John Piper turns to 2 Peter 1:20,21 for the inspiration for his sermon
presented below on the topic of the Holy Spirit as author of Scripture. It
is an enlightening sermon.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
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THE HOLY SPIRIT: AUTHOR OF SCRIPTURE
by John Piper
(2 Peter 1:20-21)
First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a
matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the
impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
On June 27, 1819, Adoniram Judson baptized his first convert in Burma. His
wife, Ann Hasseltine, described how Moung Nau had responded to the
Scripture: "A few days ago I was reading with him Christ's Sermon on the
Mount. He was deeply impressed and unusually solemn. 'These words,' said
he,
'take hold on my liver; they make me tremble."' God spoke through Isaiah
the
prophet 2700 years ago and said, "This is the man to whom I will look, he
that is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word . Hear the
word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word" (Isaiah 66:2,5).
For two thousand years the Bible has been taking hold of people's livers
and
making them tremble -- first with fear because it reveals our sin, then
with
faith because it reveals God's grace. A single verse, Romans 13:13,
convicted and converted the immoral Augustine. For Martin Luther, a
miserable monk, the light broke in through Romans 1:17. He said,
Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of
God and the statement that "the just shall live by his faith." Then I
grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through
grace
and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to
be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise (Here I Stand,
p. 49).
For Jonathan Edwards it was 1 Timothy 1:17. He says,
The first instance, that I remember, of that sort of inward, sweet delight
in God and divine things, that I have lived much in since, was on reading
these words, 1 Tim. 1:17, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible,
the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen." As I read
the words, there came into my soul . a sense of the glory of the Divine
Being; a new sense quite different from anything I ever experienced
before.
Never any words of Scripture seemed to me as these words did. (Works, I p.
xii).
From century to century, from Egypt to Germany to New England the Bible
has
been drawing people to Christ and making them new.
Why? Why has the Bible had this abiding relevance and power? I believe the
answer is found in our text. 2 Peter 1:20-21, "First of all you must
understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own
interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but
men
moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." This passage teaches that when
you
read Scripture, what you are reading does not merely come from a man but
also from God. The Bible is the writing of many different men. But it is
also far more than that. Yes, men spoke. They spoke with their own
language
and style. But Peter mentions two other dimensions of their speaking.
First,
they spoke from God. What they have to say is not merely from their own
limited perspective. They are not the origin of the truth they speak; they
are the channel. The truth is God's truth. Their meaning is God's meaning.
Second, not only is what they spoke from God, but how they spoke it is
controlled by the Holy Spirit. "Men, moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke from
God." God did not simply reveal truth to the writers of Scripture and then
depart in hopes that they might communicate it accurately. Peter says that
in the very communicating of it they were carried by the Holy Spirit. The
making of the Bible was not left to merely human skills of communication;
the Holy Spirit himself carried the process to completion.
One recent book by three former teachers of mine (LaSor, Hubbard and Bush,
Old Testament Survey, p. 15) put it like this,
To assure verbal precision God, in communicating his revelation, must be
verbally precise, and inspiration must extend to the very words. This does
not mean that God dictated every word. Rather his Spirit so pervaded the
mind of the human writer that he chose out of his own vocabulary and
experience precisely those words, thoughts and expressions that conveyed
God's message with precision. In this sense the words of the human authors
of Scripture can be viewed as the word of God.
Someone might say that 2 Peter 1:20-21 only has to do with prophecy not
with
all Old Testament scripture. But look carefully how he argues. In verse 19
Peter says that a prophetic word has been made more sure to him by his
experience with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. Then in verses
20-21
he undergirds the authority of this prophetic word by saying it is part of
scripture. Verse 20: "No prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own
interpretation." Peter is not saying that only prophetic parts of
scripture
are inspired by God. He is saying, We know the prophetic word is inspired
precisely because it is a "prophecy of Scripture." Peter's assumption is
that whatever stands in scripture is from God, written by men who were
carried along by the Holy Spirit.
His teaching is the same as Paul's in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is
inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction
and
for training in righteousness." None of the Old Testament scriptures came
by
the impulse of man. All of it is truth from God as men moved by the Holy
Spirit spoke from God.
But what about the New Testament? Did the apostles and their close
associates (Mark, Luke, James, Jude and the writer to the Hebrews)
experience divine inspiration as they wrote? Were they "carried" by the
Holy
Spirit to speak from God? The Christian church has always answered yes.
Jesus said to his apostles in John 16:12-13, "I have yet many things to
say
to you but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he
will
guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but
whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you things that are
to come." Then the apostle Paul confirms this when he says of his own
apostolic teaching in 1 Corinthians 2:12-13, "We have received not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might
understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we impart this in words
not
taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit." In 2 Cor. 13:3 he said
that Christ speaks in him. And in Galatians 1:12 he said, "I did not
receive
[my gospel] from man nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation
of Jesus Christ." If we take Paul as our model for what it meant to be an
apostle of Christ, then it would be fair to say that the New Testament as
well as the Old is not merely from man but also from God. The writers of
the
Old Testament and New Testament spoke as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit.
