Upload
biola-university
View
215
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
1/27
•
•
•
•
•
•
CHAPTE R I I .
THE TESTIMONY OF CHRIST TO
THE ·
OLD TESTAMENT
•
•
BY
WILLIAM CAVEN., D.
D
1
.
LL.
D.J,
LATE P'R.INCIP ,AL o ,F KNOX
1
COLLE
1
GE, T'ORONT ,o,
CANADA
Both Jews an
1
d
1
Ch1·istians
receive
the
Old Te ,stament as
containing a revelation from God, while the latter regard it
as standing in close and vital relationship to the New Testa-
1nent. Everything co,nn
1
ected with th
1
e Olcl Testam ,ent has,
of recent years, been subjected to the closest scrutiny the
~uthoI ship of its several books, the time when they were
written, their style, their historical v3:lue, their religious and
ethical teachings . Apart
fron1
the veneration with which -we
regard the O]d Testament writings On tl1eir own account.
the intima ,te c,o,nnect·ion w'h.i,ch
they
hav,e with tl1,e
Chris ,tian
Scriptures necessarily gives us the deepest interest in the
•
conclt.1sions whicl1 may be reached by Old Testament criti-
cism. For us the New Testament Dispensation presupposes
and grows out of '
the,
Mo ,sa ic, ,so the
book,s
of
the
New
Tes,~
tament touch those of tl1e Old at every point: In vete-re tcs
ta ie ito no'i llm latet, et in novo vetus
patet.
1
(In the Old
Testament the New is concealed, and in the New the Old is
rev ealed.)
We p,ropose to take a summary view of the testimony o f
our
Lord
to
the Old
Te stament,
as it
is
recorded
by
the
Evangelists. The New Te stament writers themselves largely
quote and refer to tl1e Old Testament, and the views which
they express
regarding
tl1e old
economy
and its writings are
in harmony with the statements of
their
Master ; but , for
various reasons, we here confine ourselves to
1
wh ,at is relat ed
of the
Lord Himself. . . .
•
•
•
•
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
2/27
•
•
•
•
Testimony
of
Clirist to the Old Te.stanie·1t
...
4,
•
. Let
11s
ref er, first, to what is contained or
necessarily
'lllplied in the Lord 's testin1ony to the Old Te stame11t Scrip ,
h.tres,
and, secondly, to the critical value of His te stimony.
I. TH E
L10
1
RD'S
T ESTIMONY TO
THE OLD TESTAl iE NT
Our Lor
1
d's authority tl1ougl1 tl1is
i
rather the arg 1-
11- .entitmilen tio niay be cited
in
favor of the Old
Te stament
canon as acce·pted by the Jew s in I-Iis day. He nev
1
er charge s
them
witl.t
adding to
or
taking from
the
Sci-iptures, or
in
any
Way
ampering wi.th the t
1
ext. Had they been guilty of so great
a sin it is hardly possible that amo,ng tl1e charges brought
against them,
this
matter should not even be alluded to. Tl1e ·
tures, and with making tl1e law void through their traditions,
but He never
l1ints
that they have foisted any book into
the
canon,
or rejected any which deserved
a
place
in
it. ·
Now,
the Old Testament canon of the first century is the
same as our
own.
The evide11ce for
·t·t1is is complete, and
~1~ fact is
hardly
questioned. Tl1e Ne w Te stan1ent contains,
1
ndeed , no catalogue of the Old Te stametlt books, but the
testimony of Josephu s, of 1'1elito of Sardi s, of Ori gen, of
Jerome, of the Talmud, decisiveiy sl1ows that tl1e Old Testa
tnent ca.non, a.nee fixed, has remained unaltered. Wl1ett1er
ntined by Ezra and the Great Synagogue is altogether correct
or not, it is certain ·that tl1e
Septuagint agrees with the Hebrew
as
to
the canon, thus showing that the subject Was not in
dispute two
1
centuries before Christ. Nor is the
testtm,ony
of the
Septuagint
weakened by the fact
tl1at
the common Old
as
hinted,
either
by the .author, or by any other Jewish writer,
that
it
was worthy of a place an1ong
the sacred
book s
llever quote s any of the aprocryplJal book s, nor refers to
the111.
•
•
•
•
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
3/27
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
48,
The F~ tndamentals ·
•
••
•
•
•
•
NO P~T ASSAILED
If our
Lord does not
na111e
l1e writers
of · the boo ,ks
of
tl1
· Old Testamerit in detail, it
may
at lea t be said that no worJ
of His calls in question the genuineness
of
any book, an~
· hat he distinctly assigns several parts of Scripture to tl1t
writers whose names they
pasS
under. The Law is ascribed
to Moses; David s name is connected with the Psalm s ; the
prophecies of Isaiah are attributed to Isaiah, and the proph·
ecies of Daniel to Daniel. We shall afterward inqQire whetber
these references are merely by way of accommodation,
ot
whether more importance sho uld be atta,ched to them ; ifl
the meantime, we note that the Lord does 11ot, n any instan ce,
express dissent from the comm.on
opi11ion,
and that, as ta
several parts of ,Scripture, He distinctly
endo1·ses
it.
The
references
to
Moses
as
legislator and
writer
are s1icl1
as these: To the clean sed leper He says, Go thy way,
sl1ev1
thyself to the priest, and offer tl1egift that Moses commanded
( Matt. 8 :4). He saith unto them, Moses because of tbf
hardness
of your hearts suffered you
to
put away your wive s
(Matt. 19 :8). Ii they hear not Moses and the prophets,
•
neitl 1er will they be persttaded, thougl1 one rose from
tl1c
dead ( Luke 16 :31). For
lf
oses
said, Honor thy f
at]1
er
and thy mother ; and, Whoso curseth f atl1er or motlier ~ let
him die the death (Mark 7 :10). And beginning at Moses
and all
tl1e
prophets ) he expounded unto them in .all
tJ1e
Scriptures the things co11cerning himself {Luke 24 :27). A11
things must be fulfilled
wl1icl1
were
written
in
the
law of
Moses, and in
the
propI1efs, and
in
the
psal1ns,
concerning me
. (Luke 24 :44). There is one that accuseth you, even Moses,
•
in·whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have
believed Me : For he wrote of Me. But
if
ye believed 11ot
his writings
1
how shall ye believe My
words?
(John 5 :45-47),
Did not Moses give
you
the law, and yet none
Qf
you keep~
· eth the 1aw? ~ (John 7:19). Moses therefore gave unto
•
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
4/27
I
•
Testimony of Christ to
t/1e
Old Testan ent
49 ·
•
•
•
you circumcision.
* * *
If a n1an on th.e Sabbath
day
receive circumcision, 'tha 't
the
law of Moses
should
not be
broken,'' etc.
(John
7
:2.2,
23). The
omitted
parenthetical
,vords ''not because it is of Moses, but of
the fathers'' ~ -
seem clearly to
show, it
may be
remarked
in passing, that
the
Lord is no
1
t unobservant
1
of
l1istorical
exactness.
