THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Gen. xxxiii. 18-19 with Acts vii. 16; Num. xxv. 9 with I Cor. x. 8). (3) The theory makes it hard to explain the divergences in the Gospels (cf. the four forms in which the superscription on the cross is given and Matt. viii. 25-27 with Mark iv. 39-41). (4) It is difficult on this theory to understand why the New-Testament writers usually quote the Septuagint translation, and not the original Hebrew of the Old Testament. In many cases the divergence from the Hebrew text is great (cf. Acts xv. 16-17, other passages of the Acts, and many passages of the Epistle to the Hebrews, which always quotes from the Septuagint). (5) The autographs of the sacred writers are lost, and the variations in the copies which have been preserved seem to be inconsistent with this theory; for, if a literal inspiration were necessary for the Church, God (so we should expect) would have provided for the errorless preservation of the original text. Moreover, the great mass of Christians has to depend upon translations for none of which infallible accuracy is claimed.
The theory of partial inspiration is, that the
writers of Scripture enjoyed the influence of the
Spirit to such an extent, that it is the
io. The Word, and contains the Will, of God
Theory of (Luther, Calvin, Baxter, Doddridge, Partial Wm. Lowth, Baumgarten, Neander, Inspiration. Tholuck, Stier, Lange, Hare, Alford, Van Oosterzee, Plumptre, F. W. Farrar, Dorner, and others). It admits mistakes, or the possibility of mistakes, in historical and geographical statements, but denies error in matters of faith or morals. In favor of this view it may be said: (1) that it lays stress upon the sense of Scripture as a revelation of God's will, and leaves room for the full play of human agency in the composition. (2) It helps to understand the divergences in the accounts of our Lord's life, and the inconsistencies in historical statement of different parts of the Bible. (3) It is more in accord with the method of the Spirit's working in general. The apostles were not perfect in their conduct and judgment as rulers and teachers of the Church (Acts xv. 39, xxiii. 3; Gal. ii. 12; I Cor. xiii. 12; Phil. iii. 12). (4) It removes a hindrance out of the way of many who would gladly believe the Bible to contain the word of God, if it were not necessary to give their assent to all its historical statements. Many can believe the discourses of our Lord , in John (xii. sqq.) to be divine who can not so regard the list of the dukes of Edom (Gen. xxxvi. 15-43), or all the tables of the Books of Chronicles. (5) This view makes the absence of an absolutely pure text intelligible.
The present canon does not necessarily measure
the extent of inspiration. Both must be determined
by the same process, upon the basis
ii. Crite- of the contents of the books, the state-
ria of ments of their authors, their relation
Inspiration, to Christ (in the New Testament), and
the judgment of the Church. A book
belonging to the present canon may not be inspired.
Seven books of the New Testament were disputed
in the Church of the first four centuries (see Canon
of Scripture). The Roman Catholic canon of the
Old Testament includes the Apocrypha, which are rejected by Protestants. Luther doubted the inspiration of Esther and held an unfavorable view of the Epistle of James and the Apocalypse. Calvin expressed doubts about II Peter. The Bible is an organism; and the inspiration of the whole is not necessarily affected if inspiration be denied to one part. The question of the inspiration of the Gospel of John, for example, may be independent of the proof that the Books of Chronicles are inspired. The sufficient witness of the heavenly origin of the Scriptures is their inherent excellences, as in the case of the person of Christ. The unity of the book, unfolding a single purpose; its elevated tone; the faultless character of Christ; the nature of the facts revealed of God, the soul, and the future — all stamp it as a work of more than ordinary human genius or insight. This testimony is, for most minds, the strongest of all. It is the testimony of the Holy Spirit in experience. D. S. Schaff.
The history of the doctrine of inspiration in Great Britain and America has followed the general fortunes of the same doctrine on the Con- 12. Modern tinent, as indicated above; that is, it Tendencies has oscillated between an interpretaand Devel- tion which found its principle in a preopments. ponde rating influence of the Spirit of God and a recognition in the human consciousness of a larger degree of free ethical action. In Great Britain and America the Calvinistic interest has declared for the first of the views referred to. In more recent times attention and interest have shifted to other aspects of this question. A distinction between Revelation (q.v.) and inspiration has been made, in which revelation stands for the objective side or content of the divine will or truth, inspiration for the subjective condition in which that will becomes known. Evolution has made men familiar with a law of development according to which the consciousness is in part determined by previous stages of thought and will. Comparative Religion (q.v.) has revealed phenomena of a similar character to Hebrew and Christian inspiration in the ethnic faiths, and a study of these has aided in a better apprehension of this fact. The history of the Christian religion with its earlier roots in the Hebrew religious life has made possible a truly historical interpretation of the rise and progress of the apprehension of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. The new study of psychology has shown the nature and place of inspiration in the consciousness of the sacred writers and speakers- -an ultimate certainty and enthusiasm which gave to their message much of its authority and power. Biblical criticism has provided a broad basis of incontestable facts which have had to be reckoned with, and have thus forced here and there a fresh investigation of the whole question from an inductive point of view. Inspiration is seen to be an essential affair of personality and is therefore ethical, with conditions of its appearance which lie deep in character as well as in native endowment. Finally, the tests of inspiration are moral and spiritual — the degree to which the message of the speaker or writer answers to the ethical and religious needs of advancing human life. C. A. Beckwith.