The second thing taught in the Bible regarding the inspiration of
the Apostles and Prophets, the inspiration of the various authors of
the books of the Bible, is that _truth hidden from men for ages, and
which they had not discovered, and could not discover, by the unaided
processes of human reasoning, even human reasoning at its very best
and highest, has been revealed to Apostles and Prophets in the Holy
Spirit_. We find this very clearly taught in Eph. 3:2-5: +"If so be
that ye have heard of the dispensation of that grace of God which was
given me to you-ward; (3) how that by revelation was made known unto
me the mystery, as I wrote before in few words, (4) whereby when ye
read, ye can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ; (5)
which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men,
as it hath now been revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets in
the Spirit."+ The meaning of these words is unmistakable. Paul here
declares in words the meaning of which is perfectly plain, that God
"in the Spirit" had revealed "unto His holy apostles and prophets"
"the mystery of Christ" which in former generations had not been made
known unto the sons of men, which they had not discovered and could not
discover except by revelation from God; Paul and the other apostles
and prophets knew it by direct revelation from God himself through the
Holy Ghost. The teaching is inescapable that the Bible contains truth
that men never had discovered and never could have discovered if left
to themselves, but truth which the Father in great grace has revealed
to His children through His servants the prophets and apostles. We see
in this the folly, a folly so common in our day, of seeking to test
the statements of Scripture by the conclusions of human reasoning, or
by the intuitions of the "Christian consciousness." The revelation
of God transcends human reasoning, and therefore human reasoning
cannot be its test. Furthermore, a consciousness that is truly and
fully Christian is _the product_ of the study and absorption of Bible
truth. It is not _the test_ of the truth of the Bible,—it is _the
product_ of meditation on the Bible. If our "consciousness" differs
from the statements of the Bible, it is not as yet a fully "_Christian_
consciousness," and the thing for us to do is not to try to pull God's
revelation down to the level of our consciousness but to tone our
consciousness up to the level of God's Word.
III. THE REVELATION MADE TO THE PROPHETS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS
INDEPENDENT OF THEIR OWN THINKING
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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