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The inspiration of Scripture is ascribed to God in each of His three manifestations or
Persons:--
"God spake all these words" (Exod. 20: 1).
"God hath spoke" (Acts 3: 21).
"Searching what . . . . . the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify" (I Pet. 1: 11).
"Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith" (Heb. 3: 7).
However varied the mode of inspiration may have been, we see that by the time the
message was uttered and recorded it was in the fullest sense the word of God. Some of
the ways in which the Lord gave His word are revealed, but many may have received His
message in ways that are unrecorded. The fact of inspiration is blessed and needful, but
the general manner of inspiration is not a subject of revelation; it might but minister to
our curiosity to be told, and possibly it belongs to a realm the workings of which cannot
be expressed in human terms. We do, however, read that visions were sometimes
employed, for Abraham received the word of the Lord in a vision (Gen. 15: 1), also
Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah, Habakkuk and others, not forgetting the apostles Paul and John
(II Cor. 12: 1, Rev. 1: 1). Dreams were another means used by the Lord in the cases of
Joseph, Pharaoh, Solomon and Nebuchadnezzar, which are examples that come readily to
mind.
There may be indications in other parts of Scripture as to other ways in which the
Lord gave His word, but we are not concerned about the matter. What we do rejoice in is
that we have in the Scriptures the inspired Word of God. Prophets, priests and kings may
have uttered the words, yet they were but the mouthpieces of the Most High.
There are ten passages in Matthew which, in the Greek, put this matter of the
instrumentality of the prophets beyond dispute. The subject is of such importance that
we shall give each reference in full, inserting also in each case the vital Greek
prepositions:--
"Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken BY (hupo) the
Lord THROUGH (dia) the prophet saying" (Matt. 1: 22).
"For thus it hath been written THROUGH (dia) the prophet" (Matt. 2: 5).
"That it might be fulfilled which was spoken BY (hupo) the Lord, THROUGH (dia)
the prophet" (Matt. 2: 15).
"That it might be fulfilled which was spoken THROUGH (dia) the prophet"
(Matt. 2: 23).
"That it might be fulfilled which was spoken THROUGH (dia) the prophet"
(Matt. 13: 35).
"That it might be fulfilled which was spoken THROUGH (dia) the prophet"
(Matt. 21: 4).
In these six references, the prophets' names are not mentioned, but we name them
below to show how the same formula is applied to men of widely different times and
character:--