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Study 2: The Spirit of God Definition | Inspiration | Gifts of the Holy Spirit | The Withdrawal of the Gifts | The Bible The Only Authority | Digressions (Is the Holy Spirit A Person?, The Principle of Personification, Calvinism, "Ye shall receive the . . . Holy Spirit", "These signs shall follow") | Questions |
2.2 InspirationWe have defined God's spirit as His power, thoughts and disposition, which He reveals by the actions which His spirit performs. We mentioned in the previous section how God's spirit was seen at work in the creation: "By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens" (Job 26:13) — the spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters to bring about the present creation (Gen. 1:2). Yet we also read that "by the word of the Lord" the world was made (Ps. 33:6), as exemplified by the Genesis narrative recording that "God said" things were to be created, and it happened. God's spirit, therefore, is very much reflected in His word — just as our words express our inner thoughts and desires — the real "us" — very accurately. Jesus wisely pointed out: "Out of the abundance of the heart (the mind) the mouth speaketh" (Matt. 12:34). So if we would control our words, we must firstly work on our thoughts. God's word, then, is a reflection of His spirit, or thoughts. It is such a blessing that in the Bible we have God's words written down so that we might understand God's spirit or mind. God achieved this miracle of expressing His spirit in written words by the process of INSPIRATION. This term is based around the word "spirit":- IN-SPIRIT-ATION. "Spirit" meaning "breath" or breathing, "Inspiration" means "in-breathing". This means that the words which men wrote while under "inspiration" from God were the words of God's spirit. Paul encouraged Timothy not to let his familiarity with the Bible lead him to forget the wonder of the fact that it is the words of God's spirit, and therefore provides all that we need in order to have a true knowledge of God:-
If the inspired Scriptures can provide such a totality of knowledge, then there is no need for some 'inner light' to show us the truth about God. But how many times do people speak of their personal feelings and experiences as being the source of their knowledge of God! If an acceptance in faith of God's inspired word is enough to completely equip someone in the Christian life, there is no need for any other power of righteousness in our lives. If there is such a need, then God's word has not completely equipped us, as Paul promises it will. To hold the Bible in our hands and believe that it really is the Word of God's spirit takes quite some faith. The Israelites were reasonably interested in what God's word had to say, as are many "Christians" today. We all need to carefully reflect on Heb. 4:2:-
Instead of rising up to a complete faith in the power of God's spirit/word which is received, it is far more attractive to take a spiritual short-cut: to reason that a power of righteousness suddenly comes upon us, which will make us acceptable to God, rather than having to experience the pain of consciously bringing our lives into obedience to God's word, and thereby letting God's spirit truly influence our hearts. This unwillingness to accept the huge spiritual power which is in God's word has led many "Christians" to question whether all the Scriptures are fully inspired by God. They have suggested that much of what we read in the Bible was just the personal opinions of wise old men. But Peter effectively disposes of such woolly reasoning:-
We must "above all" believe that the Bible is inspired. For this reason we have made this the foundation clause of the Christadelphian Statement of Faith. The Writers Of The BibleA solid belief in the total inspiration of the Scriptures is therefore vital; the men who wrote the Bible were irresistibly carried along by the spirit which inspired them, so that their words were not their own. The Word of God being the truth (Jn. 17:17) and providing rebuke and correction (2 Tim. 3:16,17), it is not surprising that with many people it is unpopular — for truth hurts. The prophet Jeremiah suffered much opposition for speaking forth the words God inspired him with, and so he determined not to record or publicize the words which he was given. But because the writing of God's Word is a result of God's will rather than human desire, he was "carried along by the Holy Spirit" so that he had no choice in the matter. "I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me...Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay" (Jer. 20:7,9). Likewise when Balaam was determined to curse Israel, the spirit of God made him speak out a blessing on them instead (Num. 24:1-13 cp. Deut. 23:5). A surprising number of the men whom God inspired to speak