Th
1
e Psalms are qttoted
by
our Lord more tl1an once, but
only
once is a writer named. The 110th Psalm is ascribed
to David; and the
vadidity
of the Lord's argume ·nt depends
on its being Davidic. The reference,
tl1erefore,
so far ,as
it
goes, confi1~s
the inscr iptions of the Psalms in relation to
authorship. .
Isa. 6 :9
is
q·uoted thus ·:
''In
them is fulfil'led th,e prophecy
of Esaias,
whicJt
saith,
By
hearing
ye
shall
hear,
and
sl1ail
not understand''
(Matt,
13:14, 15). Again, chapter
29:13 of
Isaiah's ·prophecy is cited: ''Well hath Esaias prophesied
of
You l1ypocrites. ·*
*
*
This
people
hon
1
oreth
me
with
thei1··
lips, but their ·heart is far from me'' (Mark .
7
:6) . When,
in
the
beginning
of Hi
ministry,
the Lord came to Nazareth,
tliere was
delivered
unto
]ji1n
i11 the
synagogue
''the
book
of
tl1e
prophet
Esaias ,.
And
when
he
ha ,d
opened
the book,
he
found the place ''here it was
writte11,
The Spirit
of
the Lord
•
1
upon me, because
He
hath a11ointed me to
preach
the
Gospel
to
the poor,''
etc. (Luke 4 :17,
18).
The passage read by
our
Lord
is
from
the
61st
cl1apter
of Isaiah,
which
belongs
to th ,e section of
the
book very of
ten,
at
present,
ascribed to
the
second,
or
pseudo,
Isaiah ; hut we
do not
press
this
point,
as
it may
be
s,aid that .
the Evangelist,
rathe ,r than ,Christ,
a cribes
the words
·to
Isaiah. . ,
In His great
prophecy respecting the
down£ all
of the ·
Jewish stat
1
e the Lord refers to ''the a.bomination
of
d,esola-
•
tton, spoken
of
by
Daniel the
prophet:''
As in
Dan.
9
:Z l,
We
read that ''For the
over ·spreading of
abominations
he
shall
tllake
it
desolat ,e,'' and in chapter 12
:11,
that
''tl1e abomina 'tion
that maketh desolate ( hall ) 1 g t ttp.''
•
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
5/27
•
,
•
•
50
•
The
undamentals
•
•
•
•
NARRATIVES AND RE CORDS AU THENTIC
•
When Christ
m.ake s
1i9fer ence to Old
Te stament
narrative s
and record s, He
accepts them
as auth entic,
as
histOrically
true. He
does
11ot give or sugges t in any case
a
mythical
or
allegorical
interpretatio n. The accounts
of the creation,
of the flood, of the
overthrow
of Sodom and Gomorrah, ·as
well as many incidents and ev·ents of lat
1
er occurrenc .e, a·re
taken as authentic. It may,, of ·course, be alleged that the
Lord 's reference s to
the
cr ,eation of man and \Voman, the
flood, the cities of the plain, etc., equally serve His .purpo se
of illustration whether He regar
1
ds them as historical
1
or not.
But on weighing His words it will be seen that they · ose mucH
•
of their force and appropriatenes s un .less the events alluded
'to had .a histori .cal char lacter.
•
•
•
Let us refer . more
particularl .Y
to this matter. When
tl1e
• •
Pharisees ask Christ w·hether it · is law£ul
£0
1
r a man to put
. away his wife for every cause, He answers them: ''Have ye
not read, that · He which made them in the beginning 11lade
•
them 111ale nd
f',emale,
and said, For thi.s
1
cause s·hall ·
a
n1a11
]eave father and 1nother, and shall cle.ave to his wife: and
they twain shall be one flesh?'' (Matt. 19:4, 5). Again:
•
"As the days of Noe were, so
shall
also the coming of the
Son
•of Man be. F
1
o·r ,as in the days . that were before the flood,
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in mar
riage, until
the
day that Noe entered
into
the
ark,
and kne-w
•
.11ot,until the flood ~ame, and took them all away; so shall also
the coming of the Son of Man be'' (Matt. 24 :37, 39'). Again:
'' And thou, Capemaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt
be b,rought down to hell: for if the migh ty works, which have
been done in thee, had been d
1
one in
Sodom,
it
would have
remained until this day. · But I say unto you, That
it
shall
he··
mor ,e
t
1
olerahle
for
the lan
1
d
of Sod,om in the
day
1
0
1
f
jud.g-
.ment, than for
thee'~ (Matt .
11
:23,
2
1
4 ). These utterances,
every one feels, lose their weight and
solemnity,
if
there
was
•
•
•
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
6/27
•
•
•
..
••
Testimo1iy
of Clirist to
the Old
Testame, ,it
51
•
no flood such as is described in Genesis, a11d
if
the destruc-
..
tion of w·icked ,Sod,om 1nay be,
o nly
a :myth .
Illustrations a11d
parallels
may,
f·or certain purposes, be
,adduced from
fictitious
literature, but wh ,en
the
Lo
1
rd would awaken the cons
1
cience
• •
of men and alar1n · their
fears by reference
to
the certainty
of divine judgment, He
will
not confirm His
teaChing
by
instances of
·punishn1ent which
are
onJy
fabulous.
His
argu
ment that tl1e
Holy
and J 1,st
God
will do as He has done ·
wil1
make
bare His
arni
as
i11
the
days
of old is
robb·ed,
in
this case, of ·all validity. ·
A view frequently
urged
in the present day is tt1at, as
with other natio1ls,
so witl1 the
]
ews,
the
mythical period
precedes the historic ,al, an ,d ·thus the ear]ier narr ,at .ives of ·; he
O ld Testa1nent . must be tal
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
7/27
•
52
The
Fundanientals
•
pretensi ons much above the others, .. far less claim exclusive
divin e sancti ion; ,all of them
being the
prodt1ct of man's spirit
ual naturet
a.s molded
by
his history and ' environment, in
different
nations
and ages ..
This is the
view
under
which
the
study .
0
1
f
comp ,arative religio
1
n is pros
1
ecuted
by many
eminen t seho
1
lars. A
la·rg,e
and generous
.s,tudy of
religions,..,....
their characteristics and
histor ,y
tends, it is
held,
to bring
~hem into closer
fellowship with
each
other;
and
only igno
rance or p,reju ,dice (
say
the,se u·nbiased
'thinkers)
c-an isolate
th,e
re]·igion
0
1
£
the
O·ld Te ,st,ament or of the
New,
and refus ,e
t.o .ackno1wled,ge
in other religions t.h
1
e
divine ,elements which
entitle them to take rank with Judaism or
Christianity -
The ut.terances of Jesus Christ on thi
question
of the
di·vinjty
of the
0
1
ld
Test ,ament r,eligi
1
o·n and
1
cults are unmis
takabl 1;
and
not les .s
clear
and decided is His language
respecting · he writings in which this religion is delivered.
