kingdom of the Messiah, and both use the language and form of poetry. When the poet of the psalms is introduced to the mysteries of God’s counsel, he becomes a seer, and when the prophet refreshes his soul with the promises of God, he adopts the tone of the psalms, 1 Chronicles 25:1-3; Asaph is called a seer, 2 Chronicles 29:30, and David in Acts 2:30 a prophet. But still there is a distinction. The psalmody was prepared by the above mentioned songs, especially by the song of Miriam, Exodus 15:1-27, the song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32:1-52, and the psalm of Moses, Psalms 90:1-17, but then, after the revival of the service of Jehovah under Samuel, reached its highest flowering in David, the lover of psalms of Israel, 2 Samuel 23:1. The Davidic psalmody contains the basic forms, according to which the later psalmody was practiced under Solomon, Josaphat, His- kia, and in the time of and after the exile. The psalms of David are now referred to in the caption of Psalms 72:1-20 all as ״prayers". And this is the character, which is peculiar to all psalms. They differ greatly from one another, and are sometimes songs of praise and thanks, and sometimes of complaint and supplication; sometimes they are more hymnic, then elegiac, then more prophetic-didactic in content; they are sometimes concerned with God’s works in nature and then His deeds in history; they are concerned with the past, with the present, and often also with the future. But a prayerful attitude is always characteristic of the psalmist. While in prophecy the Spirit falls upon someone and becomes empowered over him, this same Spirit leads the psalmist into the depths of his own soul experiences. His own state of soul is always the reason for his song. But that state of mind is formed and cultivated by the Spirit of the Lord Himself.

David would not have been the sweet one in the psalms of Israels, if he had not been that mail with that character and with that rich life experiences. That state of mind and all its rich variety of sadness and fear, temptation and temptation, persecution and resurrection etc. form the strings on which all God’s objective words and deeds in nature and history, in institution and preaching, in judgment and redemption play their melodies. And the harmony, thus obtained in the subject between God’s objective revelation and His subjective guidance, is expressed in the song, which is sung as if in the presence of God and sung in His honor, which calls upon all creatures to agree with His praise, which sings until all in heaven and on earth sing along, and which therefore has found for all ages and for all generations the richest interpretation of the deepest findings׳of soul life. The Psalms teach us what God, in connection with His revelation in Christ, through His Spirit, gives us to experience in the hidden parts of our hearts. Because of that meaning, they were not only spoken by the psalmists, but also written down and thereby put on the lips of the congregation of all ages.

Next to prophecy and psalmody comes the chokmah, which is the proverb or the teaching of wisdom. This too is based on natural gifts, as shown in the fable of Jotham, Richt. 9 : 7 V., the riddle of Samson, Judges 14:144, the parable of Nathan, 2 Samuel 12:1-31, the behaviour, of the wife of Thekoa, 2 Samuel 14:1-33 etc. But it got its consecrated character especially through Solomon, 1 Kings 4:29-34, Spr. 10-22, 25-29 and continued in the Proverbs of other wise men, Proverbs 22:17, Psalms 30:1-33, Proverbs 31:31 and further in the books of Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, till long after the exile. The prophecy unfolds the counsel of God as it appears in the history of Israel and the nations; the psalmody gives an interpretation of the resonance this execution of God’s counsel produces in the soul of the devout; and the chokmah relates God’s counsel to practical life there. It, too, rests on the foundation of divine revelation; it takes as its starting point that the fear of the Lord is the principle of all wisdom (Proverbs 1:7); but it does not relate this revelation to the history of the people or to its own experience of the world, but transfers it to the practice of ordinary, everyday life, the life of husband and wife, of parents and children, of friendship and intercourse, of profession and business. It does not stand so high and see so far as the prophecy; it does not descend so low as the psalmody; but it looks at all the changes of fate, in which man sometimes threatens to perish, and yet it lifts him up again, through faith in the justice of God’s providence. Thus it acquires a general human significance and, under the guidance of the Spirit, is preserved in Scripture for all ages.

