Sometimes people try to sound clever. Referring to what he considered an astonishing teaching, one preacher said, "If Jesus hadn't said it, I wouldn't have believed it!" He probably did not realize the implication of what he said, but the meaning was that if the same teaching was asserted only by the prophets and the apostles, he would have declared it false. This would imply that he did not believe in the inspiration of Scripture at all, at least everything that is not in red. Non-inspired writings can be sometimes right and sometimes wrong, but for a piece of writing to be inspired means that it is always and completely right.

When discussing the topic of divine revelation, even evangelical scholars have said, "The prophets and apostles were inspired by God, and they spoke by the Spirit, but Jesus was God himself." The point is true in itself, but again, to even bring up this point here betrays a tendency to think of the words of Jesus in the Bible as superior to the rest of the Bible, which amounts to a denial of biblical inspiration, that all Scripture is breathed out by God.⁶

This implicit denial of biblical inspiration is in fact present in more people than one would assume, and this might hinder some people from understanding my concern. What could be wrong with giving special honor to the words of Christ? It might seem to them that I am bringing down Jesus to the level of the prophets and the apostles. One who thus misconstrues what I am saying still misses the point.

If all Scripture is God-breathed, then all the writings of the prophets and the apostles already carry maximum authority, and the words of Jesus cannot be more authoritative because there is no room for anything higher – every part of Scripture carries the very authority of God. In fact, if every part of Scripture is revealed by God, then every part of Scripture is also in this sense the words of Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. And the word of God spoken through the human body of Jesus cannot be superior than the word of God spoken through David or Paul. If an "inspired" document is a "God-breathed" document, then there cannot be degrees of inspiration, but something must either be inspired or not inspired, and if inspired, then it is the very word of God.

 

Notes

⁶ Hebrews 1:1-2 says, "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe." The emphasis here is that God spoke to us, only that he did it through the superior person of Christ, and not that the words of Christ were somehow more inspired. If the prophets spoke from God, then nothing could be more inspired. Also, our topic is the inspiration and authority of Scripture, but this is not what this passage from Hebrews is addressing. Nothing in the passage indicates that Christ's words were more true or inspired than the prophets, or that the words of the prophets in Scripture had anything less than the authority of God.

(to be continued)

Posted in Theology, Expositions, Spirituality, Ministry | Permanent Link