But some one may ask, “If the Holy Spirit is the author of the words of Scripture, how do we account for variations in style and diction? How do we explain for instance that Paul always used Pauline language and John Johannean language, etc.?” The answer to this is very simple. If we could not account at all for this fact, it would have but little weight against the explicit statement of God’s Word with any one who is humble enough and wise enough to recognize that there are a great many things which he cannot account for at all which could be easily accounted for if he knew more. But these variations are easily accounted for. The Holy Spirit is quite wise enough and has quite facility enough in the use of language in revealing truth to and through any given individual, to use words, phrases and forms of expression and idioms in that person’s vocabulary and forms of thought, and to make use of that person’s peculiar individuality. Indeed, it is a mark of the Divine wisdom of this Book that the same truth is expressed with absolute accuracy in such widely variant forms of expression. 7. _The utterances of the Apostles and the prophets were the Word of God. When we read these words, __ we are listening not to the voice of man, but to the voice of God._ We read in Mark vii. 13, “Making _the word of God_ of none effect, through your tradition, which ye have delivered; and many such like things do ye.” Jesus had been setting the law given through Moses over against the Pharisaic traditions, and in doing this, He expressly says in this passage that the law given through Moses was “_the word of God_.” In 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, we read, “The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and _His word_ was in my tongue.” Here again we are told that the utterance of God’s prophet was the word of God. In a similar way God says in 1 Thess. ii. 13, “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye _received the word of God which ye heard of us_, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is _in truth, the word of God_, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.” Here Paul declares that the word which he spoke, taught by the Spirit of God, was _the very word of God_. CHAPTER XXII. THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN JESUS CHRIST. Jesus Christ Himself is the one perfect manifestation in history of the complete work of the Holy Spirit in man.