Revelation, the Law, the counsel of God, fundamentally contained in the books of Moses, is completed in the days of the O. Test, in the preaching of the prophet, in the song of the singer, in the counsel of the wise man. The prophet is the head, the singer is the heart, the sage is the hand. In the Old Covenant, the prophetic, priestly, and royal ministries fulfilled their calling for Israel and for mankind. And in Christ, this invaluable treasure of holy literature has become the common property of the world. As the fulfillment fits the promise, so the Scriptures of the New Testament fit those of the Old Covenant. The one is incomplete without the other; the Old Testament is only revealed in the New, and the New Testament is already hidden in the Old according to its core and essence. They stand to each other as pedestal and statue, as lock and key, as shadow and body. The names Old and New Testament first indicated the two dispensations of the covenant of grace, which were given by God to His people before and after Christ, Jeremiah 31:31 ff, 2 Chronicles 3:6 ff, Hebrews 8:6 ff, but gradually they have been transferred to the scriptures that give the description and account of these two covenant dispensations. In Exodus 24:7 the law, which was the proclamation of God’s covenant with Israel, was already called the book of the covenant, cf. 2 Kings 23:2, and Paul already speaks in 2 Corinthians 3:14 of a reading of the Old Testament, where he is therefore thinking of the books of the Old Testament. After these examples the word Testament was gradually used for the writings or books that are contained in the Bible and give an explanation of the old and new dispensation of grace.

Like the Old Testament, the New Testament is also composed of several books; it contains five historical ones (the four Evangels and the Acts of the Apostles), twenty-one ’doctrinal’ ones (the Epistles of the Apostles) and one prophetic book (the Revelation of John). But while the 39 books of the Old Testament were written over a period of more than a thousand years, the 27 books of the New Testament were all written in the second half of the first century of our Christian era. The Gospels occupy the first place in the New Testament, but this order carries no temporal, but a business character. Although many of the epistles of the Apostles are older, the Gospels stand first because they deal with the person and work of Christ, and because they form the basis of all later apostolic activity. The word Gospel first generally meant a pleasant, joyful message; in the days of the New Testament it came to be used for the message of joy proclaimed by Jesus the Christ, Mark. It was not until later that ecclesiastical writers such as Ignatius, Justin, etc., transferred it to the books or writings that contained that joyful message from Christ.

Four such Gospels have been placed at the front of our New Testament. But these four writings do not contain four different ״evangelies’ or glad tidings, for there is only one Gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Mark 1:1, Galatians 1:6-8.’But that one Gospel, that one glad tidings of salvation, is described in four different ways, by four different persons, is shown to us in four different forms, from four different points of view. This view is expressed in the headings above our Gospels. They are referred to as the one Gospel, but according to the four distinct descriptions of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This was not intended to imply that our four Gospels were not actually written by these four men, but were merely revisions of their writings, but rather to express the idea that in the four Gospels the one Gospel, the one image of the person and work of Christ, was described, though from different sides. That is why the early church compared the four Evangelists with the four cherubim in the book of Revelation 4:7, Matthew with the mcnsch, Mark with the lion, Luke with the bull, and John with the eagle. For the first Evangelist described Christ according to his human side, the second according to his prophetic side, the third according to his priestly side, and the fourth according to his divine side.

Matthew, the same as the tax collector Levi, who was elected by Christ to the apostleship, Matthew 9:9, Mark. According to Irenaeus, he wrote his Gospel originally in Aramaic, in Palestine, about the year 62 A.D., and especially for the Jews and Christians in Palestine, to prove to them that Jesus was truly the Christ and that all the prophecies of the Old Testament had been fulfilled in Him, Matthew 1:1.

Mark was the son of Mary, Acts 12:12, who probably had a house of his own in Jerusalem, Mark. He was first in the service of Paul, and later of Peter as well, 1 Peter 5:13, and according to tradition was invited by the Christians in Rome to give an account of the origin of the Gospel through Jesus Christ, Mark 1:1, because through his own experiences he was able to fulfill the promise of Jesus Christ. Mark 1:1, because he was so well acquainted with this subject through his stay in Jerusalem and his contact with Peter. He probably complied with this request in Rome, in about the years 64-67.

