" concept ") but the words in whieh thethe thought (or
The Holy Spirit in Prophets and Apostles 253
as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord/' Paul ad-
mits that he was not sure in this case that he had the
word of the Lord. If this be the true interpretation of
the passage (which is more than doubtful) we see how
careful Paul was when he was not sure to note the fact
and this gives us additional certainty in all other pas-
sages. It is sometimes said that Paul taught in his
early ministry that the Lord would return during his
lifetime, and that in this he was, of course, mistaken.
But Paul never taught anywhere that the Lord would
return in his lifetime. It is true he says in I Thess.
iv. 17, " Then we which are alive and remain^ shall be
caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the
air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." As he
was still living when he wrote the words, he naturally and properly did not include himself with those wto
had already fallen asleep in speaking of the Lord's re-
turn. But this is not to assert that he would remain
alive until the Lord came. Quite probably at this
period of his ministry he entertained the hope that he
might remain alive and consequently lived in an atti-
tude of expectancy, but the attitude of expectancy is
the true attitude in all ages for each believer. It is
quite probable that Paul -expected that he would be
alive to the corning of the Lord, but if he did so ex-
pect, he did not so teach. The Holy Spirit kept him
from this as from all other errors in his teachings.
6. The Holy Spirit in the Apostle taught not only
the thought (or "
concept ") but the words in whieh the
thought was to le expressed. We read in I Cor. ii. 13, A, R. V., " Which things also we speak not in words
254 The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth combining spiritual things with spiritual words" This passage clearly teaches that the words,
as well as the thought, were chosen and taught by the
Holy Spirit. This is also a necessary inference from
the fact that thought is conveyed from mind to mind
by words and it is the words which express the thought, and if the words were imperfect, the thought expressed
in these words would necessarily be imperfect and to
that extent be untrue. Nothing could be plainer than
Paul's statement " in words which the Spirit teacheth." The Holy Spirit has Himself anticipated all the modern
ingenious and wholly unbiblical and false theories re-
garding His own work in the Apostles. The more
carefully and minutely we study the wording of the
Statements of this wonderful Book, the more we will become convinced of the marvellous accuracy of the
words used to express the thought. Very often the
solution of an apparent difficulty is found in studying the exact words used. The accuracy, precision and
inerrancy of the exact words used is amazing. ^,To the
superficial student, the doctrine of verbal inspiration may appear questionable or even absurd ; any regenerated and Spirit-taught man, who ponders the words of
the Scripture day after day and year after year, will become convinced that the wisdom of God is in the very words, as well as in the thought which the words en-
deavour to convey ,| A change of a word, or letter, or
a tense, or case, or number, in many instances would
land us into contradiction or untruth, but taking the
words exactly as written, difficulties disappear and truth
The Holy Spirit in Prophets and Apostles 255
shines forth. The Divine origin of nature shines forth
more clearly in the use of a microscope as we see the
perfection of form and adaptation of means to end of
the minutest particles of matter. In a similar manner,
the Divine origin of the Bible shines forth more clearly
under the microscope as we notice the perfection with
which the turn of a word reveals the absolute thought of God.
But some one may ask, " If the Holy Spirit is the
author of the words of Scripture, how do we account
for variations in style and diction ? How do we ex-
plain for instance that Paul always used Pauline lan-
guage and John Johannean language, etc. ? " The an-
swer to this is very simple. If we could not account
at all for this fact, it would have but little weight
against the explicit statement of God's Word with any one who is humble enough and wise enough to recognize that there are a great many things which he can-
not account for at all which could be easily accounted
for if he knew more. But these variations are easily accounted for. The Holy Spirit is quite wise enough and has quite facility enough in the use of language in
revealing truth to and through any given individual, to
use words, phrases and forms of expression and idioms
in that person's vocabulary and forms of thought, and
to make use of that person's peculiar individuality. In-
deed, it is a mark of the Divine wisdom of this Book
that the same truth is expressed with absolute accuracy
in such widely variant forms of expression.
- The utterances of the Apostles and the prophets were the Word of God. When we read these
256 The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
we are listening not to the voice of man, but to the
voice of God.
We read in Mark vii. 13, u Making the word of God
of none effect, through your tradition^ which ye have
delivered j and many such like things do ye." Jesus had been setting the law given through Moses over
against the Pharisaic traditions, and in doing this, He
expressly says in this passage that the law given through Moses was a the word of God" In 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, we read, " The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and
His word was in my tongue." Here again we are told
that the utterance of God's prophet was the word of
God. In a similar way God says in I Thess. ii. 13, " For this cause also 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 truthy the word of GW, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." Here Paul declares
that the word which he spoke, taught by the Spirit of
God, was the very word of God*