Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament 219 were merely an ideal personage, there would be little force in saying that the Lord "opened the understanding'' of the disciples that they might see His death and resurrection to be set forth in the prophecies. But to teach that the Old Testament contains authentic predictions is, as we have said, to teach that it is inspired. The challenge to heathen deities is, "Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods" (Isa. 41 :23 ) . We thus find that our Lord recognizes the same Old Tes tament canon as we have, that so far as He makes reference to particular books of the canon He ascribes them to the writ ers whose names they bear, that He regards the Jewish re ligion and its sacred books as in a special sense-a sense not to be affirmed of any other religion-from God, that the writers of Scripture, in His view, spake in the Spirit, that their words are so properly chosen that an argument may rest on the exactness of a term, that no part of Scripture shall fail of its end or be convicted of error, and that the predictions of Scripture are genuine predictions, which must all in their time receive fulfilment. We cannot here discuss the doctrine of inspiration; but on the ground of the Lord's testimony to the Old Testament, as above summarized, we may surely affirm that He claims for it throughout all that is meant by inspiration when we use that term in the most definite sense. No higher author ity could well be ascribed to apostolic teaching, or to any part of the New Testament Scriptures, than the Lord attrib utes to the more ancient Scriptures when He declares that "jot or tittle shall not pass from them till all be fulfilled," and that if men "hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead" (Luke 16:31). II. THE VALUE OF CHRIST'S TESTIMONY It remains that we should briefly advert to the value, for �e scientific student of the Bible, of Christ's testimony to
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