1989 issue 9 - the inspiration of the scriptures, part 3 - counsel of chalcedon

8/12/2019 1989 Issue 9 - The Inspiration of the Scriptures, Part 3 - Counsel of Chalcedon

1/3

The Inspiration of the Scrip rues

III. The Nature

of

the Influence

by

Which

Inspiration is Accomplished

by

Loraine Boettner

The

evangelical Cluist ian churches their individual natures. One

type

of

have never held what has been stigma- man would be chosen to write history,

tized the "mechanical" theory ofinspira- another type to write poetry, and still

tion, despite the charges often made to another type to set forth doctrines, al-

the contrary. Instead of reducing the though these functions might overlap

writers of Scripture to the level of rna- .. in some writers. And back of that we

chines or typewriters we have . i s ~ ~ : : a , r e to remember that throughout the en-

that, while they,

~ f r ~ f ~ ~ ~ > ,, A f e

of the prophet God's

p ~ o v i ~ n

were m o v ~ d

d

~ ' $ 1 . > ~ . .

~ ~

~ 9 J l t r o l had been preparmg

h1m

n e v e r t h e l e

~ ~ l

W 4 ~ g

/ w ~

~ ; i ' ; w x : t t W R a r t i c u l a r talents, education

~ ;

: ~ i ~

~

~ ~ ~

~ t ~ ~ g ; f f i

t t ; ~

J r

:

,

~ ~

~ # j

~ h ~ ~ h w ~ : l ~

t ~ e : ~ :

traceable ~ . : , ~ ~ ~ g ~ , ) l ' .I ~ P , ; . ~

. .

.. ;

~ a r a t i o n o f t h e p r o -

tive tongue

f . I ~ ~ f ; ; ' \ ~ e . $ 1 .

~ . i ? :

~ ~ ~ ~ V : ~ i ; : ; i 9 ) e m

the proper

Hebrew;

i f it W p ) ~ f #

~ { 6 . 3 J

J e f ; l ~ ~ ~

sica back-

Greek if hey

d a t . . . . ihe


2/3

times the prophets themselves did not

understand

the revelations

which were

given

through them (Daniel 12:8,9;

Rev.

5:1-4).

Nor is

the

work of

the

Holy

Spirit

in

inspiration

to be

considered any

more

mysterious than His

work

in

the

spheres of grace and

providence.

The

first exercise

of

saving faith

in the

regenerated

soul,

for

instance,

is

at one

and the

same

time a

work

induced

by

the Holy

Spirit

and

a freely chosen

act

of the person.

And

throughout the Bible

the laws of

nature, the course

of

history;

and

the varying fortunes

of

in

diViduals are

ever

attributed

to

Go d

's

pro-

vidential control. "Jehovah

hath His

way

in

the

whirlwind

and in

the storm,

and

the clouds are the dust of His feet,"

Nahum 1:3.

He

rnak:eth

His sun to

rise

on the

evil

and the good, and sendeth

rain

on

the

just and the

unjust," Matt.

5:45

The

Most

High

ruleth

in

the

kingdom

of men,

and

giveth

it

to

whomsoever He will,

and setteth

up

over it

the

lowest of

men,"

Dan.

4:17.

It is

God who worketh in

you

both

to

will

and

to work; for

His good

plea

sure,' Phil.

2:13.

"The king's heart

is

in

the hand

of

Jehovah as the

water

courses: He turneth

t

whithersoever He

will," Prov. 21:1.

Inspiration must have been some

what

like the touch of the driver on

the

reins

of the

racing steeds.

The

r e s e r v ~

tion

of

the individual styles

and maMer-

isms

indicates as nuJch.

Under

this

pro-

vidential

control

the prophets were so

govemed

that while their humanity was

not superseded

their words to

the

people

were God's

words

and have been accep

ted aS such

by

the Church in all ages.

That

the writers

of

Scripture

often

used

other

documents

or

sources

in the

composition

of

their books is apparent

to

even the

casual reader.

For

instance;

the

thirty-seventh chapter

of

Isaiah

and

the nineteenth chapter of n :Kings are

exactly alike.

Hence

Isaiah

and

the

writer of n Kings must

have

had

access

to the

same source

materials.

Many of

the accounts

in the

dj:fferent Gospelsare

told in

almost

identical language.

f it

be

definitely proven,

for

instance, that

the Pentateuch

consists

of

different

parts which

in turn are

based on

older

documents, our doctrine

of

inspiration

can

accept

that

view.