Luke, the beloved physician, as Paul calls him, Colossians 4:14, may have come from Antioch and belonged to Christ’s church there early on, in the year 40. He was a travelling companion and fellow worker of Paul, and remained faithful to him to the end, 2 Timothy 4:11. He wrote a book of history, not only of the life and work of Christ (in his Gospel), but also of the first spread of the Gospel in Palestine, Asia Minor, Greece, as far as Rome (in the Hand, of the Ap.), about the year 70-75, and dedicated it to a certain Theophilus, a considerable man, who was interested in the Gospel.

These three Gospels are closely related. They are in line with the tradition that survived among the first disciples concerning Jesus’ teaching and life. The fourth Gospel has a different character. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, remained in Jerusalem after Jesus’ ascension and was there with James and Peter one of the three pillars of the church (Galatians 2:9). Later he left Jerusalem and towards the end of his life came to Ephesus as the successor of Paul, from where he was exiled to the island of Patmos under the Emperor Domitian in the year 95-96, to die as a martyr in the year 100. John was not a man who was very prominent in missionary work. He did not found new churches, but wanted to preserve the existing churches in the pure knowledge of the truth. For the church, the situation had gradually changed by the end of the century. The struggle over the relationship of the Christian congregation to Israel, to the Law and to circumcision was over. It had come to an independent existence in relation to Judaism and was now penetrating further and further into the Greco-Roman world. There it came into contact with other schools of thought, especially the young Gnosticism. And now it is the purpose of John to lead the church safely through these dangers of anti-Christianity, that is, of that direction which denies the incarnation of the Word (1 John 2:22, 1 Corinthians 4:3). In contrast to this anti-Christian direction, John in his writings, which all date from the years 80-95, draws the full picture of Christ as the Word made flesh. In his Gospel, he shows that Christ was such during His walk on earth; in his Letters, that He is still such in the church today; and in Revelation, that He will also be such in the future.

All these New Testament writings discussed so far have thus had their historical origin under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And so it is with the other writings of Paul and Peter, of James and Jude. After Jesus’ ascension and the persecution of the Jerusalem congregation, the apostles not only went out to preach the Gospel among Jews and Gentiles, but also maintained fellowship and interaction with the congregations that had been planted by their word.

They received oral or written reports of its spiritual condition, took an interest in its prosperity, and were responsible for its care of all the churches on their apostolic hearts, 2 Corinthians 11:28. Thus they felt called to visit them personally if possible, or to admonish, comfort, warn, or encourage them by means of epistles, according to their needs, and by all these means to instruct them more deeply in the truth which is godly.

Like all their apostolic work, this written work, which is a historical, organic, essential part of it, also had a founding character. The Gospels and Epistles of the Apostles, like the books of the prophets, if you will, are occasional writings; but they go far beyond the temporal and local interests of the communities of the time and are addressed to the church of all ages.

All Scripture, although historical, is, as St. Augustine says, a letter sent by God from heaven to his congregation on earth. And far from the fact that historical research into the origin of the books of the Bible in itself, apart from the misuse which people can make of it, would detract from the divine character of Scripture, it is, on the contrary, eminently capable of showing us the wonderful ways and channels by which God has brought this work of art into being. With this investigation into the origin of the various books of the Bible, the study of Scripture has not ended but has only just begun. A whole circle of sciences has gradually formed around Scripture, all of which have as their ultimate goal the better understanding of its meaning and conception. Here only the following should be said about them.

