INSPIRATION continued Christian. Some have rejected this appeal to the teaching of Christ and His apostles as circular reasoning. Our Lord, however, has expressly told us to follow His teaching (John 8:13 ff. and elsewhere); and cer tainly no circle is involved unless the authority of Christ and His apostles rests in turn upon an ac ceptance of verbal inspiration. Such is not the case, for our faith in the deity of Christ is grounded rather upon the sum of historical, logical and experiential evidences for the truth of the Christian faith and in particular upon the imme d i a t e testimony of the Holy Spirit to our own spirits that we are truly chil dren of God through faith in Him. Belief in verbal inspiration, there fore, rests ultimately upon these evidences which prove that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God and that the apostles are trustworthy teachers of doctrine. Cuch a view of the inspiration of the Bible fosters textual and his torical criticism, and philological research. By the scientific use of correct principles of textual criti cism the reverent scholar is able, in the vast majority of cases, to ascer tain the original words of Scripture. The correct text, as thus secured, serves as a reliable basis for exe- getical study; and its faithful inter pretation provides man with the very truth of God. By adequate historical research the Christian scholar, likewise, may investigate the origin, authority,
genuineness, date and authenticity of the various books of the Bible. Belief in the inerrancy of Scripture does not rule out such investigation. It does, however, rule out conclu sions to which certain historical critics have come — namely, those which contradict anything taught in the original words of Scripture. For instance, it is obvious that one who concludes that Moses did not write the Pentateuch cannot hold to the inerrancy of another book which declares that he did. This doctrine o f the v e r ba l inspiration and inerrancy of Scrip ture not only encourages research but also is essential to theology. Belief in verbal inspiration, of course, is not essential to the salva tion of a man’s soul. We must add immediately, however, that it is neither relatively inconsequential nor merely one important doctrine among others. At stake is the whole method by which orthodoxy builds its theology. Down through the centuries the standard of doctrine for all evangelical churches has been the Bible. The Bible is the only infallible rule of faith and practice. In its confessions of faith the church professes to derive its system of doctrine from the Bible. Theologies are of necessity subject to change; being man-made, they are not in fallible. God’s Word is infallible; it is the immutable foundation of theology. Modernism discarded that foun dation. It sought to found its doc trine at first upon the teaching of Jesus alone, later upon Christian
experience, finally upon unaided human reason. Meo-orthodoxy seeks to bridge the gap between orthodoxy and mod ernism. It sets its foundation ulti mately upon a Bible that becomes the Word of God as the Holy Spirit sees fit now and again to use the Bible as an instrument to bring men into personal acquaintance with Christ, the Living Word. Val uable is this emphasis upon the Living Word. But in its emphasis upon the present application of the Word to man’s heart, neo-orthodoxy forgets that in Scripture God not only speaks, He has spoken. By His work of inspiration in the past, God constituted the Scriptures an ob jective, written Word — His mes sage of truth to men whether men respond to His voice or whether they do not. The church of God must have this objective standard by which to distinguish true doctrine from false. Only thus can it be preserved from an irresponsible subjectivity which picks and chooses at will. The doctrine of verbal inspira tion, therefore, retains the truth found in the alternatives opposed to it, avoids their logical and spir itual pitfalls, and brings the church under the authority of the ever- living voice of God, who spoke in sundry times and divers manners through the prophets, and in those same words speaks infallibly in our day, bringing to men the gospel of God’s abundant grace through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Living Your Doctrine
|£ eware of not acting upon what you see in your moments on the mount with God. If you do not obey the light, it will turn into darkness. Theology must work itself out in the most practical relationships. "Except your righteous ness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Phar isees . . . ” said our Lord, i.e., you must be more moral than
the most moral being you know. You may know all about the doctrine of sanctification, but are you running it out into the practical issues of your life? Every bit of your life, physical, moral and spiritual, is to be judged by the stand ard of the atonement. — Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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