The Scriptures: No. 1

2 Timothy 3:16‑17  •  4 min. read  •  grade level: 9
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By “the scriptures” we understand sacred writings, they are a most gracious gift. That they should ever have been recorded is very marvelous; but that they should have been preserved for us, amidst all the superstition and infidelity of the dark ages, is a standing witness of the goodness and power of God! We can thus, at this remote period, with the volume of inspiration before us, and the teaching of the Holy Ghost within us, receive the doctrines of the apostles in all their primitive purity, through their Epistles; we can be in company with the Son of God, and catch the inimitable utterances which fell from His gracious lips, in all their fervor and freshness; we are also enabled to enter into the divine ways as revealed in past ages, and receive instruction as it were from the mouth of God. So wonderful is the reality of possessing the infallible word of the living God.
Blessed be God, He hath spoken, and inspired His chosen servants to write the revelation of His own mind, so that we may read it again and again. In this sacred service He has been pleased to employ a variety of instruments, and at different times, extending over a period of perhaps seventeen or eighteen hundred years. Persons too in very different positions in this life were called, and qualified, thus to set before us the mind of God. Sometimes learned men, and, at other times, ignorant and unlearned. On some occasions, kings were used in this blessed service, and at other times a herdsman, or a fisherman. In many parts, by different instruments, at various times, and in many ways, God has graciously revealed His mind in writing, though always by the same Spirit, and all most manifestly setting forth one harmonious whole. However diversified and infinite its depth and range, yet all the parts so fit in with each other, that we could not be without any portion of the inspired writings without serious loss. The “words” too have been given, not according to those taught by human wisdom, but in those which the Holy Ghost teacheth. (1 Cor. 2:1313Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. (1 Corinthians 2:13).) It is comforting to note that all is given for our profit and blessing. “All [or every] scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God maybe perfect [complete], thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Tim. 3:16, 1716All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16‑17).)
Moses was commanded of God to write (Exod. 34:2727And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. (Exodus 34:27); Deut. 27:33And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee. (Deuteronomy 27:3)), and we are told that “Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah.” Jesus said, “Moses wrote of me.” Again, we read that Moses wrote this song according to the commandment of Jehovah, and taught it the children of Israel, and that “he wrote their goings out according to their journeyings by the commandment of Jehovah.” (See Deut. 31:19-2219Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. 20For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant. 21And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware. 22Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel. (Deuteronomy 31:19‑22); Numb. 33:11These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. (Numbers 33:1).) Again, after the smiting of the rock on Horeb in order that the people might have water to drink, “The Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua.” (Exod. 17:1313And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. (Exodus 17:13).)
Moreover, it is clear that Moses was conscious that the word he gave to Israel had divine authority. He said, “It shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all the commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth.” His writings, therefore, are called “the book of this law,” and “the covenant,” and “the statutes which are written in this book of the law.” “And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests.” (Deut. 18:1, 1; 29:21; 30:10; 31:91The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and his inheritance. (Deuteronomy 18:1)
1The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and his inheritance. (Deuteronomy 18:1)
21And the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law: (Deuteronomy 29:21)
10If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. (Deuteronomy 30:10)
9And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel. (Deuteronomy 31:9).) These were some of the beginnings of holy scripture.