God is the source in the
directest
sense, of both the religion
and the records ,
of
it. No man can
claim
Christ's authori ,ty
for c·tassing
Judaism
with
Confucian ·i,sm,
Hinduis,m,I Blud
dhism,
,and
Parse
1
eism. Tl1ere is
nothing,
indee,d, in
the
•
Lord's teaching
whicl1
for
bids
us to
recognize
anything
that
is good in ethnic religions any of
those elements
of spiritual
truth
which become the com·m 0
1
n
property
of
th
1
e
race and
which were not .
completely
l
1
ost
in
the
night of· heathenism;
b
1
ut, on the other hand, it is abundantly evident that the Jew
ish faith is, to our Lord, the one true
fait 'h,
and t'hat tI1e ·
Jewish Scripture ·s have a place of th
1
eir own a place whi
1
ch
cannot b,e
shared
with
the
sacred
books
of
othe·r
people:s.
Sam ,aritanism, even though it had appropriated so l.argely
from t.he religion of Israel, He
will
not rec,ognize. ''For sal-
vation is of the Jews.''
Almost any ref e:,ence of our Lord to the Old rf est.ament
will
support the
statement ·
hat He regards the
Dispensation
and its Scriptttres as from God,. He shows, e.g. that Old
Testament prophecJr is fulfilled in Hi1rnsef , or He ,
1
inmicates
• •
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
8/27
•
•
•
..
Te.stimo iy of Christ to the Old Testament 53
His
teaching
and His
claims
by Scripture, or
He
e11joins
obedience to
the
Jaw (as in
the
case of
the cleansed lepers) ·,
o,r He
asserts the inviolability of the law till its complete
fulfillment 0 1
He
accus.es a bli.nde·d and self·-righteous gener-
•
at1on of
superseding
and
vacating a law
which they
were
bound.
to
obs erve. A few instances of explicit recognit.ion
of the
Old
Testament
Scriptures
as proceedin .g from God
· and having divine authority, may be
here adduced. In Ii:is
Sermo n on the Mount the Lord mal
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
9/27
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
54
•
•
•
Tlie Fundamettta s
We are not forgetti11g that the Lord fully recognizes .the
i1nper ·f ect
and provisional
chara icte ·r
of
the
Mos.ai
1
c
·. aw
and
of tl1e
Old Dispensation. Were the Old
f ault]ess,
no place
would have
been found
for tl1e
New. Had grace
and
trutl1
come by Moses ., the advent of Jesus Cl11·istwould have been
unneces sary. So
when ,
tl1e
Pharisee
put the
question
to
Chri st why Moses commanded to give to a wife w110 has
fottnd no favor with her
husband
a
writing
of divorcement
a11d to
pttt her away, I-I
e
rep _ied: . '' Moses, bec·aus ·e
of the
hardness of your
hearts
suffered you to
put away your
wive s :
but fro m the beginning it was not so'' (Matt 19 :8). The
: 1oaic legislation was not in every part absolutely the best
that could be given, but
it
was
sttch
as the divine wisdon1
saw
best
for
the
time being and
11nder the
special circum
s,tanc es of tl1e
Heb 1ew pie,op,Je.
Not
onl.Y
clid the
1
0ld Testa
ment set forth a typical econom .y, whicl1 must give place to
anotl1er, but it embodied ethical elements of a provisionaJ
kind which must pass away when the incarnate Son had .full y
1·evealed the Father. Tl1e Old Te sta ment is conscio us of its
own im,perie
1
ctions, for J remial1 thu s writes : ''Beheld t11e
days
c,ome,
saith
the
Lord,
that
I will
make
a
new covenan .t
.witl1 the house of Israel, and ,vith the house of
J
1dah: not
· according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in
tl1e
day that I took them
by
the hand to bring
them
out
of tl1e
land of Egypt.'' But in all thi s there is
nothing
to modi£
y
the proposition wl1ich we are illustrating,
viz.,
that
our
Lord
accepts
the Old
Testament
ec1.>nomy
and
its
Scriptures
as
from God, as stamped with divine authority, and as tntly
making known the divi .ne mind . and will.
•
• •
Marcion
and
the
Gnostics
did not receive
any
part of the
Old Testament Scriptures, and the Old Dispensa tion itself
they held to be of evil o,rigin . So
decided
were
they
against
the ·Old Testament that they would not admit into their
NeY.
Testament
canon the
books which
especially
bear
witness
to the Old. Bttt tl1e Christian Church ·ha .s followed its Mast
1
er
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
10/27
•
•
Testimony of
Christ to the
Old
Testament
55
•
ta
regarding
the
Old
Testament
as
the
Word
of
God,
as
the
Bible of the
ages
before
the Advent, a~d
as
still part of the
Bible for the Christian Cl1urcl1. Not
unLil
the days of devel
oped rationalism was this position called in question, except
among unbelievers. But
it
is obvious that
tl1e
style
of
criti
cis1n
which
1
in our
own ti1ne, is freqtiently applied
to
the
Old
Testament (not to
say
anything
about the
New),
touch
ing its histories, its ·taws, its morality, is quite ·inconsistent
\~.rith the recognition ·of any special divine characteristics
or authority
as
belonging
to it. The
very
maxim
so
of
ten .
repeated, that criticism 1nust
deal
with
these writings
precisely .
as it deals with
other
writings is a refusal to Scripture, in
linii1ie of
the peculiar character which
it claims, and
which
the · Church has ever · recognized in
it.
If a special divine
authority can be
vindicated
for
these
books,. or
f
9r
any of
them, this fact, it is
clear,
ought to be
taken
into account
by tl1e
linguistic
and
historical critic. Logically,
we
should
begin our study of them by investigating their title ·to such
authority, and, should tl1eir claim prove well founded, it ·
should never be forgotten in the subsequent critical proc
esses.
The establishment
of this l1igh claim will
imply
in
these writings moral chara .cteristics ( not to mention
others)
~hich
should
exempt them
from a certain suspicion which the
• II • •
critic
may
not
unwarrantably allow
to
be
present
when he
begins to
examine
documents of an
ordinary
kind. It is
not, the ref ore, correct to say that criticism, in commencing
its
inquiries, should
know nothing
of the alleged
divine
origin
or
saCred
character
o·f
a
book. If
tl1e book has no good
\ ouchers for
its
claims to
possess a sacred character, criti-
•
cistn must proceed unhindered ; but correct conceptions of
critical
methods
demand
tha t
every important
fac t
already
ascertained as to any writings should be kept faithfully bef Olie
the mind in the examination oi them. Science must here ·
unite with reverential feeling in requiring right treatment of
•
a book which claims special divine sanction, and is willing
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
11/27
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
56
•
to have
its
claims dt1ly
investigated.
The examination of a
witness
of establi shed veracity
and rectitude would 'not
be
conducted in precisely the same manner
,as
that of a
witness
wl1ose
cl1aracter
is
unknown orunder suspicion .
Welll1ausen s
style of treating the history
0£
Israel can have no justification
unless he
sh,oul-d first show
that the c1aim so often advanced
in ''Thus saith the Lord is entirely baseless. So far f ron1
•
admitting the validity of
the axiom
referred to, we distinctly
hold that it is unscien,tific. A just and t tUe criticism mttst
have r.espect to everything already know11and settled regard
ing the producti ons to which
_t is
applied, and assuredly so
momentous a clain1 as tl1at of divine authority demand s
care
ful preliminary exa1ninatior1,
But critici sm,
it
may
be urged, is the
very
instru1nent by
which we must
test t11e
preten sions
of
these
writings to
a
special divin
1
e origin and characte1· an
1
d, h
1
en
1
c
1
e,
it
cannot
stand
aside till
this question has been considered. In requiring
criticism
to
be silent till the verdict
has been
rendered, we
a.re putting it
under
restrictions inconsistent with
its
func-
tions and
prerogatives.
