Bibliology - Lesson 12 by O. B. (Oscar Brian) Mink

Assignment:
Study Chapters Eleven and Twelve (11 & 12) of the book entitled The Bible and Spiritual Criticism by A. T. Pierson.
Questions on this lesson will be based on the following comments.

Scripture:
Psalms 119:31 "I have stuck unto Thy testimonies ..."
Psalms 12:6 "The words of the Lord are pure words ..."

The Truth Triumphs

    The Psalmist said unto the Lord, "I have stuck unto Thy testimonies." And God says to the Psalmist, "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips." (Psalms 89:34). God sticks by His testimonies. Joshua reminds Israel of this great truth, "There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass," (Joshua 21:45). And the Apostle Paul reminds us that "God cannot lie," (Titus 1:2).
    The word of the most honest man in the world is questionable and will, on occasion, be discovered less than absolute truth. But not so with the Word of God. The Word of God has, for six thousand (6,000) years, been subjected to the fiercest of human reasoning and in every instance has come out of the trial gloriously triumphant. Every attack against God's Word is doomed and shall go down in infamous defeat. God's Word is as eternal and infallible as God Himself and goes forth in judgment as well as salvation.
    Nations make treaties with one another and before the ink is dry on the paper, the treaty is broken. False advertising has become a part of our way of life and we no longer frown on it but have come to admire the corporation or individual that can use the lie advantageously. It seems as if the "lie" is everyone's tool and the person that uses it skillfully is admired. The lie is no longer considered dishonest with men. Men break their word as often as they give it. Isaiah said, "Truth is fallen in the street," (Isaiah 59:14). That means men think no more of truth than they do of the dirt under their feet. This statement of Isaiah is a better description of our era than of his. Yet, God's command has not been altered. It still reads, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." (Exodus 20:16). And in closing out the canon of Scripture God said, "All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone," (Revelation 21:8). "Lying lips are abomination to the Lord," (Proverbs 12:22).

Holding Fast The Faithful Word

The rulers and elders in Jerusalem spoke of Peter and John saying, "They were unlearned and ignorant men," (Acts 4:13). By the pharisaic standard Peter and John were irreparably ignorant, but when it came to knowing the teachings of Christ, the positions are reversed.
Peter and John with undying devotion for their Teacher which came from God were determined to stick unto His testimonies. When the council of the ruling sects commanded them that they speak no more in His name, Peter and John answered, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard," (Acts 4:19-20). The religious intellectuals of Jerusalem concluded that Peter and John were ignorant because they had not studied at their beloved seminary. But the Spirit of Truth is not bound to a seminary, if He was ever there at all. The unlettered with an unfeigned desire for knowledge of Divine things need not go outside of the Sacred Volume in order to interpret any passage contained therein. The humble seeker of truth can, by comparing Scripture, with Scripture ascertain the real sense of any particular passage. He (Christ) that communicated life to a dead soul certainly has no problem communicating knowledge to a renewed mind. "The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way. All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies." (Psalms 25:9-10).

Paul Sticks To The Testimonies Of Christ

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith," (II Timothy 4:7). Paul was an intellectual, a highly educated man. A man with ground for boasting according to human standards. He was near the day of his graduation from the school of the pharisee's in Jerusalem. He was near the time when he would receive his Doctorate of Law from the hand of the learned Gamaliel. But his pursuit of education in the school of the Pharisee's was abruptly interrupted and he became the school's most famous dropout. However, his dropping out of the school in Jerusalem did not end his school days. He started all over in another school; the Holy Spirit school of grace on earth. It took him approximately thirty (30) years to graduate from this school. The graduation ceremony was held in Rome at the end of the Appian Way on Nero's execution block. The executioner swung the ax, severing Paul's head from his body, but his blood-bought soul never touched the ground. Angels were standing by to escort his soul to Heaven where he enrolled immediately in the Holy Spirit's institution of higher learning. In Heaven's school of grace Paul will be learning about His Saviour through out the ceaseless ages. In this life Paul studied at the feet of Gamaliel, now he is studying at the nail-pierced feet of Christ, Who never studied at the feet of any man.
Prior to meeting the Lord and learning that salvation was by the free and unmerited favor of God, Paul was determined that no one would hear the teachings of Christ. He thought he was the instrument of God to stamp out Christianity, but instead of stamping it out, God in merciful providence put the stamp of Christ on Paul. "And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God," (Acts 9:20). In Paul's "defence and confirmation of the gospel," (Philippians 1:7), he had experienced manifold sufferings (c.f. II Corinthians 4:8-12 and II Corinthians. 14:6-30). And after careful retrospection Paul says, "I am ready to be offered," (II Timothy 2:4). In these words Paul speaks of himself as a sacrifice, ever ready to suffer death rather than deny the Word of God. The Word of Christ dwelt so richly in Paul that his conception of death afforded him joy rather than fear. And by the pen of inspiration he says, "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord," (II Corinthians 5:8). He at another time said, "... having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better," (Philippians 1:23). Paul, the Apostle, aged, battle scarred, ready to depart and receive his "crown of righteousness," writes to his young protégé, Timothy, encouraging him to "endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." To "study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of God." And to remind him, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," (II Timothy 2:3, 2:15, 3:16). Paul's challenge to Timothy applies to and is of equal import for all that call Jesus, Lord.