His word went through periods of reluctance to do so. The list is impressive:- This all confirms what we learnt in 2 Pet. 1:19-21 — that
God's word is not the personal opinion of men, but the result of men being inspired to
write down what was revealed to them. The prophet Amos reflected: "The Lord God hath
spoken, who can but prophecy?" (Amos 3:8). At times Moses lost the sense of his own
personality, so strong was his inspiration by God: "All these commandments, which the
Lord hath spoken unto Moses.." (Num. 15:22,23); these words were actually said by
Moses (v. 17). Another strand of evidence for this is that the writers
of the Bible realized that they did not fully understand the things which they were
writing. They "searched" for the correct interpretation — "unto whom it was
revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things" which
they wrote (1 Peter 1:9-12). The actual words they recorded were not their own
interpretation, seeing it was that which they searched for. The following provide obvious
examples: Daniel (Dan. 12:8-10); Zechariah (Zech. 4:4-13); Peter (Acts 10:17). If these men were only partly inspired, we do not have
access to the true Word or spirit of God. If what they wrote really was the Word of
God,then it follows that they had to be completely taken over by God's spirit during the
period of inspiration — otherwise the product would not have been God's Word in purity. An
acceptance that God's Word is completely His, provides us with more motivation to read and
obey it. "Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it" (Ps. 119:140). Thus the books of the Bible are the work of God through
His spirit, rather than the literature of men. The truth of this is shown by considering
how the New Testament refers to the Old Testament writings:- - Matt. 2:5 (R.V. mg.) speaks of how it was "written
through the prophets" — God was writing through them. The R.V. margin always uses the
word "through" when describing how God wrote by the prophets. - "The Holy Spirit by the mouth of David
spake..." (Acts 1:16. This is how Peter quoted from the Psalms: cp. Heb. 3:7). - "Well spake the Holy Spirit by Esaias" (Acts
28:25 — this was how Paul quoted Isaiah). Lk.3:4 speaks of "the book of the words
of Esaias" rather than just, 'the book of Isaiah'. The human authors of the Bible were therefore relatively
unimportant to the early Christians; it was the fact that their words had been inspired
with the Spirit of God which was important. We will conclude this section with a list of verses which
show that God's Spirit is revealed to us through His written word:- - Jesus plainly stated, "The words that I
speak...are spirit" (Jn. 6:63); He spoke under inspiration from God (Jn. 17:8;
14:10). - We are described as being re-born by both the spirit
(Jn. 3:3-5) and the word of God (1 Pet. 1:23). - "The words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in
his spirit by the...prophets" (Zech. 7:12). - "I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make
known my words unto you" (Prov. 1:23) associates a true understanding of God's word
with the action of His spirit upon us — reading the Book without understanding is of no
avail, seeing that the spirit/mind of God is not being revealed to us. - There are parallels between God's Spirit and His word
in many passages: "My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy
mouth..." (Isa. 59:21); "For Thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart
(spirit)" (2 Sam. 7:21); "I will put my spirit within you (your heart — see
context)..."; "I will put my law... in their hearts" (Eze. 36:27; Jer.
31:33). God's spirit referring not only to His mind/disposition
but also to the power by which He expresses those thoughts, it is to be expected that His
spirit-word is not just a statement of His mind; there is also a dynamic power in that
word. A true appreciation of that power should make us eager to
make use of it; any feelings of embarrassment associated with doing so should be overcome
by our knowledge that obedience to God's word will give us the power which we need to
accelerate out of the small things of this life, towards salvation. Out of much experience
of this, Paul wrote:- "I am not ashamed of the Gospel (the word) of
Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation" (Rom. 1:16). Luke 1:37 (R.V.) harps on the same theme: "No word
of God shall be void of power (spirit)". Bible study and applying it to our lives is therefore a
dynamic process. It is quite unrelated to the cold, academic approach of theologians and
also to the 'feel-good' Christianity of many churches, whereby a few passages are briefly
quoted,but no effort made to understand or apply them. "The word of God is quick
(living) and powerful"; "the word of His (God's) power" (Heb. 4:12; 1:3).
"The word of God...effectually worketh also in you that believe" (1 Thess.
