THE NEW TESTAMENT.
In reference to the inspiration of the New Testament, we must keep in mind that the Holy Spirit had come and indwelt believers before any part of it was written. Those whom He employed to write it, no longer, as in olden time, wrote what they did not understand, and greatly desired to know; but those who wrote the New Testament, though by the same Spirit, had intelligence of accomplished redemption; they enjoyed communion with the Father and the Son, and new relationships as to what they wrote, for they were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. We, therefore, as we have before observed, never find them saying, "Thus saith Jehovah;" but they speak of the Father and the Son, especially in the Epistles, as addressing the children of God.
There are, however, certain true marks of the distinguishing activities of the Holy Spirit. He is the Glorifier and Testifier of the Son of God, and takes of the things of Christ, and shows unto us. He always leads into the path of obedience to the Father's will, and subjection to Christ as Lord of all. Now, without going further as to the operations of the Holy Spirit, by whose power, as come down from heaven, the gospel is preached, it is clear, that every part of the New Testament abounds with proofs of His ministrations by the writers. Moreover, the Scriptures speak to us continually of holiness, truth, righteousness, the grace of God, and of His faithfulness to His own Word; and all taught of Him learn that "the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God;" that He is "given unto us," that "we might know the things that are freely given to us of God," for "the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God." (John 14-16; 1 Cor. 2:10, 12.) God hath then not given unto us "the spirit of the world," or "the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
Thus while we find it is said that, as to the Old Testament Scriptures, holy men of God were "moved by the Holy Spirit" to give them to us; the New Testament Scriptures were written by the same Spirit through those instruments who knew the Lord Jesus as the Accomplisher of their eternal redemption, and were intelligent by the indwelling Spirit concerning what they wrote.
With regard to the apostle Paul's ministry, he was especially a minister of the Church or assembly; to him was revealed "the mystery," as we have seen, and only his writings give us the revelation of the assembly, or "one body," and its administration. He taught also its practical power on the life and walk of saints now, both individually and collectively, by the same Spirit, as well as the ministration of the affections of Christ in nourishing and cherishing every member of His body. Besides this, and the instructions he received of the Lord from heaven at his conversion, he received also an "abundance of revelations." For example, as to the Lord's Supper, when it was instituted by our Lord, the nation of Israel had not been judicially set aside, and the assembly set up, we therefore find it was taken in hope of the kingdom; hence our Lord added, "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." (Matt. 26:29.) It is quite true, looking at drinking wine as a type of earthly joy, He has not since had joy in, or with, His earthly people; nor will He till He comes in great power and glory, and brings them into their promised blessing in the land as a repentant people. When, therefore, Israel was actually given up for a time, and this marvelous mystery of the Church or assembly began to be built according to God's eternal purpose, as a people on earth united by one indwelling Spirit to Christ in heaven as the limbs of our natural bodies are united to our head, then the Lord's Supper needed a special revelation. And what was it? Hear what the apostle says, "I have received of the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread; and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take eat; this is My body which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also, He took the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood; this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come." (1 Cor. 11:23-26.) Now this was a most important revelation, and the apostle declares that he had it from the glorified Lord, and for us; so that we have His own mind about it now, that instead of watching for events, and waiting, for the kingdom on earth, we are to be carrying out His wish and looking up, not knowing whether the next moment we may hear the shout, and in the twinkling of an eye be taken away from the earth- changed, translated, meet the Lord in the air, and enter with Him on our heavenly and eternal inheritance.
It is also since the glorification of Jesus, and His having sent the Holy Spirit, that we read in Scripture of "the Lord's table." Hence it is only after the formation of "one body" by "one spirit," that we are taught that, in breaking and eating of the "one bread" (one loaf), we express "one body," "for we are all partakers of that one bread" (or loaf). We are also enjoined to be using diligence to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." These truths were specially committed to Paul as a minister of the Church, or assembly. (See 1 Cor. 10:16, 17, 21; 12:13; Col. 1:24-26.)
Again, we find as to His coming another special revelation, not given before; for while Old Testament Scriptures speak of the Lord coming to reign with His saints, His coming for us at the rapture was not known till the apostle wrote to the Thessalonian saints. He said, "This we say unto you by the word of the Lord." What is it? That the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, the dead saints be raised, the living changed, and all caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so be forever with the Lord. It is clear, then, that the apostle had revealed to him, by the Lord Himself, many things to communicate to us for our instruction and blessing. Peter, in his Second Epistle, most touchingly refers to Paul's writings being inspired, and therefore Scripture. He says, "Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned, and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." (2 Peter 3:15-16.)
So careful was the apostle Paul in his writings to minister what he was commanded of the Lord, that when, on one or two occasions, he gave his own judgment merely, as a servant of the Lord who had the Spirit of God, he would say, "I have no commandment of the Lord; yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful." (1 Cor. 7:25, 40.) But in the same letter, he says, in another part, "If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant." So absolutely was his administration to them the Word of God, that he says, "What! came the Word of God out from you? Or? came it unto you only?" (1 Cor. 14:36-38.)
(Continued and to be continued.)