Brief Summary Of Course

    1. The Bible is God's Word. Therefore having God as its author the Bible is free from error. Divine inspiration of the Scriptures extend fully to every part and parcel of the Scriptures as recorded in the original manuscripts. (II Timothy 3:16, II Peter 1:21). In recording the Bible more than forty (40) different men were used, and their work covered a period of sixteen hundred (1600) years. Yet, there is perfect concord in all that they wrote. No power but that of God could have produced the Bible. God's Word is eternal. Men have tried to destroy it and, in their efforts have destroyed themselves.
    2. The Bible is the only authoritative rule by which human conduct and creeds are to be tried. "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world," (I John 4:1).
    Our opinions, and ideas are to be subjected to the Word of God. We are not to examine the Bible by what we think, but are to examine our thoughts by the infallible Word of God. The criteria by which we are to "prove all things" is the eternal and immutable Book. We are never to make our own vain mind the standard of how things ought to be in the church. Romans 3:4, "Let God be true, but every man a liar ..." To disagree with the Bible is to disagree with God.
    3. Men by native intellect cannot understand the Scriptures. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them because They are spiritually discerned," (I Corinthians 2:14). Yet, every person who trusts Christ as Saviour and honors Him as Lord is indwelt by the "Spirit of truth," and guided by Him into the deep things of Divine truth, (John 16:13, I Corinthians 2:10). Whoever trusts his own reasoning power rather than Divine revelation is worshipping at the throne of a false God.
    4. Jesus Christ, God's Son is the central figure and His redemption of the elect of God is the supreme theme of the Bible. "He is before all things and by Him all things consist," (Colossians 1:17). "He shall save His people from their sins," (Matthew 1:21).
    5. Believe the Bible to be saved. Study it to be wise. Obey it to be holy. The Bible is the grand and glorious instrument which the Holy Spirit uses in saving and sanctifying the elect. The Word of God is truth and to receive it in the heart is to receive Christ, and to receive Christ is to receive life. "Thy word is truth," (John 17:17, Romans 10:17, John 14:6, John 5:24, Romans 1:16, James 1:18, II Thessalonians 2:13-14).
    6. The Bible is hated by the world. "They shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables," (II Timothy 4:4). "Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light ..." (John 3:20). Today there are more people ridiculing the Bible than at any other time in history. Christendom so-called has allied itself with the powers of darkness and has denied the Divine inspiration of the Scriptures. The miracles are labeled as myths. God has been robbed of His holiness and justice and is paraded, before the religious public as a sentimental god, to good and loving to punish the evil doer.
    We are truly in that time Amos prophesied would come. There is a spiritual famine in our land, "a famine of hearing the words of the Lord," (Amos 8:11).
    7. To leave the Bible closed and unstudied is to say, "I am wiser than God."
    8. The Word of God is pure. Men are not to add to it, nor take away from it. Proverbs 30: 5-6, "Every word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him. Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee and thou be found a liar," (See also Revelation 22:18-19).
    9. Man shall be judged by the Bible. "He that rejecteth Me and receiveth not My words hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day," (John 12:48).
    10. "Heaven and earth shall pass away but My words shall not pass away," (Matthew 24:35).

Questions
Lesson - 12

1. Write a concise thesis (not less than one page) in your own words, stating why you believe the Bible to be the Divinely inspired Word of God.