The
reply, however,
is that the prin -
cipal external and
internal
evidences for
the
divine
origin
of the Scripture s can be weighe
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
12/27
•
..
•
•
Testimony
1
0/ Ch ist to the Old
Testamen t .
-·-
:JI
no acquaintance with crit ,icism.
Shoul,d t'he i 'air applicatio11
of criticism, when
its proper
time
comes, .·
end to b,eget
doubt
as to tl1e
general conclusion
already
reached
r
1
egarding the
. Bible, it
will
doubtless be right to review carefully the evi
dence on which ·our conclusion de,pends; but
the
substantive
and dire ,ct proofs of the Scri ,ptures being from God should first
be handled,
and.
the decision arrived at should be kept in
mind, ~while critici sm is oc,cupi
1
ed with its proper
task.
T'his
see
1
ms to
tt 'S
tl1e true ord ,er of the procedure.
•
•
•
GOD SPF..AKS
Our Lord certainly attributes to th
1
e 01d Tes ,tament a far ·
•
higher character than 1nany have supposed. God speaks ,
in it through
1
out; and
w.hile
He
will mor·e
per ,fectly reveal
Himself
in
His
Son, not · anything
Contained
in the
older
r
1
evelation shall fail of its end or 'be convicted of
erro1·.
Chris ·t
does no,t
use
the
term ''inspiratio ,n''
in speaking of
the
Qi]d Testament, but when we have adduced ·His , words re
garding the origin and auth
1
ority o·f these writings, it will
be evident that to
Him -
they are
God-given
in
every
part.
It
will
be
seen
that
His
testi1nony
falls
not
behi11d
that of
Ris Apostles who
say: ''Every .
Scripture inspired of God
(2 Tim. 3,:16), and The
p,rophecy
came not in old time
by
the
will
of man;
but holy
me11
of
God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost'' (2 Pet. 1 :21) . .
•
•
•
In
s,peaki,ng
of'
Christ as
teaching , that
the,
Old
Tes,tament
is from God we have referred to passages in which He says
that its
w,ords an ·d
comm,ands are
the
words and coinmands
of God; e. g., ~'God
1
comm ,and
1
ed, saying, HQn,or tl1y father
a,nd
thy
mothe ,r: and He that
cursleth f
ath ,er or mother, let
h.itn
die the death'' (Matt. 15 :4). Again: ''Have ye not read
that which was spoken
unto
you
by
God, saying, I am
tl1e
God of Abra_ham, 'the Gofl
of
.I . aa
1
c, and the God of Jacob?''
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
13/27
•
•
J
•
•
58
Tlie utidamentals
'
•
t . .
In a comprehensive way the laws of the ·P-entateuch, or
of tl1e
Old Testall1ent,
are
called ''the comman ,dmeh ·ts of
•
·God.,, ''In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines
the
comn1andments
of m·en. For
laying
aside
the command
ment of God, ye hold the tradition of men. * · * * Full
well ye reject the comma11dment of God, that ye may keep
yoar own
tradition'' (Mark :8, 9); and in the
context
of
this
last quotation the
com1nandment
of God is
identified
with
what ''Moses
spake, showing
that the words of
Moses
are
also the words of God.
Passages like
these
do mor
1
e
than
prove that the Old
Testament Scriptures
express
on the whole
th
1
e mind of God,
and, therefore, possess very high auth
1
ority. If it can cer
'tainly
b,~ said that G,od
spake
c,ertain
words, or
that
certain
•
words and comm,andm
1
ent.s
are
the
w
1
ords and
comman
1
dm,ents
of Go1d, we have mor
1
e than a ge,ner ,al endor
1
sement ; as
when,
.
e. g., the edito,r .of a
periodical
states that he is respo,nsible
for the general character and
tendency
of articles
which he
admits, but not f:or, every se11timentor expressi
1
on of opinion
containe ,d
in the1n. · .
•
It
n
ee,ds,
1
0£
1
c,ourse,
no
proof tl,at
·the
words
quoted
i11
he
New
Testament as ·S
poken
by
God ar ,e
not
the only
parts
of the Old whi,ch, have direct
divine
authority. The same
thing
might evidently
be said of
other
parts
of
the book.
The
impression
left, we think, on every unprejudiced
mind
is that such quotations as the Lord made are only speci
mens of
a
book
in ·
which
God
speaks
throughout. There
is
not encouragement
certainly to attempt any analysis
of
Scrip,
ture into
its
divine and
its
human parts or
elements
to
apporp
tion the
authorship
between God and
the
human penman,
for,
•
as we
have seen, the same
words
are
ascribed
to
God and
to His servant Moses. The whole is spoken by God and by
•
•
Moses also. All i,s divine and at the s,ame time ·all is human .
•
The divine
and
thle
human
are so related
that separatio ·n
is
impossible
1
•
• •
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
14/27
•
t
Tes ,timony of
Ch.1ist
·to the Old Testament 59
-
ABSOLUTE INFALLIBILITY OF
SCRIPTURE
Attention
may
be special ly called to three passages in
whicl1 .
the Lord refers to the origin and the absolute in falli bility of
Scripture. Jesu s · asked the Phari sees, ' 'Wh at think ye of
Christ? Whose Son is He ? TI1ey say unto Him, The Son
of n ,avid,. He saith unt o the·m, Ho ,w the·n dotl1 David
in
spi·rit
call Him Lord?' '' The ref e1·en,ce is to Psalm 110, which
t~e
Lord says David spake or wrote ''in spirit;',
i.
e., David
Was
co1np1etely
under tl1e
Spi rit's
influence in the
production
o,f the Psalm, so that when he calls
tl1
e Mes,siah his ''Lord''
the word has absolute authority. Such is clearly the Lord's
.
meaning, and the Phari s,ees ha,ve no rep,ly to His a,r·gument.
l'he Lord does not say that the entire Old Testament Vt "as
•
Written '' in tI1e Spirit ,"' nor even
tl1at all the
Psalms were
so
Produced ; He make s no direct state111et of this nature ;
yet
·the
pla.in reader would certainly regard this as implied.
His
hearer s
understood their Scriptures to have been all written
by immediate
inspiration
of God, and to be tl1e word ·of ·God;
and He merely refers to Psalm 110 as having the character
Which
belonged to Scripture
at
large. ·
In Jol1n 10 :34-36, Christ vi11dicates Him self from the
charge of blasphemy in claiming to
be
the
Son.
of
God:
''Jesus answered them, Is it not writ ten in your Jaw, I said,
Ye are gods. If he called them gods
t1nto
whom the
word
of God came, and the Scripture cannot be b,roken ; say ye of
llirn
whom the Father ha th sanctifie d, and sent into the world,
1'bou
blasphemest ; becau se I said,
I
am
the Son
of
God?''
