APOSTOLIC WITNESS TO THE OLD TESTAMENT
You will note that hitherto we have based our statements entirely on bases allowed us by the words of Christ concerning the Old Testament, claiming His authority as supreme. We now go on to find what authority He gives to His apostles in order that we may judge of their testimony to the Old Testament. That the apostles were to be the subjects of extraordinary divine assistance is amply shown by our Lord's discourses to them. “And I will pray the Father, and he shall send you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:16, 17). “These things have I spoken to you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:25, 26). “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeded from the Father, he shall testify of me” (John 15:26). “Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore, said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you” (John 16:12-15). The promise is thus emphatically repeated, and by it the apostles are assured that in one sense they should be gainers and not losers by the departure of their Master, and this sense is their illumination in all points of Divine truth. That this Person is the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Divine Trinity, is not necessary for me to dwell on: it is evident that a Person is meant here literally, and the promise is not used metaphorically to mean superior mental endowments.
THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Let us now see what office the Holy Spirit was to hold, and what He was to do according to Christ's promise:
(1) He was to guide them into the whole system of truth, which should be communicated to men that they might enjoy fully the blessings of salvation: “He will guide you into all truth” (16:13).
(2) He was to recall to their memories all the instructions which the Lord had given them during His sojourn here, many of which would be forgotten or recollected imperfectly. “He shall... bring. ALL things to your remembrance” (14:26).
(3) He was to teach them the meaning of the doctrines given by the Master, but not rightly understood, and to complete all the teaching necessary for their work: “He shall teach you all things” (14:26).
(4) He was to endow them with a knowledge of future events, so that they should be qualified to instruct the church: “He will show you the things to come” (16:13).
(5) He was to reveal fully to them the dignity and excellence of their Redeemer, imparting to them an accurate knowledge of His Divine Person, and His Mediatorial undertakings with their glorious results in order that they might show others more effectively what He is, so that many might be brought to honor and acknowledge Him: “He shall glorify me” (16:14).
(6) He was to confirm all that He had enabled them to teach, by affording sensible demonstrations of the truth of their divine commission by the miracles which they performed in the name of Jesus, and the supernatural gifts which should accompany their ministry: “He shall testify of me” (15:26).
(7) By means of this miraculous interposition He was to qualify the apostles to bear ample and infallible testimony to the things they had seen and heard from Jesus: “And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning” (15:27).
He was to effect all this in an invisible way, by means of a supernatural influence on their minds or in connection with their ministry, of which the world would have no perception: “Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (14:17).
He was to render supernatural assistance permanently, so that whatever the apostles required at any period of their life would assuredly be vouchsafed to them: “That he may abide with you forever” (14:16) and “shall be in you” (ver. 17).
Looking now carefully at all these important offices which, since the Lord promised, were undoubtedly fulfilled, we must be impressed with the fact that all natural disadvantages were to be removed, and the apostles were qualified to become infallible interpreters of the will of God. Who is there, that places any reliance on the testimony of the Son of God, who can feel the smallest degree of hesitation in according to these divinely accredited messengers absolute submission to the doctrines they teach? Since the Holy Ghost was to remain forever with them, it is obvious that, in whatever way their instructions were to be communicated, whether orally or by writing, they were equally to claim an unqualified reception on the part of all to whom they might be addressed.
We can now see what testimony these favored men give to the Old Testament, but before doing so, I might point out that as they were promised the guidance of the Holy Ghost throughout life, that is only another way of saying that their writings were to be guided by Him, that is, inspired, one of the proofs of inspiration of the New Testament.
But now what have the apostles to say? Let me quote again a passage I have quoted before, but one of supreme importance: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, etc.” (2 Timothy 3:16). Now many have tried to quibble with this sentence, and suggested that it means something entirely different, but the Greek is clear, and only those who try to find fault with the word of God are troubled at all about it. Prof. Jowett admits this to be the translation, but tries to make out that it refers alone to the Old Testament. Does the New Testament come under the heading πᾶσα γραφὴ?- undoubtedly (1 Timothy 5:18; 2 Peter 3:16, these speak of the Gospel and the Epistles as scripture); and the passage thus undoubtedly refers to the whole Bible—not more nor less. But even if you persist in confining it to the Old Testament, we have here a very clear proof of the subject of which we have been writing so long. Will you accept it, or will you persist in saying that the apostles knew no better?
We have now another striking testimony in Peter to the inspiration of prophecy: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy: whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:19—21). Now the last verse shows as definitely as could be expected that all prophecy is inspired of God. Some would say that it applies to prophecy alone, but first of all notice that prophecies of the Messiah are spoken of, so that not only the prophetic books, but also writings of Moses, Samuel, David, etc., are included. And of these the whole books must be inspired, for, as above stated, patchwork is absurd. Also those who held a divine commission could not be expected to be inspired by the Holy Ghost in parts of their writings only: just as rejection of part of a book must mean rejection of all as infallible, so believing in the inspiration of part of a book necessarily means inspiration of all. But, apart from this, which many will not admit, we have here a striking testimony to the inspiration of prophetic scriptures.
We may now take two passages together: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning” (Romans 15:4) and “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition” (1 Cor. 10:11). I hope to show this more clearly later, but if these things that were written were, in the early parts at any rate, only myths, what instruction do they afford? If true, then we may well take heed, but he who casts aspersions may gain no lessons from these happenings. Is not the incident of Balaam's ass a lesson to us? Assuredly so, if we believe its truth: but call it a fairy tale, and half its value is lost at once. But these passages teach us something more. If they were written with the purpose of teaching us, whose purpose was it? Do you credit the various writers with the forethought of knowing that the history would be of value to us as lessons? Why not admit Divine purpose, and so Divine over-ruling in the narration of these incidents?
