A -- I have been thinking very much about John 16:12 -14 and your

remarks upon it, but I still feel that the words actually spoken by Christ

Himself must come to the true believer with greater force than those spoken

by fallible men like ourselves, even though inspired for the time.

B -- I honour your desire to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, but I think

a little attention to one feature of His ministry will help you to see the

subject of the inspiration of both the Gospels and the Epistles in a clearer

light.  If Christ spoke His own words, and taught His own doctrine, then we

should possibly feel that His words were of greater weight and authority than

those of Peter and of Paul in the Epistles.

A -- But did He not speak as one having authority, and not as the

Scribes?  What do you mean by `speaking His own words'?

B -- Do not let us misunderstand one another, let us rather `open the

A -- I suppose you are going to turn to the Epistles?

B -- No, we will turn once again to the Gospel according to John.

First let us notice John 14:24:

` ... My sayings: and the Word which ye hear is Not Mine, but the

Father's which sent Me'.

Here is a distinct statement which should be enough for any who are

`satisfied with the words of Christ'.  Look again, this time at 12:49,50:

`For I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father which sent Me, He gave

Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak ...

whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto Me, so I

This is added testimony to the same effect.

One more verse will

suffice us here, viz. John 7:16:

`Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not Mine, but His that

sent Me'.

It is clear from these words of our Lord that what He taught and spoke

was what He had Himself been taught (8:28) and commanded to speak.

A -- Do I understand by this that you deny the Deity of Christ?

B -- By no means.  That the Word `was God' this same Gospel declares,

and that I believe with all my heart.  But the Lord humbled Himself and took

upon Him the form of a servant.  As the `sent one' He did not speak His own

message, but the words of Him that sent Him.

A -- Well, accepting this, I do not see your intention.  If every

utterance of the Lord's was actually the Word of God, that seems all the more

reason why I should abide by them.