1 be
Scripture cannot be b,roken ou dunatai luthenai. ~he
'lerb signifies to loose, unbind, dissolve, and as applied to
Scripture means to subvert or deprive of authority. The
author ity of Scripture . is then so complete so pervasive---
as to extend to it s individual term s. Gods is the proper
Word
because it
is
used
to
designate the Jewish rulers.
If
this
is not verbal inspiration, it comes very
near
it.
One
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
15/27
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
\
Tlie itndamentals
•
•
my, of course, allege that · the Lord s statement of inerrancy
implies only that the principal words of Scripture must be
ta,ken precisely as they
are,
but
that
He ,does not claim
th,e
like auth ,orit ,y for all its words. With ·ot1t ,arguing this point ,
we merely say that . it is, not cert ,ain
1
or obvious that the way
is left open for tl1is distinction.
In
face of
Christ s
utterances
it devo ,lves on tho se who hold that inspiration
e~tends
to the
thought ,of
[Scripture :
,only,
but
not to
t he
words,
1
or
to
the
leading words but not to ·the words in g,eneral, to adduce
~ery
cogent arguments in support of their position. The
•
onus proban
di~ it seems to
us,
i,s here
made to rest
on them.
rhe theory tha t inspiration
may
b
1
e affirmed only
of
the main
•
views or
p(?si·tions
of Sc,rip ,ture, but neither of
the
word,s nor
of
tl1e
development
of
the thoughts,
cannot, it
seems clear,
be harmonized with the Lord s teaching. Before adverting to
a third text we
may
be allowed
to set
down these words of
Augustine in
writing to
1
Jerome ::
For I ackno ,wle ,dge
with
•
,high
esteem for ,
thee, I
have
lea.rn,ed to ascribe
such
reverence
and honor to those books of the Scriptures alone, which are
.. . .
now called can.onical, that I
believe
most
firmly that
not
one
0
1
f
their
a,11thors
h,as
made
a
m,istake
in
writin ,g
them.
And
should I tight
upo,n
anything
in
th
1
ose writing s,
whi
cl1
may
.
seem opposed to trut h, I shall
cont ,end
for nothing else,
than
either that the manuscript was full
of
errors,
1
0r that the trans ...
lator ha,d not comprel1ended what was
said, or
th,at
I had not
•
understood it in the le,ast d
1
e,gr,ee. ·
In His s,ermon on the Mount our Lor
1
d thus ref
1
ers to
His own relation to the Old Testament economy .and its
S,criptures: Think not that I am come to destroy the law,
or the prophets : .I am not come to
destroy
b
1
ut
to fulfil. ,
For
verily I say unto you,I Till heave ,n and
earth pass, one jot
ot
one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till . all be fut,
filled (Matt. 5 :17, 18). No stronger words could be ettl
ployed
to affirm the divine authority of every part of the Old
Testament; for
tl1e law
and
the prophet s mea11
the
en.tire
() ld
•
•
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
16/27
•
•
•
•
Testament Scriptures. If
t11is
d,eclaration cont
1
emplates
the
11zo1 al 1ement of' tl1ese ,Scriptures, it means
tl1at
no part of
tl1cm
sl11l]
be
set
aside by
tl1e
Ne\V
,Dispensati
1
on,
but
ful-
fill1d'' i.
e.,
fil]e,d
ttp and
comple,ted
by
Jesus
Christ
a,s a
sketch
is filled
t1p and con1pleted b
1
y the paint
1
er . .
If, as others
naturally interpret, the
typ·ic l f
ea tu res
of the
1
0ld 'Testament ·
•
. are incJu,ded in the state1nent,
tl1e
term
f
ul·filied,''' as
regards ·
t11is elemen,t,
will be taken in the
more
ttsual meaning, In
either case the inviolability and,
by implicat :ion,
the divine
origin of the
Old
T'estament could not be more impressively
declared. Mark how
comprel1e·nsive
and absolute the words
are: , ''On
1
e
jot .
or
on,e
tittle.
''Jot''
(iota) is
yod~
the
smallest
letter of the
J-I,ebre ·w
alphabet; ''tittle, ,'' lit
1
erall1y lit
tle horn or apex, designates
the little lines or projectio11s
by
\vhi,ch Hebrew · letters, similar i11 other respects, differ from
each
other. We
l1ave
here, one might say,
the
inspiration of
letiters of the Old Testament. Everythi .ng contained in it has .
divine authority, and must, therefore, be divine in origin; . for
it
is unneCessary to show that no
such authority
could be
ascribed to writings 1nerely human, or to writings in which
the di.vine and the human interests could
be separated an-
a.lytiical]y. ·
Sl1ould ·
it be said
that the
''law,''
every
jot and tittle of
•
,vl1ich.must be f
u'lfilled,
mea11s here the economy itself,
·the:
ordinances of Judai ,sm,
bt1t
not tl1e rec,ord of
tl1em
in writing,
the reply is that we k110,v notl1ing of th.ese ordinances ex- ·
cept tl1,r,ough the reco,rd, so that what is affirmed must 1pp,ly
to the .Scriptures as well as to, the Dispensa ·tion,
The only
qttestions
wl1ich can be well
1·ais
ed are, firs't,
\vhether th
1
e '')a ,w and the proph ,ets'' designate the entire Scr 'ip
tures
or two
great divisions of them only;
and,
secondly,
•
\\rhether
the Words
o,f Jesus can be taken at their full
mean--
.,
tng, or, for some reason or , other, must be disco,unted.
The
- .
first
question it is hardly worth
while to discuss,, for, if
•
neitl1er jot nor tittle of the ''law
and the
prophets,' shall
fail,
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
17/27
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
62
•
•
•
it
will hardly be contended that the Psalms, or whateve1'
parts
of the Old Testa ment are ·11otinclu
1
ded, l1ave a less stable char
acter.
The
latter que stion, of
momentous
Import,
We
l1al1
co11sider presently. ··
•
•
17ULFILMENT
1
0F PROPI-IECY
•
•
•
•
. · T .he inspiration of th
1
e Old Te stament ,Scriptur
1
es is
clearJy
in1plied in the 1nany dec]aration s of ottr Lord respecting the
£111film.ent of
prophecies . contained
in·
th em. It i.s Godts
pre ,roga .tive to know,
and to
make
known,
the future. Hun1an
presag 'e cannot go beyond what ·is fo
1
reshado
1
we,d in eve11ts
which have transpired, or is wrapped up in
causes
which
we
plainly se
1
e in opera ·tion.. If, · ther
1
efore, the Old Testament
reveals, hundreds of years in advance, what is cdming to
pass, · omniscience
·mLtst
have direc .ted the pen of the writer ;
i.
e., these Scriptures, or at least their predictive parts, must
be insp
1
i·red.
•
The pa ·ssage a.ready quot .ed from the Sermon on the
i
ou nt may be noticed as regards its bearing on prophecy :
''I ·an1 not com·e t,o d,estroy the law or the prophets, but to
•
•
f
t1lfil.''