First, the various books of the Bible not only originated individually, but they were also collected and combined to form a canon, that is, a list or group of writings that serve as a rule of faith and life. Such a collection had also sometimes already taken place with some Bible books; the Psalms and the Proverbs, for example, originated from different people and were gradually combined into one volume. The same thing happened later with all books of the Bible. However, this should not be taken to mean that the Church had created this canon, as if she had given canonical authority to the writings of the prophets and apostles. These writings had authority in the circles of the church from the moment they were written, and they were the rule of faith and life. The Word of God, first unwritten and later written, does not derive its authority from men, nor from the faithful, but from God, who Himself watches over it and brings it to recognition. But when later on the number of prophetic and apostolic writings increased, and writings also appeared which did not originate from prophets and apostles, but which were put in their names or were even considered as such in certain circles; then it became necessary for the church to distinguish the real, canonical books from the false, alleged, apocryphal or pseudepigraphical writings, and to draw up a list of the former. This was done both with the books of the Old Testament in the time before Jesus, and with those of the New Covenant in the 4th century after Christ. And there is a special science that carefully examines all this and tries to shed light on the canonicity of the Bibles.

Secondly, the original manuscripts, written by the prophets and the apostles themselves, have all been lost without exception. We have only copies of them. The oldest of these copies date from the ninth and tenth century for the Old Testament, and from the fourth and fifth century for the New Testament. Between the original manuscripts and the current copies lie centuries, in which the text has had a history and has been subject to smaller or larger changes. - In the original Hebrew manuscripts, for example, there were no vocal or punctuation marks or inscriptions; these were only added to the copies centuries later. The division into chapters, as we use it now, only originates from the beginning of the thirteenth century, and the division into verses from the middle of the sixteenth century. For all these reasons a science is needed that tries with all available means to determine the original text and uses it as a basis for the explanation.

Thirdly, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. As soon as the Bible was distributed to people who did not understand these languages, a translation became necessary. As early as the third century B.C. a translation of the Old Testament into Greek was begun; and later such an interpretation of Old and New Testament into many old and still later into many new languages was continued. After the revival of the Mission among the Gentiles in the nineteenth century, this work was again undertaken with zeal and now the Scriptures have been translated, in whole or in part, into almost four hundred languages and into one hundred languages. The study of these translations, especially from antiquity, is also of the utmost importance for the right understanding of the Scriptures. For every translation is already an explanation of the Scriptures.

Fourthly, from the days of the Jews, throughout all ages, and not least in our own time, a tremendous amount of care and effort has been devoted to the explanation of the Scriptures. And although it is true that every heretic has his letter and many an interpretation is an interpretation of his own opinion, nevertheless the history of the explanation of the Scriptures shows a remarkable progress, to which each century contributes its own. It is ultimately God Himself who often upholds His Word through all sorts of human aberrations and makes His thoughts triumphant over the wisdom of the world. the book or law of Moses, even though some passages were borrowed by him from other sources, described by his servants at his behest, or reworked in his spirit by later authors. As a rule, Paul did not write his letters himself either, but had them written, 1 Corinthians 16:21. And the book of Psalms is sometimes attributed in its entirety to David, because he is the founder of psalmody, although several psalms are not by David, but by others. On the basis of this Mosaic legislation, that is to say, on the basis of God’s covenant, which God had made with the patriarchs, confirmed with Israel at Sinai, and ״ordained’ in the Law of Moses, there arose later in the history of Israel under the guidance of the Holy Spirit three kinds of sacred literature: prophecy, psalmody and chokmah. These special gifts of the Holy Spirit were in addition to the natural gifts of the Semitic race and especially of the people of Israel, but they went beyond them and were given a vocation in the service of the Kingdom of God and for the benefit of mankind as a whole. The prophecy starts already with Abraham, Genesis 18:17, Genesis 20:7, Amos 3:7, Amos 7:17, Jacob, Genesis 49:1-33, Moses, Numbers 11:25, Deuteronomy 18:18, Deuteronomy 34:10, Hosea 12:14, and Miriam, Exodus 15:20, Numbers 12:2, but then comes especially through and after Samuel and accompanies Israel’s history until long after the exile. The books of the prophets in the Hebrew Old Testament are divided into two great groups, into the ״first" and the ״last" prophets. Under the prophets are summarized the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. The reason why these books are called "the first prophets" is that they were written by prophets and they relate to those prophets who preceded the later ones.