In

dealing

with

historical or legal data especially the

writers

of

Scripture

may

have

used

sources as naturally as

do

present-day

writers, with this difference: that the

Holy

Spirit supervised their work

in

such

a way

that they selected

out

only

the material which

God

wanted given

to

the

people,

and

set forth that material

in

such

a way that

it

was free from error.

We

are

not so

much concerned with the

method

by

which they wrote as we are

about the value

and

authority

of

their

final product.

The more

naturally and

the less mechanically this writing took

place, the better.

It .is

not to

be e){pected that we

should give

a full explanation as

to

how

the divine

and human

agents co

operated n the

production

of

Scripture.

Suffice

it

to

say

that in

most

cases it

was something

much

more intimate

than

what

is commonly Jmown

as

"dictation."

The

trouble with us is that

oftentimes

we

seek

full

explanations

for

those things which

in

their deeper

aspects should only be adored as mys"

teries, such as the Trinity,

the

atone

ment, the relationship between the

sovereignty

of

God

and the

freedom

of

man, and

the inspiration

of

the Scrip

tures.

The

Modernist with his natural

istic basis easily solves these problems

by ignoring the Divine,

but

is unaware

how

superficial he is. Evangelicals have

truly grappled with these problems.

They

have acknowledged both

the

Divine and human elemertts and have

brought about a

p ~ l

solution while

confessing that the human

mind

cannot

fully comprehend

the deep

things

of

God.

It

is,

of

course, not

to be

assumed

that inspiration rendered the prophets

omniscient. Their inspiration extended

only

to the contents

of the

particular

messages which

were

given through

them.

In

matters

of

science, philosophy

or

history which were outside their

im-

me


3/3

From the

Editor's Desk

The article on page

2

of this issue,

God s Decrees nd Man s Freedom,

comes from a volume made up

of

radio

addresses delivered by Dr.

Machen

in

the

final year of

his life

and put

into

book

form

under

the title,

Th Chris-

tian View of Man,

and published after

the author died

on

January

I

1937. As

J. Gresham Machen was

one of

the out

standing Reformed leaders

in

American

history, every lover

of

the Reformed

Faith should know something about

him. Let

me

begin by quoting from the

Foreword

to

the British Edition

of

the

afore mentioned book. This fcreword

was written, nearly three decades after

Machen's death,

by

Machen's former stu

dent

and later friend and colleague, John

Murray. Readers of this magazine will

possibly remember that

I

consider John

Murray to have been

one of the

three

greatest theologians

in

the history

of

the United States,

the

other two being

Robert L Dabney and Benjamin

B.

Watfield.

The Christian View

o

Man comprises

addresses delivered on the

radio

by J.

Gresham Machen shortly before he

departed this life on January 1, 1937.

The manuscrjpts were prepared for

publication before his decease but the

volume was published posthumously.

An

earlierseries of addresses under the title

The

Christian

Faith

in

the Modem World

was P4blished before

he

died. These

two volumes, therefore, represent

Dr.

Machen's maturest thought on the

subject of Christian doctnne. He had

contemplated

at

least four such books.

But his p e c t e d demise prevented

the accomphslimentof this purpose.

The popular style of these two books

is explained by the purpose fQI

~ i h

the

addresses were prepared. Their g_reat

value is not thereby diminished; it is

enhanced. The literary_ excellence that

characterized all of Dr. Machen's writings

appears here also. It was his irrepressible

Virtue to write and speak with ttie utmost

of clarity. Whether

he

dealt with the

difficult questions of

scholarlY.

under

taking or the exalted themes of Christian

faith no one needed to be in any doubt

as to his position nor to struggle in

ascertaining his meaning. The spoken

and written word was always commen

surate with, and the servant of, the

precision and logical sequence

of

his

thought. From his first scholarly work,

The

Otjg}n of Paul s Religion (1921), to The

Christian

View

o

Man completed in the

last year of his pilgrimageh this feature

stanos out as the mark ol t e ripest and

most

fn,ritful

scholarship.

Dr. Machen's best friends will differ as

to what constitutes his greatest work.

The choice, however, lies between The

Origin

o

Paul's Religion and The Virgin

Birth

o

Christ (193 ). In both he lias

shown himself a master

in

the field of

New Testament scholarshiP., and par

ticularly aPP,Iogetic. In the defence of the

virgin o1rtli there isno workcomparable to

the latter.