\Vl1il.e
.Plerosai
a.s
re.ferri11g
to tl1e
law~
has the
special 1neaning above poi11ted out; as
referring' to
tl1e
p1~opliets
t has its
mo1·e
common import. We
have
here,
•
then, a .general
Statement
as to the Old Testament
c.ontairi-
ing prophecies which
w
1
ere fu]filled
by
1
Christ
.and
iµ
Him .
•
Here
are
examples.
Tl1e rejection of
Messiah
by
the Jewish
.
authorities, as well as the ultimate triumph of His cause, is
announced in the 118th Psalm,
in
words which Christ applies
•
to
Himself : ''The stone which
tl1e
builders rejected is be-
come the head of the comer. The desertion of ·Jesus
by
1
His disciples when He was apprehended fulfils the prediction
of Zechariah : ''I will smite the shepherd,
and
the sheep shall
all be scattered'' ( Matt. 26 :31).
Should
angelic interventiori
rescue Jesus
from
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
18/27
•
•
Testimony of · h·rist to the Old
Testa ie it
63
betrayal, apprehellsion, and death took place, ''tl1at the ·Scrip
tures of the prophets might be fulfilled'' (Matt. 26
:56).
'Ha cl .
ye believed Moses,'' said our Lord,
''ye
would have believed
Me, for
he wrote
of Me'' (John S
:46). The 41st Psalm
pre
announces the treachery of Judas in these word s : He that
eateth bread with Me hath lifted up his heel against
Me;
and the defection
1
f the
son ·of · percli.tion takes place, ''that
the
Scriptures
may be
ft1lfilled''
(John 17 :12). The
persist
ent a11dmalignant opposition of His enemies ful fils that whiclt ·
is written:
''.They
hated Ivie withot1t a cause'' (John 15
~25).
Finally,
in
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
19/27
•
•
..
•
•
•
The Fundamentals
•
•
wer,e: merely an ideal pe.rso,n,ag·e,, ther ,e:
woul ,d be
little ,
f
o,rce
in saying that the Lord opened the understanding of the
disciples
that
they
might
see His
death
and
resurrectiOn ·
to
be set
forth
in
the p,rophecies. But
to
teach
that
the
Old
Testament contains authentic predictions
is
as we have said,
to teach
that
it is inspired. The challenge to heathen deities
i~ Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may
know that ye are gods (Isa. 41 :23). · ·
We
thus
find that our Lord recognizes the same Old Tes
tament canon as we have, that so far as He makes reference
to particular books of the canon He ascribes them to the writ
ers whose names they bear, that He regards the Jewish re
ligion and its sacred hooks
as
in
a
sp·ecia1 sense
a
sense not
to be affirmed of any other religion from God, that the
writers of Scripture, in His
view,
spake in the Spirit, that
their
words are
so
properly
chosen that an
argument may
rest on the exactness of a term, that no part of Scripture
shall
fail
of its
end or
be convicted of
error, and
that the
p,reclictions of Scripture are genuine predictions, which must
all in their
tin1e
receive fulfilment.
•
We
cannot here discuss the doctrine of inspiration ; but
on the ground of the Lord s
testimony to the
Old Testament,
as above summarized, , we may surely affirm that He claims
for it throughout all that is meant by inspiration when we
use that _ erm in the most definite sense.
No
higher author
ity
could well
he
ascribed to apostolic teaching,
or
to any
part of the New Testament Scrip ,tures, than the. Lord attrib
utes to the more ancient Scriptures when He declares that
jot
or
tittle
shall not
pass
from them till all he fulfilled;,,
and
that if men hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will
they be
persuaded though one rose from the.
dead (Luke
16 :31 -, . . -
•
II, THE VALUE .OF
CHRI1ST rS
TESTIMONY
It remains tbat we should briefly advert to the value, for
~e ~cientific
student
of the
Bible,,
of
Christ s
testimony to
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
20/27
•
the
Old Testament. The very announcement
of such a topic
Illa
y
not be
h
1
eard without
pain, but
in
view o,f
theories
with
Which Biblical students
are .
familiar,
it
becomes necessary
to look
into
th .e
question. Can
we, then,
accept the
utter
ances of Christ on the matte1·s ref erred to as having , val·ue ..
as of authority in r·elation to the Biblical scholar ship? Can
W
e take
t11em
at the·ir face valu.e, or must they be discoun ,ted ?
Or again, are
these, w
1
or,ds
of Jesus
valid £or criticis ,m
1
0n so1ne
question s,
but
not on
others? .
The .1·e are two w,ays in
which it is sought
to
invalidate
Christ's testimony to tl1e
1
0ld Testament. ·
•
1.
IGNORANCE OF JES ,US ALLEG ·ED
•
It is
alleged
that Jesus had no knowledge beyond tl1at
of His contempor .aries as to the o.rigin and
literary
character
istics of the
Scriptures. The Jews
believed that Moses wrote
the Pentateuch,
that the
narratives of tl1e
Old Testamen .t .
ar e
all
authentic
history,
and
that the words of .Scripture
are all
inspired. Christ shared the opinions of His
countrymen
on
these
t
1
opics, even when they were i11 error. To holcl thi s
View,
it
is
maintained,
does not detract from
the
Lord's quali- ·
fications for His proper work,
which
was
religious
and
spirit
Ua], no·t
literary;
for in
relation
to he
religious
value
1
0£ th e .
Old Testament
and its spiritual
uses
.and applications
He
may
confidently
be
accepted
as
our guide. His
knowledge
wa s
adequate to the delivery of the doctrine s of His kingdom, but ·
did
not necessat·ily extend to
questions of scholarship
and
critici sm. or· these He spe,aks
as
any other man ;
and
to
seek
to arrest, or direct,
criticism by
appeal
to His authority,
•
1s procedure whicl1
can
only
recoil
upon
those
who
adopt
1t.
This view ·is
advanced,
not
only
by
critics
who reject the
divinity of Christ,
but
by
many
wh.o profess to believe
th at
,doctrine. In
tl1e
preface
to
his first volu1ne ·on the
Penta
teuch and Joshua, Colenso
thus
writes: ''It is
perfect ly
Co11istent ,i\i.th the ·tnos t e,ntire .and sincere belief . in 011r
'
•
•
•
•
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
21/27
•
•
•
•
r
•
•
•
•
•
•
66
Tlie Fundame itals
•
Lord'
1
s divinity to l1old, as 1nany do, that wl1en He vouch ..
safed to become a 'Son of 1nan' I-Ie took our nature fully, and
vohJ,nta ,rily
entered
into
all
the
conditions of humanity,
and,
among others, into t11at ~rl1ich makes our growth in all
or din ,a:ry l{nowledge g1·adual an
1
d lin1ited. * * * ·It i,s not
sttpposed that, in His h·un1an nature, He : was acquainte ,d more
•
than any Jew of His age with th e myst eries ,of all
m.odern
scie,11ces.,nor * * * ca11 it
be
seriously maintaine d
tha .t,
•
as an
.infan ·t
or
young
child, He
pos sesse d
a
knowJe,dge
sUfi ..
· passing that of the most piou s and learned adults , of ' His
nation, up,on the subject of tJ1e authorsl1ip and age of
the
different portions of the Pe ·ntateuch.
