The way of man is to regard that which God has revealed in the inspired writings as subject-matter for him to speculate on and from which he may safely draw his own inferences. Hence he stumbles at the very threshold; and, instead of “obeying the truth,” he makes truth subject to his own understanding. But God is pleased to hide from the wise and prudent that which He reveals to babes.
Even Christians have tried to make out an orderly narrative from the four gospels by harmonizing them, and thus the varied aspects in which the Holy Ghost presents Jesus to our souls is reduced to the level of human biography. But it is not the way of the Holy Ghost to present scenes to us after the manner of man’s history. His way is not our way, nor His thoughts as our thoughts. The object He has to hold up to us cannot be so touched without disparagement to the Person and glory of the Lord Jesus.
The Word of God is not given to grant a prying curiosity, nor to satisfy the mind with a readily received theory. The Spirit’s way is to so exhibit Jesus in the glory of His Person, and the depths of His grace, that whether it be our wants as sinners, or the desires of the renewed heart, they may be fully met in Him. The manifold wisdom and grace of God are all centered in Jesus. The attempts at an orderly biography, entirely hinder the proper presentation of Christ to the soul.
However, we must not suppose that there is any lack of order in the gospels, or any part of the Word of God, for there is precision and accuracy that cannot be questioned. It is not according to man, but is the precision and accuracy of the Spirit of God; and any attempt at human accuracy in that which God has revealed, will hinder instead of helping our instruction. Systematic theology often leads real Christians into a measure of self-complacency, and tends to make them measure the knowledge of others, by their own. The teaching of the Spirit ever humbles; and in this line also we find the apparent paradox that growth in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is accompanied with a deeper sense of our own ignorance. Thus it must be when we really grow in the knowledge of Him who is the wisdom of God.