Thus there have been many more prophets in Israel than the four major ones and the twelve minor ones whose books are preserved in our Bible. The historical books mentioned above are full of names of prophets, and describe their activities sometimes very extensively. They deal with Deborah, Samuel, Gad, Nathan, Ahia, Shemaiah, Azariah, Hanani, Jehu son of Hanani, Elijah, Elisha, Hulda, Zechariah, the first mar¬tler among the prophets of the kingdom of Judah, and many others, also unnamed, e.g. 2 Chronicles 25:1-28, more. Of all these men nothing scriptural has come to us. There is even occasional mention of schools of prophets, 1 Samuel 10:5-12, 2 Samuel 19:19, 2 Kings 2:3, 2 Kings 2:5, 2 Kings 4:38, 2 Kings 4:43, 2 Kings 6:1, where many sons or pupils of the prophets devoted themselves together to spiritual exercises and theocratic work. From these schools probably also originated the prophetic historiography, which has been preserved for us in the books of Joshua, Judges, etc.Especially in the books of the Chronicles, mention is made several times of the historical writings of prophets, 1 Chronicles 29:1-30.-, 2 Chronicles 9:29-20, 2 Kings 20:34. etc. The prophets whose activities are described in the historical books are nowadays often called prophets of the deed, in distinction to the later written prophets. This name is not incorrect, provided that one keeps in mind that all prophets, past and later, have been prophets of the word. They all spoke and testified; their name in Hebrew, nabi, probably already indicates this, Exodus 14:6, Exodus 17:1, and the basic features of prophetic preaching are already contained in the testimony of the oldest prophets. But the prophets of the older period differ from the later ones in two respects: First, they limited their view to the internal affairs of the people of Israel and did not yet include other nations in their circle of vision; and second, they paid more attention to the present than to the future; their words of exhortation and warning usually had an immediate, practical purpose; it was the period in which, under and for a long time after the reigns of David and Solomon, the hope remained that Israel would keep God’s covenant and walk in His ways. But when, in the ninth century B.C., Israel gradually became involved in foreign politics and, ignoring its own calling and destiny, allowed itself to be drawn into it, the prophets turned their attention to the surrounding peoples and expected the complete fulfilment of God’s promises no longer to take place in the apostate present, but in the Messianic future to be brought about by God Himself. Standing on their watchtowers, they see across the width and the length of the earth, they interpret the signs of the times not by their own understanding and interpretation, but by the light of the Holy Spirit, 1 Peter 1:4, 2 Peter 2:20-21, and they test them by the light of the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 2:20-21, and compare all situations in Israel in the religious, moral, political and social fields, and all the relations of Israel to other nations, to Edom, Moab, Asshur, Chaldaea, Egypt, etc., to the central covenant in which Jehovah stands with his people. And then they all, each according to his nature and time in his own way, but still announce the essentially same word of God: they make known to Israel his sins and God’s punishments; they comfort the people of the Lord with the unchangeableness of his covenant, the promise of his faithfulness, the forgiveness of all their iniquities; and they point everyone’s eye to the joyful future, in which God himself under the king from the house of David will extend his rule over Israel and over all the nations. But this gives the word that they proclaim in God’s name a significance that goes far beyond the present. It no longer has its limit and purpose in the Israel of old, but it has a content and scope that extends to the ends of the earth and can only be fulfilled in mankind. The word of prophecy is now passing into writing; from the ninth century before Christ, from the days of Joel or Obadiah, the prophets began to record the contents of their sermons, sometimes on explicit divine instructions. 8:1, Habakkuk 2:2, Isaiah 36:2, and with the clearly expressed intention that this word may remain until the last day, forever, until eternity, Isaiah 30:8, and be recognized by later generations in its truthfulness, Isaiah 34:16. The psalmody runs parallel to the prophecy; it too is of ancient date. Song and music were loved in Israel, 1 Samuel 18:7, 2 Samuel 19:35, Amos 6:5 etc. Songs with different subjects are preserved in the historical books: the song of the sword, Genesis 4:23-24, the song of the well, Numbers 21:17-18, the song of the conquest of Hesbon, Numbers 21:27-30, the song of the crossing of the Red Sea, Exodus 15:1-27, the song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32:1-52, the song of Deborah, Richt. 5, the song of Hanna, 1 Samuel 2:1-36, the lament of David on the death of Saul and Jonathan, 2 Sam., and on the death of Abner, 2 Samuel 3:33-34 etc.; the Book of the Righteous, which is quoted in Joshua 10:13, 2 Samuel 1:18, seems to have contained many songs. Furthermore, many songs occur in the writings of the prophets, e.g., in Isaiah 5:1-30. The song of the vineyard, Isaiah 14:1-32. The song of mockery of the fallen king of Babylon, Isaiah 38:9 f.: The psalm of Hiskiah, John 2:1-10 the prayer of Jonah, Habakkuk 3:1-19 the hymn of Habakuk etc. Many of these songs are closely related to the psalms and pass unnoticed into them here. Between prophecy and psalmody there is an intimate connection, which is even expressed in the form; both arise from a mighty inspiration of the Holy Spirit, both draw the whole world of nature and history into their circle of vision, both see all things by the light of the word of God, both aim at the proclamation of the kingdom of the Messiah, and both use the language and form of poetry. When the poet of the psalms is introduced to the mysteries of God’s counsel, he becomes a seer, and when the prophet refreshes his soul with the promises of God, he adopts the tone of the psalms, 1 Chronicles 25:1-3; Asaph is called a seer, 2 Chronicles 29:30, and David in Acts 2:30 a prophet. But still there is a distinction. The psalmody was prepared by the above mentioned songs, especially by the song of Miriam, Exodus 15:1-27, the song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32:1-52, and the psalm of Moses, Psalms 90:1-17, but then, after the revival of the service of Jehovah under Samuel, reached its highest flowering in David, the lover of psalms of Israel, 2 Samuel 23:1. The Davidic psalmody contains the basic forms, according to which the later psalmody was practiced under Solomon, Josaphat, His- kia, and in the time of and after the exile. The psalms of David are now referred to in the caption of Psalms 72:1-20 all as ״prayers". And this is the character, which is peculiar to all psalms. They differ greatly from one another, and are sometimes songs of praise and thanks, and sometimes of complaint and supplication; sometimes they are more hymnic, then elegiac, then more prophetic-didactic in content; they are sometimes concerned with God’s works in nature and then His deeds in history; they are concerned with the past, with the present, and often also with the future. But a prayerful attitude is always characteristic of the psalmist. While in prophecy the Spirit falls upon someone and becomes empowered over him, this same Spirit leads the psalmist into the depths of his own soul experiences. His own state of soul is always the reason for his song. But that state of mind is formed and cultivated by the Spirit of the Lord Himself.