At
what period, then,
of His life on earth, . is it to be supi,osed that He had granted
to Him as the Son of man , stt}le.rnatu1·ally, full and accurate
infO:rrn,ation on
tl1es
e
points?'' etc- (vol.
i.,
p. 32). ''lt
should also
b e
0
1
bserved,
says
Dr~ S. Davidson, ''that
l1istor...
ical and critical ques ,tions C
1
ou 'ld only belong to His
human
culture, a culture stamped with tl1e characteristics of Flis
age and country.' j
The doctrine of the Kenosis is invoked ·to explain the
ill1'
perfection of our Lord's knowledge
on
critical questions, as
evidenced
by
th ,e
way
in
,¥hich He speaks
0
1
f
the P'enta'
teuch and of various Old Testament problems. The general
subject of the Iim.itation of Cl1rist's knowledge during His
life on, earth
is,,
of
co
1
urse , a
very
difficult one,
but
we
do
not ne·e
1
l1ere to consider it. Tl1e G,os1pe,l of Mark d.oes
speak of the day and hour when tl1e heaven and earth shall
pass away as being known to tJ1e Fath
1
er · only; and· n ot to
the :Son; but
witho ·ut
v·enturin g
any opinion on a
subject
so
mysterious, we may, at
least,
affirm that th ·e Lor
1
d' s
l
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
22/27
•
•
Testimonj 1 of
Clir ist
to the Old Testanietit
7
•
•
pre ,sent ti,me absolutely
requi1·es,
the traditional opinions
regarding the authorship of tl1e Old Testament books and
the degre ,e . of ' authority which attaches to several,
if
not all
of them, mttst be
r,evised.
In ordei·
to
save , the ship
1
,
we must
throw overboard , thi s cumbrou s
a11d
antiquated tackling.
Mu ,ch n1ore, we are assured, than points of scholarship are
involved; for int
1
ellige11t and truth-loving men cannot . retain
their confidenc ,e in the Bible and its religion, unless we dis
card the opinions
wl1ich
have prevailed
as
to
the OJd Testa
tnen ,t, ,ev
1
e,n th ,ough the se opinions can apparently plead 'in
their favor
tl1e
authority of ·J ,esus Christ.
Now mark
the
position in
wl1ich
the Lord,
as our
Teacher,
i
thus p'laced. We have f0Il0wed Him in holding opinions
•
which turn out to be unscientific, u,ntrue; and so necess
1
ary
i
it
to relinquish these opini ,ons that neither the
J
ewis11
nor
the Christian faith can be satisfactorily defended if
W
1
C
cling to
them. Is it not,
the1·efore, quite clear that the Lord's
teaching is, in something material, found in error that His
propl1etical office is as~ailed? For the allegation is that, in
hol
1
ding fast to what I-Ie is freely allo
1
wed to have taught,
we,
lare
imperiling the inter
1
sts of religion. The critics whom
We have in view must admit either that the points in ques-
•
tion are of no importance, or th,at the Lor.d was imperfectly
qualified for I-Iis
prophetical
w
1
ork. Those
who,
have rever
ence
£01·
tl1e
Bible will not admit either positio11.
i)r
why
.
shquld scholarship so magnify the necessity to apologetics ,of
corre ,cting the traditional o,pinion as to the age and author-
hip of the Pentateuch,
a11d
other questions of Old T,estament
criticism, unless it means to sl1ow that the Old Testament
require ,s more exact, more e,nlightened, handling than the
Lord gave it? Should it be replied that the
Lord .,
had He
been on earth now
1
would have spoken otherwise on ·the
t,opics conc
1
erned, the obviou s answer ·is, that the Lo~d's tea,ch
ing is for all ages, and that His word ''cannot he broken. ,"
•
•
•
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
23/27
•
•
•
68
2. THEORY OF ACCOMMODATION
t
The theory of accommodation is brought forward
iJ1
explanation
o,f
those reference s of
Christ
to the Old Testa
ment which
1
endorse
wh,at
ar e regarded as
inaccuracie s 01~
•
popular errors. He spake,
it
is
said,
regarding the Old T e·sta~
ment, after the current opinion or belief. This belief would
be sometimes right and sometim es wrong; but where no in
terest of religion or moral ity was affected where spiritual
•
truth was
not
involv e·d He allowed
Himself,
even
where
the
co1nmon
be lief was
erro11eous, to
spea,k
in accor
1
dance
•
with it.
Some extend
the
pr inciple
of
accommodation
to
the
interpretation
of the Old Tes tament as well as to, questions
of canon and author ship ;. and in fallowing it the Loi-d is
•
declared to have acted prudently, for
no good
end
could
have bee:n
se,rve cl,
it is.,alleg,ed, by ,cr
1
oss,ing t he vulg,ar 0
1
pi,nion
upon matters of little importance, and thus awakening or
strengthening
suspicion ·
as to His
teaching
in general.
As
to the
,accommod ,ation thus supposed to
have
beeJl
practiced by our Lord , we observe that if it
implies, as
the
· propriety of the term requires, a more accurate
knowledge
on His part than His language reveal s,
it
becomes difficult,
in
many
ins,tances, to vindicate His per£
ect integrity .
In
some cases where
accommodation
is
a1leged, it
might, indeed,
be
innocent enough, but in
other s
it would be inconsistent
with due regard to truth ; and most of the statements of
the
Lord touching
the Q ]d T
1
estam,ent t
1
0
wl1ich attentio
1
n l1as
been directed in this d,iscu ssion s,eem to be of this latter
kind. Davidso n himself
says.:
tAgr
1
eeing as we do in
the
sentiment that our SaviOr and H is Apostles accommodated
their mode of rea soning to · the habitual notions , of tl1e
Jews, no authority . can be attribu ted to that reasoning e~:cept
when it takes the form of an independ ent declaration r
statement, and so r,ests on the :speaker s credit. Now
th,e
tateme nts of Chri st respecting tl1e Old Testament
Scriptt1r,es
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
24/27
•
•
Testimotiy
of Christ to t/1 e
Old
Testament 69
I •
•
to which we desir ,e
speci,ally
to direct attention
are, p1·ecisely
of this nature. Are not tl1ese ''indepe ,ndent declarations''?
' One jot or one tittle shall not pass, etc. ; ''The
Scripture
cannot be b,roken ;'' ''David in spirit
calls him
Lord;•' ''All
tl1ings
must be fulfilled · ~hich
are
written in the Law of
lvioses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms concern-
.,
1ng Me.'
1
Fttrther,
we
may say as
before ,,
tl1at if
our . Lord's
state-
111ents
His
obite r
dicta
if
you will
about
·the authorship
of
parts , of Scripture giv
1
e a measure of count
1
enance to opinions
wJ1ich ar
1
e ,standing in the
way
of both
genuine
scho]arship
and of faith, 'it is hard to see 11ow they can be regarded as
instances of .a justifiable accommodation. It seetns t
1
0 us
(may
we reverently use
tl1e
words) that in this case
you
canno .
vindicate
tl1e
Lord's absolute truthfulness except
by
imputing to Him a degree of ignorance which would unfit -
lii1n for His office as
pe1-n1anent
Tea ,cher of the Church.
l-Iere is the dilem1na
f
01· 'the radical critic
either he
is agi-
tating the
1
Church about trifles, or, if his views have the
apoiogetical · importance which he usually attributes to them,
he
is censuring the
Lord's dischat·ge of
His
prophet ·ic
office;
fat th~
allegation
is that Christ's w9 ,rds prove perplexing and
1nisleading in regard to weighty isstt ,es which th
1
e progre .s,s
of
knowledge
has
obli,ged
us to face.
