03.01 - Inspiration of the Writings Based on Inspiration of the Writers

THE SCRIPTURES AS INSPIRED WRITINGS

PART III (I) Inspiration of the Writings based on Inspiration of the Writers

HAVING spoken of the inspiration of the agents, we now speak of the inspiration of their work; and from the inspiration of the speakers we pass to the inspiration of their utterances; and from the inspiration of the writers to that of their writings. As already indicated, inspiration primarily belongs to the agents, to the speakers and writers, and only secodarily to their utterances and writings. It is more intelligible and more correct to speak of the inspiration of men than of books; because inspiration denotes the action or influence of the Holy Spirit on the minds of men preparing and assisting them in the work of speaking and writing. Because Prophets and Apostles were specially chosen to be the spokesmen of God to the people, and to receive communications or revelations of God’s mind and will, and to make them known, and were specially inspired for this, those communications, whether given orally or by writing, may be said to be inspired because they “ wrote and spoke from God, being moved by the Holy Ghost.” The sacred Scriptures are inspired because they contain the declared mind of the Spirit, are the organ of His abiding and living influence, and are a means of inspiring men to noble deeds and holy purposes.

Hence the Scriptures are called “theopneustic “God-breathed or God-inspired. This applies to all the inspired utterances and writings of Prophets and Apostles, whatever the literary form and character of the writing may be whether law, prophecy, psalm, history, Gospel, Epistle, or what. It is an inspired production because it is the outcome of Divine inspiration. This is the primal ground or basis of the Divine inspiration of the Scriptures, that they are the writings of inspired men: men chosen and inspired for the work of declaring the Divine mind and will, and to whom a communication or revelation of the Divine will has been made. This gives rise to a question of some importance.

If those Scriptures alone are to be regarded as inspired which were written by inspired men, what of those Scriptures which are admitted to be compilations, which contain laws, oracles, visions, derived from unknown or doubtful sources; or are the work of unknown authors, or of men of whose inspiration we have no certain knowledge? There are Scriptures which are largely or wholly anonymous or pseudonymous; and others which have been written under the superintendence of inspired Prophets and Apostles, and by men who were their scribes and companions.

These writings are not the immediate work of Prophets and Apostles, but of their companions, and hence we cannot rest the inspiration of the Scriptures wholly and alone on the known and proved inspiration of the writers without throwing a large portion of the sacred Scriptures open to doubt as to their inspiration.

Moreover, to make the known and proved inspiration of the writer to be the sole basis of the inspiration of the Scriptures would necessitate us to prove the authorship of the books, and to establish their authenticity and genuineness before we could accept their teachings as inspired and authoritative: a task which is admitted to be a difficult, if not an impossible one.

Regard must not only be had to the known inspiration of the writer, but also to the contents and teachings of the writing, to the nature, unity, and harmony of the contents of the Scriptures; that they claim to speak to us in the name of God and to make known His will; that they have been received from the first until now as the Word of God; that they accord with the analogy of the faith; that Apostles, apostolic Fathers, Apologists, and early Christian writers have quoted and used them as inspired Scriptures; that the Church has authorised their use because they believed them to be inspired, and because they breathe the Spirit of God, and are profit able for teaching, correction, and instruction in righteousness and holiness.” Tried by this standard those Scriptures, said to be composite in character and the work of unknown authors, are found to be inspired, they contain highly moral and religious teachings, and are the product of the spirit of truth. The authors, though unknown, and outside the list of writing Prophets and inspired Apostles, were, nevertheless, inspired men; men belonging to an inspired community, and were the producers and conservers of revealed truth. The point of supreme importance in this view of inspiration is that we are required to concentrate attention on the character of the truth itself, on the subject-matter of the teaching, without attempting to settle the vexed question of the date and authorship of the books of Scripture. It may be that the difficulties pertaining to the nature and character of the teaching, the contents of the truth, and the standard of morality found therein, may not be fewer, nor less important than those that concern the question of elate and authorship. No, but we take the Scriptures as they are, and the contents as we find them; and though the history is not according to strict historical methods, and the science of Scripture not according to modern scientific teach ings, and the morals and ethics not those of our own age and time, we may judge them according to what they are. And it is well to remember that the sacred writers wrote and spoke to their contemporaries, to the men of their own age and country, in their own language and the language the people could under stand, using terms and expressions to which they were accustomed, and which conveyed to them just the truth they wished them to understand and know. And such an idea and purpose cannot be said to be contrary to the idea of Divine inspiration, and that they taught what was not strictly and scientifically correct. The message was primarily for the people of their own age and country. The recognised standard of knowledge, science, and morals was that of their own age and time; and the purpose of revelation was not perfection of knowledge in history, science, and morality; but to reveal God, to make known the purpose and method of His working in history and humanity: and anything that will make this purpose clear will help us the better to under stand the character and design of the Scriptures as inspired writings.