The 6th thing that the Bible makes clear as to the inspiration of the
apostle and prophets is that, _the Holy Spirit in the Prophets and
Apostles gave not only the thought but also gave the words in which
the thought was to be expressed_. We find this very clearly stated
in 1 Cor. 2:13: +"Which things also we speak, not in words which
man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth; combining
spiritual things with spiritual words."+ One of the most popular
of the false theories of Inspiration in our day is that the Holy
Spirit was the author of the thought, but that the Apostles were
left to their own choice of words in the expression of the thought,
and that therefore in studying the Bible we cannot emphasise the
exact meaning of the words, but must try to find the thought of God
that was back of the words, and which the writer has more or less
inaccurately expressed. There are many teachers in our theological
seminaries to-day, and in our pulpits, who speak very sneeringly and
superciliously of those who believe in Verbal Inspiration,—i.e., those
who believe that the Holy Spirit chose the very words in which the
thought he was teaching was to be expressed, but however sneeringly
they may speak of those who believe in Verbal Inspiration, certainly
the Bible claims that it was verbally inspired. The passage which I
have just read makes it as plain as language can possibly make it
that the "_words_" in which the Apostle spoke were not "_words_ which
man's wisdom teacheth, but _which the Spirit teacheth_." Now if this
is not the fact, if only the _thought_ that was given to Paul was the
thought of God, and he clothed the thought in his own words, then Paul
was a thoroughly deceived man on a fundamental point, in which case
no dependence at all can be placed in his teachings on any point, or
else he was a deliberate fraud, in which case the quicker we burn up
his books the better for us and all concerned. There is no possibility
of finding any middle ground, and the attempts to find a middle ground
have landed those who have tried it in all kinds of absurdities. If
you have an exact and logical mind, you must take your choice between
Verbal Inspiration and bald infidelity. _Paul distinctly states that
the words in which he conveyed to others the truth that was revealed
to him were the words which the Holy Spirit taught him._ The Holy
Spirit himself has anticipated all these modern ingenious, but wholly
unbiblical and utterly illogical and entirely false theories regarding
his own work in the Apostles. The theory that "the concept" was
inspired but the words in which the concept was expressed were not, was
anticipated by the Holy Spirit Himself and exploded 1800 years before
our supposedly wise 19th century theological teachers conceived it,
and attempted to foist it upon an unsuspecting public. It was exploded
eighteen centuries before it was exploited. Furthermore, the theory
is absurd in itself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account