 |  |
manner. Heb. 1: 1 assures us that "God spake" by the prophets, however "diverse" the
"manner" of their inspiration may have been.
Leaving therefore the question of "how" unanswered, let us acquaint ourselves with
the claims that the Scriptures themselves make to their Divine Authorship. "God spake"
to Noah (Gen. 8: 15) and to Moses (Exod. 33: 9). A recurring phrase is "The mouth
of the Lord hath spoken it", or "Hear the Word of the Lord". Again we read many times
"The word of the Lord came" to one or another of the prophets. Further, there are
specific statements to the effect that God put His words into the "mouths" of His
prophets. Peter refers to this in Acts three times, once speaking of the "mouth" of
"David", and twice of "All His prophets".
"It is very evident from this testimony that, whoever the individual speaker may have
been, the mighty Moses, or the lowly Amos, the Royal Seer, or the runaway Jonah, the
ungodly Balaam, or the wicked Caiaphas, it was God Who spoke, and it is His word that
we hear" (True from the Beginning, page 37).
The Prophets were channels not originators.
"Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken BY (hupo) the
Lord THROUGH (dia) the prophet" (Matt. 1: 22; 2: 15).
"For thus it hath been written THROUGH (dia) the prophet" (Matt. 2: 5).
"That it might be fulfilled which was spoken THROUGH (dia) the prophets"
(Matt. 2: 23; 13: 35; 21: 4).
In these references, the names of the prophets are not given, they are Isaiah, Hosea,
Micah, A Psalm of Asaph, and Zechariah. These men lived at different times and were
possessed of individual character, yet the same formula is used of them all.
In the following references the same preposition dia is used but the name of the
prophets "Isaiah" and "Jeremiah" is given (Matt. 4: 14; 8: 17; 12: 17; 27: 9).
The Apostle writing to the Corinthians said:
"Which things we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which
the Holy Ghost teacheth" (I Cor. 2: 13).
To the Thessalonians he wrote:
"When ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the
word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God" (I Thess. 2: 13).
To the Ephesians he said:
"After that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation" (Eph. 1: 13).
To the Romans he wrote:
"The gospel of God, which He had promised afore by His prophets in the Holy
Scriptures" (Rom. 1: 1, 2).