2:13). Through the Word, God is actively at work in the minds of true believers, every
hour of the day. The basic message of the Gospel which you are learning is
therefore the true power of God; if you allow it to do so, it can work in your life to
change you into a child of God, showing the spirit/mind of God to some degree in this
life, preparing you for the change to God's spiritual nature which will come at Christ's
return (2 Pet.1:4). Paul's preaching was "in demonstration of the spirit and of
power" (1 Cor. 2:4). We are surrounded by those who have a semi-faith in the
Bible as God's word, despite their claims of commitment to Christ. Similarly they claim to
believe in God, and yet fail to accept that He is a real person. By denying the total
inspiration of Scripture and its supremacy over our personal feelings and convictions,
they are denying God's power. The words of 2 Tim. 3:5 come to mind: "having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof", i.e. the power of the word of the Gospel. Our fundamentalism is mocked by the world ("You
don't believe it like that, do you?!"), and so was that of Paul and his band of
preachers: "The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto
us which are saved, it is the power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18). Bearing all this in mind, can't we each hold the Bible in
our hands with an ever greater measure of respect, and read it with ever more eagerness to
understand and obey? A sensitive reading of the Biblical record indicates that
the Bible writers not only recognized that they were inspired, but they also treated other
Bible writers as inspired. The Lord Jesus is preeminent in this. When Jesus quoted from
the Psalms of David, he prefaced this with the words, "David in spirit..." (Mt.
22:43), showing his recognition of the fact that David's words were inspired. Jesus also
spoke of Moses' "writings" (Jn. 5:45-47), showing that he believed Moses to have
literally written the Pentateuch. The so-called 'higher critical' Christians have doubted
whether Moses could write, but the attitude of Christ clearly contradicts their approach.
He called Moses' writings "the commandment of God" (Mark 7:8,9). The same group
of dishonest doubters claims that much of the Old Testament is myth, but never do Jesus or
Paul treat them like that. Jesus spoke of the Queen of Sheba as an accepted historical
fact (Mt. 12:42); he did not say, 'As the story goes about the Queen of Sheba...'. The attitude of the Apostles was identical to that of
their Lord. It is epitomized by Peter who said that his personal experience of hearing
Christ's words with his own ears was eclipsed by the "more sure word of
prophecy" (2 Pet. 1:19-21). Peter believed that Paul's letters were
"Scripture" as much as the "other Scriptures", a phrase normally used
about the Old Testament writings.. Thus Peter saw Paul's letters as being as authoritative
as the Old Testament. There are many allusions in Acts, the Epistles and
Revelation to the Gospels (e.g. cp. Acts 13:51; Mt. 10:14), indicating not only that they
were all inspired by the same Spirit, but that the Gospel records were treated as inspired
by the New Testament writers. Paul in 1 Tim. 5:18 quotes both Dt. 25:4 (in the Old
Testament) and Lk. 10:7 as "Scripture". Paul hammers home the point that his
message was from Christ, not himself (Gal. 1:11,12; 1 Cor. 2:13; 11:23; 15:3). This was
recognized by the other apostles; thus James 4:5 quotes Paul's words of Gal. 5:17 as
"Scripture". God "has spoken" to us in Christ; there is
therefore no need for any further revelation (Heb. 1:2). It can be observed that the Bible
alludes to other inspired writings which are now not available (e.g. the book of Jasher,
the writings of Nathan, Elijah, Paul to Corinth, and John's third Epistle implies that
John had written an unpreserved letter to the church which Diotrephes had refused to
obey). Why have these writings not been preserved for us? Evidently because they were not
relevant to us. We can therefore rest assured that God has preserved all that is relevant
for us. It is sometimes claimed that the New Testament books were
gradually accepted as being inspired, but the fact that the Apostles treated each other's
writings as inspired surely disproves this. There was a miraculous Spirit gift available
to test whether letters and words which claimed to be inspired really were so (1 Cor.
14:37; 1Jn. 4:1; Rev. 2:2). This means that the inspired letters were immediately accepted
as inspired. If there was any unguided human selection of what went into our Bible, then
the book would have no authority. |
