A. W. PINK
THE DIVINE INSPIRATION OF
THE BIBLE
Chapter 1: There is a Presumption in Favor of the Bible
Chapter 2: The Perennial Freshness of the Bible Bears Witness to its Divine Inspirer
Chapter 3: The Unmistakable honesty of the Writers of the Bible Attests to its Heavenly Origin
Chapter 4: The Character of its Teachings Evidences the Divine Authorship of the Bible
Chapter 5: The Fulfilled Prophecies of the Bible Bespeak the Omniscience of its Author
Chapter 6: The Typical Significance of the Scriptures Declare Their Divine Authorship
Chapter 7: The Wonderful Unity of the Bible Attests Divine Authorship
Chapter 8: The marvelous Influence of the Bible declares its Super-Human
Character
Chapter 9: The Miraculous Power of the Bible Shows Forth that its Inspirer is the Almighty
Chapter 10: The Completeness of the Bible Demonstrates its Divine Perfection
Chapter 11: The Indestructibility of the Bible is a Proof that its Author is Divine
Chapter 12: Inward Confirmation of the Veracity of the Scriptures
Chapter 13: Verbal Inspiration
Chapter 14: Application of the Argument
INTRODUCTION
Christianity is the religion of
a Book. Christianity is based upon the impregnable rock of Holy Scripture. The
starting point of all doctrinal discussion must be the
Bible. Upon the foundation of the Divine inspiration of the Bible stands or
falls the entire edifice of Christian truth.—
“If the foundations be
destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3).
Surrender the dogma of verbal
inspiration and you are left like a rudderless ship on a
stormy sea-at the mercy of every wind that blows. Deny that the Bible is,
without any qualifications, the very Word of God, and you are left without any
ultimate standard of measurement and without any supreme authority. It is
useless to discuss any doctrine taught by the Bible until you are prepared to
acknowledge, unreservedly, that the Bible is the final court of appeal. Grant
that the Bible is a Divine revelation and communication of
God’s own mind and will to men, and you have a fixed starting point from which
advance can be made into the domain of truth. Grant that the Bible is (in its
original manuscripts) inerrant and infallible and you reach the place where
study of its contents is both practicable and profitable.
It is impossible to
over-estimate the importance of the doctrine of the Divine
inspiration of Scripture. This is the strategic center of Christian theology,
and must be defended at all costs. It is the point at which our satanic enemy
is constantly hurling his hellish battalions. Here it was he made his first
attack. In Eden he asked, “Yea, hath God said?” and today he is pursuing the
same tactics. Throughout the ages the Bible has been the central object of his
assaults. Every available weapon in the devil’s arsenal has been
employed in his determined and ceaseless efforts to destroy the temple of God’s
truth. In the first days of the Christian era the attack of the enemy was made
openly—the bonfire being the chief instrument of destruction—but, in these
“last days” the assault is made in a more subtle manner and comes from a more
unexpected quarter. The Divine origin of the Scriptures is now disputed in the
name of “Scholarship” and “Science,” and that, too, by those who profess to be friends and champions of the Bible. Much of the learning
and theological activity of the hour, are concentrated in the attempt to
discredit and destroy the authenticity and authority of God’s Word, the result
being that thousands of nominal
Christians are plunged into a sea of doubt.
Many of those who are paid to stand in our pulpits and defend the Truth of God
are now the very ones who are engaged in sowing the seeds of unbelief and
destroying the faith of those to whom they minister. But
these modern methods will prove no more successful in their efforts to destroy
the Bible than did those employed in the opening centuries of the Christian
era. As well might the birds attempt to demolish the granite rock of Gibraltar
by pecking at it with their beaks—
“For ever, O Lord, Thy Word is
settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89).
Now the Bible does not fear
investigation. Instead of fearing it, the Bible courts and challenges
consideration and examination. The more widely it is known, the more closely it
is read, the more carefully it is studied, the more unreservedly will it be
received as the Word of God. Christians are not a company of enthusiastic fanatics. They are not lovers of myths. They are not
anxious to believe a delusion. They do not desire their lives to be molded by
an empty superstition. They do not wish to mistake hallucination for
inspiration. If they are wrong, they wish to be set right. If they are
deceived, they want to be disillusioned. If they are mistaken, they desire to
be corrected.
The first question which the
thoughtful reader of the Bible has to answer is, What importance and value am I
to attach to the contents of the Scriptures? Were the writers of the Bible so
many fanatics moved by oracular frenzy? Were they merely poetically inspired
and intellectually elevated? or, were they, as they claimed to be, and as the
Scriptures affirm they were, moved by the Holy Spirit to act as the voice of God to a sinful world? Were the writers of the Bible inspired
by God in a manner no other men were in any other age of the world? Were they
invested and endowed with the power to disclose mysteries and point men upward
and onward to that which otherwise would have been an impenetrable future? One
can readily appreciate the fact that the answer to these questions is of
supreme importance. If the Bible is not inspired in the strictest sense of the
word then it is worthless, for it claims to be God’s Word,
and if its claims are spurious then its statements are unreliable and its
contents are untrustworthy. If, on the other hand, it can be shown to the
satisfaction of every impartial inquirer that the Bible is the Word of God,
inerrant and infallible, then we have a starting point from which we can
advance to the conquest of all truth.
A book that claims to be a Divine
revelation—a claim which, as we shall see, is substantiated by the most
convincing credentials—cannot be rejected or even neglected without grave peril
to the soul. True wisdom cannot refuse to examine it with care and
impartiality. If the claims of the Bible be well founded then the prayerful and
diligent study of the Scriptures becomes of paramount importance: they have a
claim upon our notice and time which nothing else has, and
beside them everything in this world loses its luster and sinks into utter
insignificance. If the Bible be the Word of God then it infinitely
transcends in value all the writings of men, and in exact ratio to its
immeasurable superiority to human productions such is our responsibility and
duty to give it the most reverent and serious consideration. As a Divine revelation
the Bible ought to be studied, yet, this is the only
subject on which human curiosity does not desire information. Into every other
sphere man pushes his investigations, but the Book of books is neglected, and
this, not only by the ignorant, and illiterate, but by the wise of this world
as well. The cultured dilettante will boast of his acquaintance with the sages
of Greece and Rome, yet, will know little or nothing of Moses and the prophets,
Christ and His Apostles. But the
general neglect of the Bible verifies the Scriptures and
affords additional proof of their authenticity. The contempt with which the
Bible is treated demonstrates that human nature is exactly what God’s Word
represents it to be—fallen and depraved—and is unmistakable evidence that the
carnal mind is enmity against God.
If the Bible is the Word of God;
if it stands on an infinitely exalted plane, all alone; if
it immeasurable transcends all the greatest productions of human genius; then,
we should naturally expect to find that it has unique credentials, that there
are internal marks which prove it to be the handiwork of God, that there is
conclusive evidence to show that its Author is superhuman, Divine. That these
expectations are realized we shall now endeavor to show; that there is no
reason whatever for any one to doubt the Divine inspiration
of the Scriptures is the purpose of this book to demonstrate. As we examine the
natural world we find innumerable proofs of the existence of a Personal
Creator, and the same God who has manifested Himself through His works has also
revealed His wisdom and will through His Word. The God of creation and the God
of written revelation are One, and there are irrefutable arguments to show that
the Almighty who made the heavens and the earth is also the
Author of the Bible.
We shall now submit to the
critical attention of the reader a few of the lines of demonstration which
argue for the Divine inspiration of the Bible.