Turning now to the old Testament we read in 2 Sam. 23:2 this assertion
by David regarding the things that he said and wrote: +"The Spirit of
Jehovah spake by me, and his word was upon my tongue."+ There can
be no mistaking the meaning of these words on the part of any one who
goes to the Bible to find out what it really claims and teaches. The
Holy Spirit was the real speaker in the prophetic utterance. It was the
Holy Spirit's utterance that was upon the prophet's tongue. The prophet
was simply the mouth by which the Holy Spirit spoke. Merely as a man,
except as the Holy Spirit taught him and used him, the prophet was
fallible as other men are fallible, but when the Spirit was upon him,
when he was taken up and borne along by the Holy Spirit, then he became
infallible in his teachings; for his teachings were not his, but the
teachings of the Holy Spirit. It was God who was then speaking, not the
Prophet. For example, Paul merely as a man, even as a Christian man,
doubtless had many mistaken notions on many things, and was more or
less subject to the ideas and opinions of his time, but when he taught
as an Apostle, under the power of the Holy Spirit he was infallible,
or rather the Spirit who taught through him was infallible, and the
teachings that resulted from the Spirit's teaching through him, were
infallible, as infallible as God. Common sense demands of us that we
carefully distinguish between what Paul _may have_ thought as a man,
and what he _actually taught_ as an apostle. In the Bible we have the
record of what he taught as an Apostle. Some one may cite as a possible
exception to this statement 1 Cor. 7:6, 25, where he says: +"But
this I say by way of concession, not of commandment. . . . Now concerning
virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give my judgment, as
one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be trustworthy."+ There
are those who think that Paul does not seem to have been sure here that
he had the word of the Lord in this particular matter, but that is not
the meaning of the passage. The meaning of v. 6 is that his teaching
which he had just given was _by way of concession_ to their weakness,
and not a commandment as to what they must do. And the teaching of v.
25 is that the Lord, during His earthly life, had given no commandment
on this subject, but that Paul was giving his judgment; but he says
distinctly that he was giving it _as one who had obtained mercy of the
Lord to be trustworthy_ and _furthermore, in the 40th verse of the
chapter he distinctly says that in his judgment he had the Spirit of
God_. But even allowing that the other interpretation of this passage
is the correct one, and that Paul was not absolutely sure in this case
that he had the Word of the Lord and the mind of the Lord, that would
only show that where Paul was not absolutely sure that he was teaching
in the Holy Ghost he was careful to note the fact, and this would only
give additional certainty to all other passages that he wrote.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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