Next to prophecy and psalmody comes the chokmah, which is the proverb or the teaching of wisdom. This too is based on natural gifts, as shown in the fable of Jotham, Richt. 9 : 7 V., the riddle of Samson, Richt. 14 : 14, the parable of Nathan, 2 Samuel 2:1-32, the behaviour, of the wife of Thekoa, 2 Samuel 14:1-33 etc. But it got its consecrated character especially through Solomon, 1 Kings 4:29-34, Spr. 10-22, 25-29 and continued in the Proverbs of other wise men, Spr. 22: 17: 30-31 and further in the books of Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, till long after the exile. The prophecy unfolds the counsel of God as it appears in the history of Israel and the nations; the psalmody gives an interpretation of the resonance this execution of God’s counsel produces in the soul of the devout; and the chokmah relates God’s counsel to practical life there. It, too, rests on the foundation of divine revelation; it takes as its starting point that the fear of the Lord is the principle of all wisdom (Proverbs 1:7); but it does not relate this revelation to the history of the people or to its own experience of the world, but transfers it to the practice of ordinary, everyday life, the life of husband and wife, of parents and children, of friendship and intercourse, of profession and business. It does not stand so high and see so far as the prophecy; it does not descend so low as the psalmody; but it looks at all the changes of fate, in which man sometimes threatens to perish, and yet it lifts him up again, through faith in the justice of God’s providence. Thus it acquires a general human significance and, under the guidance of the Spirit, is preserved in Scripture for all ages.

