Part 8 (1/2)
[2] The proof that the inspiration of the apostles and scribes of the New Testament was not transmitted to successors is thus stated by Neander: ”A phenomenon singular in its kind is the striking difference between the writings of the apostles and those of the apostolic fathers, so nearly their contemporaries. In other instances transitions are wont to be gradual, but in this instance we observe a sudden change. There is no gentle gradation here, but all at once an abrupt transition from one style of language to another--a phenomenon which should lead us to acknowledge the fact of a special agency of the Divine Spirit in the souls of the apostles and of a new creative element in the first period.”--_Church History_, II., 405.
[3] There are the strongest reasons for rejecting the rendering of this pa.s.sage as given in the Revised Version: ”_Every Scripture inspired of G.o.d is also profitable_”, etc. The reader will find the objections to this rendering powerfully and conclusively set forth in Tregelles on Daniel. Note, p. 267.
[4] Lee on the ”Inspiration of the Holy Scripture,” pp. 32, 33.
[5] See Lange's ”Commentary” _in loco_.
[6] I am satisfied only with the style of Scripture. My own style and the style of all other men cannot satisfy me. If I read only three or four verses I am sure of their divinity on account of their inimitableness. _It is the style of the heavenly court.--Oetinger_.
[7] Rothe, ”Dogmatics,” p. 238.
[8] For example, Shakespeare, and Milton, and Dryden, employ the words ”car” and ”engine” and ”train” in their writings; but living before the age of steam and railways they knew nothing of the meaning which these terms convey to us. And it is possible that Homer and Plato knew as little of the meaning of such words as _aion_ and _parakletos_, as found in the revelation of Jesus Christ, by whom ”the ages were framed”
and the Comforter sent down.
[9] Dr. R. F. Horton, in ”_Verb.u.m Dei_.”
[10] The apostle in calling the Old Testament Scriptures the ”oracles of G.o.d,” clearly recognizes them as divinely inspired books. The Jewish church was the trustee and guardian of these oracles till the coming of Christ. Now the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are committed to the guardians.h.i.+p of the Christian Church.--_Dr. Philip Schaff_.
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IX
THE CONVICTION OF THE SPIRIT
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”The Comforter in every part of his threefold work glorifies Christ. In convincing of sin he convinces us of the sin of not believing on Christ.
In convincing us of righteousness, he convinces us of the righteousness of Christ, of that righteousness which was made manifest in Christ going to the Father, and which he received to bestow on all such as should believe in him. And lastly, in convincing of judgment, he convinces us that the prince of the World was judged in the life and by the death of Christ. Thus throughout, Christ is glorified; and that which the Comforter shows to us relates in all its parts to the life and work of the incarnate Son of G.o.d.”--_Julius Charles Hare_.
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IX
THE CONVICTION OF THE SPIRIT
”And when he is come _he will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment_” (John 16: 8, R. V.). It is too large a conclusion which many seem to draw from these words, that since the day of Pentecost the Spirit has been universally diffused in the world, touching hearts everywhere, among Christians and heathen, among the evangelized and the unevangelized alike, and awakening in them a sense of sin. Does not our Lord say in this same discourse concerning the Comforter: ”_Whom the world cannot receive_, because it seeth him not neither knoweth him”? (John 14: 17) With these words should be a.s.sociated the limitation which Jesus makes in the gift of the Paraclete: ”If I depart I will send him _unto you_.” Christ's disciples were to be the recipients and distributors of the Holy Ghost, and his church the mediator between the Spirit and the world. ”And when he is come (to you) he will reprove the world.” And to complete the exposition, we may connect this promise with the Great Commission, ”Go ye into _all the world_ and preach the gospel to every creature,” and conclude that when the {188} Lord sends his messengers into the world, the Spirit of truth goes with them, witnessing to the message which they bear, convincing of the sin which they reprove, and revealing the righteousness which they proclaim. We are not clear to affirm that the conviction of the Spirit here promised goes beyond the church's evangelizing, though there is every reason to believe that it invariably accompanies the faithful preaching of the word.
It will help us then to a clear conception of the subject, if we consider the Spirit of truth as sent _unto the Church_, testifying _of Christ_, and bringing conviction _to the world_.
As there is a threefold work of Christ, as prophet, priest, and king, so there is a threefold conviction of the Spirit answering thereto: ”And he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin and of righteousness and of judgment; of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father and ye behold me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged” (John 16: 8-12, R. V.). It is concerning the testimony of Christ as he spake to men in the days of his flesh; and concerning the work of Christ now carried on in his intercession at G.o.d's right hand; and concerning the sentence of Christ when he shall come again to be our judge, that this witness of the Spirit has to do.
”_He shall convince the world of sin._” Why is he {189} needed for this conviction since conscience is present in every human breast, and is doing his work so faithfully? We reply: Conscience is the witness to the law; the Spirit is the witness to grace. Conscience brings legal conviction; the Spirit brings evangelical conviction; the one begets a conviction unto despair, the other a conviction unto hope.
”_Of sin, because they believe not on me,_” describes the ground of the Holy Spirit's conviction. The entrance of Christ into the world rendered possible a sin hitherto unknown: ”If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin” (John 15: 22). Evil seems to have required the presence of incarnate goodness, in order to its fullest manifestation. Hence the deep significance of the prophecy spoken over the cradle of Jesus: ”Behold this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against, _that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed_”
(Luke 2: 34, 35). All the most hideous sins of human nature came out during the betrayal and trial and pa.s.sion of our Lord. In that ”hour and power of darkness” these sins seem indeed to have been but imperfectly recognized. But when the day of Pentecost had come, with its awful revealing light of the Spirit of truth, then there was great contrition in Jerusalem--a contrition the sting of {190} which we find in the charge of Peter: ”Jesus of Nazareth, whom ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” Was not that deep conviction, following the gift of the Spirit, in which three thousand were brought to repentance in a single day, a conviction of sin because they had not believed on Christ?
For our reproof the Holy Ghost presents another side of the same fact, calling us to repentance, not for having taken part in crucifying Christ, but for having refused to take part in Christ crucified; not for having been guilty of delivering him up to death, but for having refused to believe in him who was ”delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification.” Wherever, by the preaching of the gospel, the fact of Christ having died for the sins of the world is made known, this guilt becomes possible. The sin of disbelieving on Christ is, therefore, the great sin now, because it summarizes all other sins. He bore for us the penalties of the law; and thus our obligation, which was originally to the law, is transferred to him. To refuse faith in him, therefore, is to repudiate the claims of the law which he fulfilled and to repudiate the debt of infinite love which, by his sacrifice, we have incurred.
Nevertheless, the Spirit of truth brings home this sin against the Lord, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
In a word, as has been well said, ”it is not {191} the sin-question but the Son-question” which we really raise now in preaching the gospel.