Throughout the twenty years ministry of The Berean Expositor it has been taken for

granted that the Scriptures are the inspired Word of God. Of late it has been impressed

upon us that we should do well to give the matter some space. There is nothing so

fundamental as the inspiration of Scripture. Apart from the Word of God we know

nothing of God, Christ, gospel, grace or glory. The ages, if they have a purpose, are

dumb concerning it; we know it not apart from revelation. Creation itself, while it bears

its limited testimony to the invisible power and deity of the Creator, never reveals to the

most patient scientist the sublime message of John 3: 16.

Those who are fully persuaded as to the inspiration of Scripture will rejoice to see

some testimony to that blessed fact in these pages, and those who are sorely pressed by

the evil age in which we live may be strengthened for the conflict by seeing more clearly

the rock foundation of our faith. We believe that we should in our day and generation

give our witness concerning this vital subject.

Having concluded that it is a right and necessary thing to do, we have next to consider

by what means we shall seek the truth concerning the inspiration of Scripture.

It is open to us to attempt to prove the inspiration of Scripture a priori, that is by

demonstrating the necessity for an inspired revelation to be authoritative in matters so

vital and far-reaching. We might first of all wade through the sea of proofs that belong to

the question of the canonicity of the books that make up the Scriptures. We might

attempt an argument based on the marvels of prophetic fulfillment, the sublimity of

scriptural doctrine, the mighty sweep of the purpose of the ages. We pass all these by,

however, for an argument that is nearer to the heart of things.

The readers of these pages are not infidels but believers--believers in Christ, and we

know no argument so final or so full as a presentation of what the Lord Jesus Christ

Himself taught concerning the truth, accuracy and authority of the Scriptures. If we

admit that He could possibly be mistaken in this or any matter, all argument is at an end.

What do we care whether Moses is fact or fiction if Christ be fallible? How does it

concern us that Paul held such ravishing views of the person and glory of his Lord, if that

Lord did not know a tithe of what the youngest student in our Higher Critical Colleges

takes for granted? For us in this matter, as in all others, Christ is all, and we are fully

prepared to allow the whole question of the inspiration and authority of Scripture to be

settled for us by the attitude and teaching of our Lord:--