St1rely we
should be
apprehensive of danger
if
we dis
1
cove1· that views
which
claim our adl1esi1on, on any grounds whatever, tend to depre
ciate the wisdom of Him who1n we call ''Lord and
Master_''
l1po11
whom the
Spirit ,vas bestowed '
1
'without measure,'' and
\Vho
''spake
as never
man spak
1
e.''
I_
is
.a
great
thing in
this
controversy to
l1ave
the Lord on our side.
-
Are, then, the
Lotd's
references to Moses
a,nd
the law
to be
regarded
as
e,videnc·e that
He believed
the Pentateuch
•
to be written
by
Moses,
or
should
they be
classed as
inst.ance.s
of
ac,commodation?
When we take in cumulo all the pas
sages in which the legis lation 0£ the Pentateuch and the
•
•
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
25/27
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
,vriti .n,g of it ·are conne ,cted with Moses, ,a very str ,ong case
is made out against mere acco1nmodation. The obviou s ·accur-
acy of spe ,ech observed in some of tl1:ese ref er,ences
,canno,t b,e
•
overlooked; ,e" g., '' Mo ses, tl1erefore, gave you circumcision
(not because it is of Moses, but of
the
fathers) . · Again,
''There is one that accu seth you , even Moses in whom ye
trust; for had ye believed Moses ye would have believed
Me, for he wrote of Me; but
if
y,e believe no ·t his writings,
how shall ye believe
My
word s? '' This
is
not the style of
,one· who does not wish his word s to be taken st.rictly ·
•
•
•
TWO POSITI ONS c r..,EAR
•
Two positions may, I thinlc, be affirmed 1. The Iegis]a...-
tion
1
0£
the Pentateuc .h is actually ascri 'bed
to
Mo ,ses by the
Lord. If this legislation is, in the main, long sub~equent to
Moses, an
1
d a g
1
ood ·deal of it later than the ,exile, the Lor
1
d~s
language is positively misleading, and endorses an error which
vitiates the entire con structi .on of Old Testament history
and
the development of religion in Isr ,ael. .2.. Moses is to sucl1
extent tl1e writer of the law that it may, with propriety, be
poken of as ''his writings. ,' J\11ad ·mit that tl1er,e a1~epassag,es
in
the
Books of Moses which were
written
by another hand
or other han .ds, , a:nd shoul .d even
a.dd.i.tio,ns
,other
th,an
c
1
ertai11
b,rief explanatory interpolations and tl1e last chapter of Deu-
t ,eronomy have to be recognized ( which has n,ot yet been
.demonstrated) the Pe .ntateucl1 would remain Mosaic. Should
M,o.s,es have dictated ·much of his writings, as Paul did, they
would, it is unnecessary to s,ay, be not the less his. The wor ,ds
of Jesus we
consider ,
as evide·nce that H·e r,egar;·d,ed
Moses
as,
sttbstantially, the writer of the boo,ks which bear his namt.
Less than this robs several of · our Lord ·ts statemen .ts oi l their
point and propri ,ety.
It is hardly necessary to say that we have no desire to see
a true ,and re·verent
1
criticis .m of the Old
Te,,tame.nt,
and of
the N'ew as
wellt
arrested
in
its progress, or
in
the
least
hin~
•
•
•
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
26/27
•
•
Testimony
of hrist to the Old
Testametit 71
dered.
Critici sm
must acc,ompli sh its task, and eve ry lover
of tttt th is
more ·
than willing that it
should
do
so·
Reluctance
to see truth fully investigated, fully ascertained a,nd estab
lished, in
any
department of thought
and inquiry, and
IDost
of 1ll
in
tl1ose
d
1
partme ,nts vvhich are
highest,
is
lamentab
1
e
evidence of
mora l
weakness,
of
imperfect confidence
in Him
Who is the God of
truth. But
criticism
mu,st proceed .
by
legitimate
methods and . in a
true spir it.
It
must
steadf~tly .
k:eep
before
it
all
the
£act s essential
to
be taken into
acef:>Unt.
In the case of its application to the Bible
and
religion,
it
is
•
lllost reasonable
to demand
that full
weight
should
he al'lowed
to all the teachings, all the word s of ~im who only ws
the
Father, and who
came
to reveal I.fim to the world,
and
Wl10
is Himself the Tru th . If
all
Scripture
be,ar ls testimony
to Christ, we cannot ref use to hear Him
when
H ,e speaks .of
its characteri stics. It is folly, it is unutterable impiety,
to
de
cide differently from tl1e Lord any que stion
regarding the
Bibl e
on which we have
His verdict; nor
do,es it improve the case
to say that we shall listen to Him when He speak~ of spiritual
truth, but sha ll
count
ottr selves f re e when
the
question
is
one
of scholar ship, Alas for our schol ar ship wh
1
en it brings , us
into
controve1·sy
with Him who
is tl1e
Prophet, as
He i·s
the
P'riest and King of
the
Church,
and
by whose Spirit both
Prophets and Apo stles spake I .
N Othing
has
be,en
said in
t .ti paper respecting
the
proper
method
of interpreting the
different
books and
parts of the
Old Testament, nor
the
way of dealing with specific difficulties.
Our object has been to show that
the
Lord
regar ,ds
the .
entire book, or
coll,ection
of book s, as divine,
authoritative,
•
Infallible. B,ut in the
wide variety
of ~th
1
ese writings there
are
many forms of compo sition, and every pa ·rt, it is obvious
to say, mus 't
be
understood and expla ·ined jn accordance with
the rules of interpretation which
apply to
·literature of its
kind. We have not been trying in advance to bind up the
•
tnterpreter to
,an unintelligent
literalism
in exegesis, wl1ich
•
•
•
•
8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 4, Chapter 2: The Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament
27/27
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
72
- The undamentals
•
should take no account of what is ·peculiar to d iff erent species
o·f writingJ treating .poetry and
pros ·e,
history and
at·tegory,
the symbolical and the literal, as if all were the same. T he
consideration of this most important subject of interpretation
with which a.pologetical int
1
erests are, indeed, closely connected,
has ·not been before us. But nothing
which
we could
be called
upon to,ad .van
1
ce re,garding the interpreta ·tion of
the:
0] ,d .Testa ...
ment ·cottld lriodif
y
the · re·sults here r
1
eached in relation
to
tl1e
subject of
which
we
1
h,av
1
,
S1pok
1
en.
Our
Lord s
testimony
to
th
1
e·
c·haracter of the 01
1
d Testament must rema ·in unimpaired .
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
I
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
...
•
•
I
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•