The double character of the movement — a super- natural impulse and energy working upon and through natural human faculties — is well brought out in 1 Th 2]^ : ' For this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when ye received from ua the word pf the message, even the word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also worketh in you that beheve.' With this should be taken the con- text immediately preceding, which shows how the Apostle concentrated aU the gifts of sympathy and interest with which he was so richly endowed upon the service of his converts. He moved among them as a man among men ; and yet they were conscious that there were Divine forces behind him. _ They were conscious that he was an instru- ment in the hand of God, the medium or vehicle of a Divine message — a message that was in its ulti- mate source none the less Divine because it was shaped by a human mind acting in accordance with its own proper laws.
Another very vivid picture of the apostolic ministry is given in 1 Co 2^-*: 'And I, brethren, when I came untoyou, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the mystery of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.' The Apostle here discriminates, and the distinction is constantly present to his mind, between the re- sources which he brings to his work as man and the effect which he is enabled to produce by the help of the Spirit of God. He is nothing of an orator ; he has none of the arts of rhetoric ; when he first preached at Corinth, he was in a state of utter physical prostration. But all this only threw into stronger rehef the success which he owed to a Power beyond himself ; the wisdom and the force with which he spoke were not his but God's.
Besides these Pauhne passages there is another classical passage outside the writings of St. Paul. This is contained in the opening verse and a half of the Epistle to the Hebrews: 'God, having of old time in many portions and in many modes sj)oken unto the fathers in the prophets, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son.' Here we have a historical retrospect of the whole course of revelation and inspiration. The history is mapped out in two great periods. There is the period of revelation by inspired men ; and over against this there is the great concentrated and
616 INSPIRATION AND RE\^LATION
INSPIRATION AND RE^^LATION
crowning revelation by Him who is not a prophet of God but His Son.
It is to be observed that in each case the pre- position used is not (as in AV) 'by,' i.e. 'by means of,' 'through the agency of,' but 'in' — in the prophets and in the Son. In each case it ia the same internal process of which we have been speaking above. The prophets spoke through the operation of the Holy Spirit working upon their own human faculties. The Son spoke through His o^\Ti essential Deity acting through the hke human faculties which He assumed at His Incarnation. WTien we think of this internal process we are reminded of the words of our Lord to the Samaritan woman: 'Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again : but whosoever drinketh of this water that I shall give him shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up into eternal life ' (TTTiyTj i/Saros aWoix^pov eh i^cjrjv alJiviov, Jn 4^^* ■'''). There are few natural objects to which the pro- cess of inspiration can so well be compared as to a spring of what the Jews called 'Uving,' i.e. running, water. The cool fresh waters come bubbling and sparkUng up from unknown depths; they gather and spread and speed upon their way in a f ertiUzing stream. Even so is the way of the Spirit.
We observe that the prophetic revelation is de- scribed as taking effect 'in many portions and in many modes.' This brings out a new point. It is not in accordance with God's methods to reveal the fuU truth all at once. He has revealed Himself piecemeal, in portions, a bit here and a bit there, 'Une upon line and precept upon precept.' There has been a gradual development, a development in steps, each step marking an advance upon what had preceded.
For comprehensive illustration we onlv need to turn to the Sermon on the Mount (Alt 5-^""^^). This, it will be remembered, is based upon an authority no less venerable and commanding than the Deca- logue. ' Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time. Thou shalt not kill . . . Thou shalt not commit adultery . . . Thou shalt not forswear thyself ... ye have heard that it was said, An ej'e for an eye and a tooth for a tooth ... ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neigh- bour, and hate thine enemy.' And then, in each case, a corrected version of the commandment is given ; a new commandment is placed by the side of the old : 'Ye have heard that it was said . . . but I say unto you . . .' The last of these com- mandments brings home to us in a very vivid way at once the greatness and the hmitations of the older inspiration. The old version was, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enem^^' The new version is, ' Love your enemies and pray for them that persecute you.' Again, there is the well-kno\\'n incident of the Samaritan village which in accordance with the TR used to run : ' And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Ehas did ? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, "V'e know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's hves, but to save them. And they went to another village' (Lk 9'"*''"'^). The reading may not be original, but the sense is rightly given ; the longer version does but expand the meaning of the shorter. Such instances may show how far our I^ord Him- self went in correcting or modifying portions of the older Scriptures, which in their original con- text had been truly inspired, but on a lower level.