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THE KING’S BUSINESS
paring spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit o f G od: for they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual, judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged o f no man. For who hath known the mind o f the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind o f Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:11-16). But such is not the case, as these scrip tural references show. The prophets were not masters o f themselves while uttering their prophecies. They are borne along by a higher power—not by any power or will o f “their own,” or by any “private” impulse or self-determining cause, but by the Spirit o f God, and so their prophecies are o f infi nite value. The “prophecy o f the Scrip ture,” therefore, is not something which man has himself, or for himself thought out, but something which the Holy Spirit has thought, planned, and,worked out for him and through him. The prophet did not proceed on his own, “private interpreta tion” o f things. The Scriptures did not 'originate in human determination. MEANING OF “INTERPRETAT ION ” “ No prophecy o f the Scripture is o f any private interpretätion.” The word “inter pretation” occurs only here in the entire New Testament. It means to loose, to lib erate, to untie anything bound or sealed up; to liberate as the chrysalis emerges or is loosed from its shell. The Germans explain it by the use o f the word “Auflö sung.” Calvin refers to it as “impulse” or “ incitation.” The word indicates the loos ing o f what is complicated. The corre sponding verb is found in Acts 19:39—“It shall be "determined,” or settled, and also in Mark 4 :34— “He expounded . . . . all things.” The question naturally arises, Do these words refer to the interpretation (better, the exposition), or to the origin and source o f the Scriptures? Light may be thrown upon the matter by considering the meaning o f the verb “ is” in this particular connection. “ No prophecy o f the Scrip
ture IS o f any private interpretation.” The word “is” (ginetai) means to come into being, to arise out of, to originate, to spring out of. T h e , word occurs in the following passages: John 1 :3 : “Without him did not anything come into being;’’ Hebrews 11:3—“ Things . . . were made,” or came into being ; James 3:9—“Made after the similitude o f G od;” Matthew 8:24— “There arose a great tempest;” John 8:58—“ Before Abraham was,’’ or came into being. It seems quite evident from the use o f the word “ is” in these passages that the idea o f origin or source is intended; this is the sense in which it is to be under stood in the passage before us. Again, the word “came” as used in vv. 17, 18—“ This voice which came from hea ven,” and in v. 21—“ For the prophecy came not,” is the same Greek word (phero), and means to bring or to be brought. The use o f “came” in the first instance,is to show the source o f the divine voice heard on*the transfiguration mount, and is the second to reveal the origin o f the “prophecy o f the scripture.” Thus, in each instance, it is the source, or origin, and not the exposi tion or interpretation o f either the “voice” or the “prophecy” that is under considera tion. The Apostolic Testimony as to the vision and the voice seen and heard on the mount was not a mere figment o f the human imagination, a cunningly devised fable, a self-originated myth. It was a fact; a vision and a voice borne upon them from above; something that had an exist ence above, outside, and altogether inde pendent o f themselves. It came not from within themselves, but from a source alto gether exterior: it came from God. Just so, the Apostle Peter claims, only more surely so, is it with the “prophecy o f the scripture.” It came not by “the will of man;” it was no creation o f man’s mind; it was no self-originated message; it is a message direct from God, and heavenly in its origin. It must be clear, then, from all this that the word “interpretation’ refers, not to the meaning, but to the origin, not to exposi tion, but to the source o f the sacred writ-
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