In

these days when this tenet

of the Christian faitn is under attack

Machen's volume remains as the most

thorough and comprehensive vindication

of its biblical basis and of the in

dispensable place it occupies in the

grand miracle of the Incarnation.

My

own

favorite of Machen's books

is Christianity

nd

Liberalism,

pub

lished in 1923. t has been reprinted a

number

of

times and is still

in

print to

day. Also, the great biography, J. Gres-

ham

MachEn: A Biographic lMemoir,

by Ned Stonehouse, first published in

1955, is

in

print at

present, from

The

Banner

of

Truth Trust, Edinburgh.

One

of

my

favorite stories about

Ma-

chen is recounted by

Ned

Stonehouse in

the last two pages of

his biography

of

Machen.

Dr

. Machen

had

taken

i l l

while

on

a speaking tour

of some

churches

inN

orth Dakata

in

late Decem

ber

of

1936.

By

the time

he

arrived in

Bismarck the temperature was twenty

below zero.

After

referring

to some

events which transpired as Machen lay

i l l on New

Year's Eve, Dr. Stonehouse

proceeds with the following words:

The following day he was largely un

conscious, but tnere were intervals when

his mind was thoroughly alert.

In

one ofthose periods he d

ic1

ated a telegram to

his colleague John MurraY.

which was his

final wora: 'I'm so thankful for active

obedience of Christ. No hope without it.'

And so

he

died at about 7:30 P.M. on

January 1,1937.

The reference to the active obedi

ence of Christ finds its background in a

sermon on that theme wh1ch

he

had

preached over the radio on December

20th. Previously he had been discussing

the doctrine with Murray, as he occasion

ally did other topics with which

he

dealt.

And now that fle

r e l i ~ e d

that he was

about to pass over the nver into the eter

nal city, he bore testimony to the confi-

dence that he reposed in the substitu

tionary atonement

of

Christ. And so he

gave expression to the conviction

that he had assurance not onlv of re-

mission of sin and its penalty buf also of

being accepted as pertecfly obedient

and righteous, and so heir of eternal

life, because of the perfect obedience of

Christ to the divine will. And it was most

characteristic of Machen that, even in his

agony, he wanted to express his exultant

fa1th fo one who shared with him in rich

measure. His eyes were upon Christ as

his living hqpe.

But

he was also virtually

thanking his colleague for his contn

butlon to the appreciation of that doctrine

as theY. had discussed it together

on

the

basis of the Word of God.

One

last comment

and I shall

be

finished. I found

it

significant, a couple

of years ago, when my daughter and son

and

I

visited

the old

courthouse

in

Day

ton, Tennessee,

where the

Scopes Mon

key trial took

place

in

1925, that, as

we

entered

the basement

from the front

of

the courthouse, the entrance

of

which

is

below the

front

steps,

in the

small

cubical

room

through

which one

must

pass before entering

the main

basement

area where, today, there

is

a museum

dedicated

to

the events which transpired

there

in

1925, there was,

just to

the left

of the door entering the museum, a

glass-covered

case

containing some

books.

There were some

books,

on one

side

of

the case,

such as

Darwin's

Ori-

gin of the Species,

and

a picture

of

Dar

win

or some other

evolutionist This

was

placed

in

the

case

as

illustrative

of

the evolutionists

side of the

trial

of

1925.

But

on

the other side of

the

case

there

were some old

books, the series

on

Th

Fundamentals.

These

represen

ted the Biblical, Creationist side

of

the

trial. I

was most

pleased to

see

that the

one

picture

found

there on the Biblical

side was that

of Dr. J.

Gresham

Machen. I think possibly it is the same

photo which

is

now

on

.

the cover of

this magazine.

This

was most appro

priate,

for Machen was

not

only a

theologian

but

a Christian activist who

fought,

might

and

main,

to

bring to

bear

Christian influences

in

every as

pect

of

life in

the

day

in

which

he

lived.

Inspiration of Scriptures

Continued from page 18

trine

of

inspiration

would

not

be

so

summarily

set aside nor so

unreason

ably attacked

by

otherwise cautious and

reverent scholars.

[Reprinted from

Studies In Theolo y , by

Loraine Boettner, William B.

Eerdmaos Puo-

lishin_g Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan

1947J. n

The Counsel

of

Chalcedon November, 1989 page 23

1989 issue 9 - the inspiration of the scriptures, part 3 - counsel of chalcedon

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