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STRONGHOLD OF TRUTH
selves, but whichever we adopt, the thought is: "Every writing is God-breathed." I do not know exactly what that means, but I do know what it says, that God, some how or other, breathed into these writings, and therefore we are concerned with words. Now, lest I should go one step beyond what seems to be true, let us look at 1 Cor. 11 :13. I beg you to notice this, because, as Dr. Forsyth says, the chapter is classic for the apostolic view of inspiration. Mark this: "f,Vords which the Holy Ghost teacheth." Could anything be more definite and clear than that? Not the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth. And so I suggest that there is an inti mate connection, a necessary connection, between thoughts and words. vVhether it be for our own thought, or for intercourse between man and man, thoughts must be expressed in words. And this is what Bishop Westcott says in his fine essay on Inspiration: "Thoughts are wedded to words as necessarily as soul is to body." And thus when we speak of the media of the Bible, we are concerned with words. But some one says: Does not that mean "verbal inspir ation?" vVell, you can call it verbal inspiration if you like, you can call it plenary inspiration if you prefer, so long as you do not call it dictation. When I dictate a letter to my secretary, I do not inspire her. It is mech anical dictation, and I expect her to reproduce exactly what I tell her. But in Scripture it is not mechanical dictation, it is inspiration; and whether we call it verbal or plenary, the phrase is not intended to say how God does it, but how far it has gone. It means that inspira tion extends to the form as well as to the substance, that it reaches to the words as well as to the tlzo11ghts, in order that we may be sure of the thoughts; for how are we to know God's thoughts if we do not know His words? But another says: "The letter killeth, the spirit giveth life." It does; but St. Paul in that phrase is not con cerned at all with the letter of inspiration as opposed to the spirit. That is an entirely false idea of the passage.
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