In certain passages the Old Testament is definitely referred to as the “Oracles of God": “teach you again which be the first oracles of God” (Hebrews 5:12) and “What advantage then hath the Jew?... Much every way; chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God” —τὰ λόγια τοῦ θεοῦ) (Romans 3:2). Now “oracles,” says Dr. Johnson, “are something delivered by supernatural wisdom,” and this is the purport of this important phrase. “The utterances of God” —is not this a synonym for inspiration? And the Jews are stated to be privileged in being appointed the keepers of His oracles. “The utterances of God!” who dare question them? and they form the Old Testament. Have we not yet accumulated proof of Old Testament Inspiration?
The apostles repeatedly ascribe passages in the Old Testament to the Holy Ghost, implying their inspiration in this manner, e.g., “Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet, saying” (Acts 28:25): also “as the Holy Ghost saith, Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 7; Psalm 95:7); and, thirdly, “Wherefore the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make” (Hebrews 10:15; Jeremiah 31:33).
FREQUENCY OF QUOTATION
We could continue this testimony almost to an indefinite extent, but one more point I would make in speaking of the apostles' testimony to the Old Testament, namely, that the writers are so impressed with the importance of the Old Testament that in the Epistles and the Revelation they quote it more than 45o times. All of them refer to many of the Books in proof of statements, e.g., James refers to Job, Kings, the Pentateuch, and Joshua, also Peter to Isaiah, Exodus, Hosea, Genesis, and Psalms. In the Acts we find the following references—Psalms (10), Isaiah (5) and Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Joel, Amos, Habakkuk, 1 Kings. Paul, in his writings, refers to the Old Testament in support of his claims in the following numbers of passages—Psalms (37), Genesis 45), Exodus (10), Numbers (1), Deuteronomy (13), Joshua (1), 2 Samuel (1), Kings (2), Job (1), Proverbs (3), Isaiah (27), Jeremiah (3), Hosea (3), Habakkuk (3), Joel (1), Haggai (1), Malachi (1). If the apostles, then, attached such importance to the Old Testament as support for what they said, what right have we to regard it as only human?
So far, therefore, we have seen (1) that Christ attached much importance and authority to Old Testament writings; (2) that He promised the apostles extraordinary and constant Divine assistance, so that we may regard the apostles' writings as infallible; (3) that the apostles themselves regarded the Old Testament with the utmost reverence, and on more than one occasion definitely stated it to be inspired.
FURTHER NEW TESTAMENT EVIDENCE
We will now take briefly further New Testament proofs: the authority of the Old Testament is well established by the Gospels and Epistles— “These things were done that the scripture might be fulfilled” ( John 19:36): “Jesus, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst (John 19:28): “Promised aforetime by his prophets in the holy scriptures” (Romans 1:2): “Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3): “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith” (Galatians 3:8): “And the scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35): “Give place unto wrath, for it is written” (Romans 12:19) “that by patience and comfort of the scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4): “The scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation” (2 Timothy 3:15): “Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition” (Mark 7:13): “Said unto them, thus is it written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer” (Luke 24:46). There is no need to comment on these passages: any one reading them carefully cannot doubt that the writers believed fully the authority and inspiration of the scriptures. Let us consider a few New Testament passages in some detail.
(1) “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” (John 5:45-47). Here we have more than one point. Think what the higher critic would tell us—not only that He was not the object of Moses' writings, but also that Moses did not even write them! Again, Christ puts Moses' writings on equal authority with His own. Now which will you believe? —Christ or the higher critic? If you believe the higher critic—what think ye of Christ? —what foundation is left for Christianity as a revelation of God's mind? None.
(2) “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). Here no blasphemous pretext about Jewish prejudice is of any avail. Christ is here risen, and therefore freed from such “prejudices.” This is but a reiteration of the passage quoted above, stating (a) that Moses was the author, (b) that he wrote of Christ.
(3) “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scripture be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (Matthew 26:53, 54). The scripture governs the Lord's own mind in the most solemn moment of His pathway up to that hour: when He was taken of man He could have saved Himself from them, but bows to the testimony of scripture. And yet all was a fable!
(4) “These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets and in the psalms, concerning me” (Luke 24:44). The Lord here sets His seal to the whole of the Old Testament as infallible— all things must be fulfilled Here again note the Lord is risen, and He treats them as inspired and as prophecies of Himself, which the higher critic presumes to deny!
(5) “Unto Berea... these were more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so” (Acts 17:10, 11). So the Bereans made a mistake in judging Paul's words by the Old Testament writings: they had nothing to do with Christianity! Prophecies are fables, history distorted! But nevertheless, they are commended for so doing. Accept the inevitable conclusion that the Old Testament writers taught of Christ, and if they did that, whence obtained they their knowledge of Him apart from inspiration?
(6) If the Old Testament be not literally and entirely true, what was the force of Stephen's defense? The Jews were not guilty of resisting the Holy Ghost, if He had no part in the writing of the Old Testament (Acts 7:51).
(7) Apollos “mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ” (Acts 18:28). Can one convince “mightily” by means of a pack of myths and writings of impostors?
(8) Paul in his defense before Agrippa declares all he taught was according to the writings of Moses and the prophets, and appeals “King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest” (Acts 26:27). Was all this delusion and deceit? Unless you admit that the prophets were true prophets and not impostors, Paul was deceiving his hearers, for undoubtedly he knew, since the Lord “opened their under-standing, that they might understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:45). If the prophets were true they must have been inspired.
We have now reviewed the New Testament evidence to the inspiration of the Old. Is it not conclusive? At least, is it not evident that Christ and His apostles believed fully and absolutely in inspiration? So that this leaves us with the question, What think ye of Christ and the apostles?
(Continued from page 269)
(To be continued)
[L. H. H.]