Revelation, the Law, the counsel of God, fundamentally contained in the books of Moses, is completed in the days of the O. Test, in the preaching of the prophet, in the song of the singer, in the counsel of the wise man. The prophet is the head, the singer is the heart, the sage is the hand. In the Old Covenant, the prophetic, priestly, and royal ministries fulfilled their calling for Israel and for mankind. And in Christ, this invaluable treasure of holy literature has become the common property of the world. As the fulfillment fits the promise, so the Scriptures of the New Testament fit those of the Old Covenant. The one is incomplete without the other; the Old Testament is only revealed in the New, and the New Testament is already hidden in the Old according to its core and essence. They stand to each other as pedestal and statue, as lock and key, as shadow and body. The names Old and New Testament first indicated the two dispensations of the covenant of grace, which were given by God to His people before and after Christ, Jeremiah 31:31 ff, 2 Chronicles 3:6 ff, Hebrews 1:1 ff, but gradually they have been transferred to the scriptures that give the description and account of these two covenant dispensations. In Exodus 24:7 the law, which was the proclamation of God’s covenant with Israel, was already called the book of the covenant, cf. 2 Kings 23:2, and Paul already speaks in 2 Corinthians 3:14 of a reading of the Old Testament, where he is therefore thinking of the books of the Old Testament. After these examples the word Testament was gradually used for the writings or books that are contained in the Bible and give an explanation of the old and new dispensation of grace.

Mark was the son of Mary, Acts 12:12, who probably had a house of his own in Jerusalem, Mark. He was first in the service of Paul, and later of Peter as well, 1 Peter 5:13, and according to tradition was invited by the Christians in Rome to give an account of the origin of the Gospel through Jesus Christ, Mark 1:1, because through his own experiences he was able to fulfill the promise of Jesus Christ. because he was so well acquainted with this subject through his stay in Jerusalem and his contact with Peter. He probably complied with this request in Rome, in about the years 64-67.

These three Gospels are closely related. They are in line with the tradition that survived among the first disciples concerning Jesus’ teaching and life. The fourth Gospel has a different character. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, remained in Jerusalem after Jesus’ ascension and was there with James and Peter one of the three pillars of the church (Galatians 2:9). Later he left Jerusalem and towards the end of his life came to Ephesus as the successor of Paul, from where he was exiled to the island of Patmos under the Emperor Domitian in the year 95-96, to die as a martyr in the year 100. John was not a man who was very prominent in missionary work. He did not found new churches, but wanted to preserve the existing churches in the pure knowledge of the truth. For the church, the situation had gradually changed by the end of the century. The struggle over the relationship of the Christian congregation to Israel, to the Law and to circumcision was over. It had come to an independent existence in relation to Judaism and was now penetrating further and further into the Greco-Roman world. There it came into contact with other schools of thought, especially the young Gnosticism. And now it is the purpose of John to lead the church safely through these dangers of anti-Christianity, that is, of that direction which denies the incarnation of the Word (1 John 2:22, 1 John 4:3). In contrast to this anti-Christian direction, John in his writings, which all date from the years 80-95, draws the full picture of Christ as the Word made flesh. In his Gospel, he shows that Christ was such during His walk on earth; in his Letters, that He is still such in the church today; and in Revelation, that He will also be such in the future.

Writings of Herman Bavinck

A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by Herman Bavinck, compiled for study and devotional reading.

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