03.08 - The Witness of the Apostles to the Inspiration of the Old Testament

(8) The Witness of the Apostles to the Inspiration of the Old Testament. In numerous ways and forms New Testament writers refer to and quote the Old Testament Scriptures as the Word of God. The Evangelists in their genealogical tables, in describing the time, place and circumstances of Christ’s birth, the flight into Egypt, the residence in Nazareth, the purification in the Temple, the baptism, the Galilean and Judean ministry, the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Christ, speak of these as being a “ fulfilment of that which was written and spoken by the Prophets/ or foreshadowed in the Law and the Psalms. The allusions to and quotations from the Old Testament Scriptures in the Acts and the Epistles are many and various, while they are of such a character and are applied in such a way as to show the writers regarded those Scriptures as of Divine authority, as being the Word of God. The testimony of the Apostles is the testimony not only of believing Jews, trained in the knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures and the Jewish religion, but of instructed and inspired Apostles, men who had shared the personal instruction of the Lord Jesus, and received the baptism and gift of the Holy Ghost.

They spake of them as “holy writings,” the “Scriptures,” the “commandments,” and the “oracles” of God. Paul speaking of them says, “ All Scripture “ Every Scripture is given by inspiration of God”; while Peter says, “ No prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation,” implying the Divine inspiration of those writings. In making their quotations, the Apostles use such expressions as the following, “ It is written,” “ that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet,” “ in order that the Scriptures might be fulfilled which saith,” or, “ the Scriptures saith,” “ the Lord saith,” “ He saith,” “ He spake,” expressions used by most of the writers and used of the Old Testament as a whole, as well as of particular portions. They also refer in a marked manner to Old Testament characters, institutions and ordinances, testifying and interpreting the significance of priesthood and sacrifice, of institution and ordinance, of the relation of the law to Christ, and of the teachings of the prophets to the doctrines of righteousness, holiness, and grace. The New Testament writers testify of the Divine prescience, the prophetic insight and foresight manifest in the Old Testament Scriptures. This is seen in the fulfilment of prophetic utterances as witnessed in the ministry of the Baptist and of the Lord Jesus; in Jesus Christ “taking upon Him our sicknesses, healing our diseases, and bearing our sorrows and sins”; in the birth, teaching, suffering, death, resurrection and exaltation of Jesus Christ to the right hand of God in power and glory; in the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost, and the wonderful results that followed upon the ministry of Paul and Peter among the Jews and Gentiles, all of which had been foreseen and emphasised, and which should come to pass in the latter days. There are also the facts and truths exhibited in the disobedience, rebellion, and falling away of the Jews and the gathering in of the Gentiles, in the persecution and dispersion of the believers and the diffusion of the gospel; in the placing of both Jews and Greeks under sin and the bringing in of a universal redemption and an everlasting righteousness; the justification of the ungodly by faith, the revelation of the righteousness and holiness of God, and the election of grace; all of which are among the things witnessed to by the law and the prophets. “ For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the Scriptures we might have faith.” *