True, it is only by the gracious ministry of the Holy Ghost that we can properly grasp and ever hold fast to the word of God; but still it is His Word, and that Word _alone_, that forms the ground of Christian certainty and the true basis and authority for the Christian in the entire range of practical life and action. We cannot be too simple as to this. We can only adopt the opening sentence of our chapter, and say, "We know," when we take God's word as the all-sufficient ground of our personal confidence. It will not do to be in any wise propped up by human authority. Thousands of the people of God have been made to taste the bitterness of leaning upon the commandments and doctrines of men. It is sure to end in disappointment and confusion, sooner or later. The edifice which is built upon the sand of human authority must fall at some time or other; whereas that which is founded on the rock of God's eternal truth shall stand forever. God's word imparts its own stability to the soul that leans upon it. "Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste" (Isa. xxviii. 16).
As is the foundation, so is the faith that builds thereon. Hence the solemn importance of seeking to lead souls to build _only_ upon God's precious Word. Look at the anxiety of the apostle Paul in reference to this matter. Hear what he says to the Corinthians who were in such danger of being led away by human leadership and human authority. "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you _the testimony 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 was not with enticing words of man's 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" (1 Cor. ii. 1-5).
Here is a grand model for all preachers and teachers. Paul declared the "testimony of God," nothing more, nothing less, nothing different. And not only so, but he delivered that testimony in such a way as to connect the souls of his hearers immediately with the living God. Paul did not want the Corinthians to lean upon him; nay, he "trembled" lest they should be tempted to do so. He would have done them a grievous wrong had he in anywise come in between their souls and the true source of all authority--the true foundation of confidence and peace. Had he led them to build upon himself, he would have robbed them of God, and this would have been a wrong indeed. No marvel, therefore, that he was among them "in fear and in much trembling." They were evidently very much prone to set up and follow after human leaders, and thus miss the solid reality of personal communion with and dependence upon the living God. Hence the jealous care of the apostle in confining himself to the testimony of God; in delivering to them _only_ that which he had received of the Lord (see 1 Cor. xi. 23, xv. 3), lest the pure water should suffer in its passage from its source in God to the souls of the Corinthians--lest he should in the smallest degree impart the color of his own thoughts to the precious truth of God.
We see the same thing in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians. "For this cause also," says the faithful servant of Christ, "thank we God without ceasing, because, 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_, which effectually worketh also in you that believe" (chap. ii. 13). Had he been seeking his own things, he would have been glad to obtain influence over the Thessalonians by linking them on to himself and leading them to lean upon him. But no; he rejoices in seeing them in living connection, in direct and realized association with God Himself. This is always the effect of true ministry, as it is ever the object of the true minister. Unless the soul be livingly linked with God, there is really nothing done. If it be merely following men--receiving what they say because they say it--an attachment to certain preachers or teachers because of something in their style and manner, or because they seem to be very holy, very separated, or very devoted--all this will come to naught. Those human links will soon be snapped asunder. The faith that stands in any measure in the wisdom of men will prove hollow and worthless. Nothing will prove permanent, nothing will endure, but that faith which rests on the testimony and in the power of the only true God.