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THE DIVINE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE
ARTHUR W PINK
Christianity is the religion of a Book. Christianity is based upon the impregnable rock of Holy Scripture. The starting point of all doctrinal discussion must be the Bible. Upon the foundation of the Divine inspiration of the Bible stands or falls the entire edifice of Christian truth. – “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Ps. 11:3). Surrender the dogma of verbal inspiration and you are left like a rudderless ship on a stormy sea – at the mercy of every wind that blows. Deny that the Bible is, without any qualifications, the very Word of God, and you are left without any ultimate standard of measurement and without any supreme authority. It is useless to discuss any doctrine taught by the Bible until you are prepared to acknowledge, unreservedly, that the Bible is the final court of appeal. Grant that the Bible is a Divine revelation and communication of God’s own mind and will to men, and you have a fixed starting point from which advance can be made into the domain of truth. Grant that the Bible is (in its original manuscripts) inerrant and infallible and you reach the place where study of its contents is both practicable and profitable...
If the Bible is the Word of God; if it stands on an infinitely exalted plane, all alone; if it immeasurably transcends all the greatest productions of human genius; then, we should naturally expect to find that it has unique credentials, that there are internal marks which prove it to be the handiwork of God, that there is conclusive evidence to show that its Author is superhuman, Divine. That these expectations are realized we shall now endeavor to show; that there is no reason whatever for any one to doubt the Divine inspiration of the Scriptures is the purpose of this book to demonstrate. As we examine the natural world we find innumerable proofs of the existence of a Personal Creator, and the same God who has manifested Himself thro’ His works has also revealed His wisdom and will thro’ His Word. The God of creation and the God of written revelation are One, and there are irrefutable arguments to show that the Almighty who made the heavens and the earth is also the Author of the Bible. We shall now submit to the critical attention of the reader a few of the lines of demonstration which argue for the Divine inspiration of the Bible.
"It is indeed a strange prejudice that professes adherence to the infallibility of Christ and yet rejects the clear implications of his teaching. Nothing could be plainer than this; that in the smallest details Christ regards the Scriptures as incapable of being made void (Matthew 5:17-19)... the teaching of our Lord is so steeped in the appeal to Scripture, so steeped in the use of the formula, 'it is written,' so pervaded by the recognition that what the Scripture says God says, so characterized by the acceptance of the finality of the word of Scripture, that the mass of direct and indirect statements lead to one conclusion that, for our Lord, the Scripture, just because it was Scripture, just because it fell within the denotation of the formula, 'it is written,' was a finality. His attitude is one of meticulous acceptance and reverence. The only explanation of such an attitude is that what Scripture said, God said, that the Scripture was God's Word." (John Murray, from 'The Infallible Word'
"The overwhelming reason for accepting the Divine inspiration and authority of Scripture is plain loyalty to Jesus. We believe in Jesus. We are convinced that He came from heaven and spoke from God. He said so, 'My teaching is not mine, but His that sent me' (John 7:16). So we are prepared to believe what He taught for the simple reason that it is HE who taught it. Therefore, we bring our minds into submission to His mind. We want to conform our thoughts to His thoughts. It is from Jesus that we derive our understanding of God and man, of good and evil, of duty and destiny, of time and eternity, of heaven and hell. Our understanding of everything is conditioned by what Jesus taught. And this everything means everything! Thus, it includes His teaching about the Bible. We have no liberty to exclude anything from Jesus' teaching and say, 'I believe what He taught about this but not what He taught about that.' What possible right have we to be selective? We have no competence to set ourselves up as judges and decide to accept some parts of His teaching while rejecting others. All Jesus' teaching was true. It is the teaching of none other than the Son of God." (John R.W. Stott, from 'The Authority of the Bible')
"The chief reason why Christians believe in the Divine origin and authority of the Bible is because Jesus Christ taught it plainly. This simple and yet massive fact more than any other accounts for the persistently high view of Scripture held by the Apostles and the entire Christian church until quite recently. The attitude characteristic of believers in every age has been one of complete trust in each and every utterance of Holy Writ on the understanding that it is, as no other document can claim to be, the very Word of God... The fact that Jesus consistently regarded the biblical text as the utterance of God His Father is a source of constant embarrassment to those professing Christians who for one reason or another wish to maintain a different and lower view of it... If Jesus is our only Lord and Light, from whence could we possibly derive the right to set aside or even temper His claim upon us? Unreserved commitment to Jesus requires us to look at the Bible through His eyes. The indissoluble connection that exists between the inspiration of Scripture and the authority of Jesus Christ should have the greatest possible significance for Christians when they enquire what their view of the Bible should be." (John Warwick Montgomery, editor of 'God's Inerrant Word: An International Symposium of the Trustworthiness of Scripture')
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication
Introduction
1. There is a Presumption in Favor of the Bible
2. The Perennial Freshness of the Bible bears Witness to its Divine Inspirer
3. The Unmistakable Honesty of the Writers of the Bible Attests its Heavenly Origin
4. The Character of its Teachings evidences the Divine Authorship of the Bible
5. The Fulfilled Prophecies of the Bible bespeak the Omniscience of its Author
6. The Typical Significance of the Scriptures declare their Divine Authorship
7. The Wonderful Unity of the Bible attests its Divine Authorship
8. The Marvelous Influence of the Bible declares its Superhuman Character
9. The Miraculous Power of the Bible shows forth that its Inspirer is the Almighty
10. The Completeness of the Bible demonstrates its Divine Perfection
11. The Indestructibility of the Bible is a proof that its Author is Divine
12. Inward Confirmation of the Veracity of the Scriptures
13. Verbal Inspiration
14. Application of the Argument
Index for the Works of Arthur W. Pink
A Biographical Sketch of the Author
AWPNT
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