The doctrine that emerges is this: The Holy Spirit is the divine author of
all Scripture. If this doctrine is true then the implications are so
profound and far-reaching that every part of our lives should be affected.
I
want to talk about those implications this morning. But for our own
strengthening and for those still wavering on the outskirts of commitment
let me first sketch out the basis of our persuasion.
Most people come to a reasonable trust in the Bible as God's word
something
like this. It happens in three stages. First, the testimony of our own
conscience, the reality of God behind nature, and the message of scripture
come together in our hearts to give us the inescapable conviction that we
are guilty before our Creator. This is a reasonable conviction because the
persuasion that there is a Creator above this world and the persuasion
that
we are guilty for not honoring and thanking him as we ought are not
irrational leaps in the dark; they are forced upon us by our experience
and
our honest thinking about the world.
The second step on the way to a reasonable persuasion that the Bible is
God's word is that Jesus Christ is shown to us. Someone reads or tells us
the story of this incomparable man who talked and acted like so much more
than a man. We see the authority he claimed to forgive sin and command
demons and control nature, we see the purity of his moral teaching, his
utter surrender to the will of God, his brilliant calm under
cross-examination, his righteous fury against hypocrites, his tenderness
toward little children, his patience with the humble seekers, his innocent
submission to torture, and we hear from his lips the sweetest, most-needed
words ever spoken: "I have come to give my life as a ransom for many." And
so by the self-authenticating force of his incomparable character and
power
Jesus wins our confidence and our trust and we take him as Savior from our
sin and Lord of our life. And this is not an irrational persuasion. It's
the
way all of you go about making reasonable decisions about whom you will
trust in life. Will you trust this baby sitter with your children, or this
lawyer to give you good counsel, or this friend to keep your secret? You
look, you listen, and eventually you are persuaded (or not) that here in
this person is solid ground for your confidence.
Once the character and power of Jesus have captured our trust, then he
becomes the guide and authority for all our future decisions and
persuasions. So the third step on the way to a reasonable persuasion that
the Bible is God's word is to let the teaching and the spirit of Jesus
control how we *****s the Bible. This happens in at least two ways. One is
that we accept what Jesus teaches about the Old and New Testaments. When
he
says that scripture can't be broken (John 10:35) and that not an iota or
dot
will pass from the law till all is accomplished (Mt. 5:18) we agree with
him
and base our confidence in the Old Testament on his reliability. And when
he
chose twelve apostles to found his church, gives them his authority to
teach
and promises to send his Spirit to guide them into truth, we agree with
him
and credit the writings of these men with the authority of Christ.
The other way the teaching and spirit of Jesus control our *****sment of
the
Bible is that we recognize in the teachings of the Bible the many-colored
rays of light refracted out from the prism of Christ whom we have come to
trust. And just as Christ enabled us to make sense out of our relation to
God and bring harmony to it, so also the many rays of his truth in every
part of the Bible enable us to make sense out of hundreds of our
experiences
in life and see the way to harmony. Our confidence in Scripture grows as
we
realize that Jesus affirmed it and as we realize that its teachings are as
incomparable as Jesus himself. Time after time they help us make sense out
of life's puzzles: failing marriages, rebellious children, drug addiction,
warring nations, the return of leaves in spring, the insatiable longings
of
our hearts, the fear of death, the coming into being of children, the
universality of praise and blame, the prevalence of pride and the
admiration
of self-denial. The Bible confirms its divine origin again and again as it
makes sense out of our experience in the real world and points the way to
harmony.
I hope therefore that one of the doctrines which we cherish at Bethlehem
enough to die for it (and live for it!) is that the Holy Spirit is the
divine author of all scripture. The Bible is God's word, not merely man's
word.
O, that we had all day to talk about the wonderful implications of this
doctrine! The Holy Spirit is the author of scripture. Therefore, it is
true
(Ps. 119:142) and altogether reliable (Heb. 6:18). It is powerful, working
its purpose in our hearts (1 Thess. 2:13) and not returning empty to the
One
who sent it (Is. 55:10-11). It is pure like silver refined in a furnace
seven times (Ps. 12:6). It is sanctifying (John 17:17). It gives life (Ps.
119:37, 50, 93, 107; John 6:63; Mt. 4:4). It makes wise (Ps. 19:7;
119:99-100). It gives joy (Ps. 19:8; 119:16, 92, 111, 143, 174) and
promises
great reward (Ps. 19:11). It gives strength to the weak (Ps. 119:28) and
comfort to the distraught (Ps. 119:76), and guidance to the perplexed (Ps.
119:105), and salvation to the lost (Ps. 119:155; 2 Tim. 3:15). The wisdom
of God in scripture is inexhaustible.
How precious to me are thy thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them they are more than the sand.
(Ps. 139:17-18).
The Holy Spirit is the divine author of scripture. Therefore, if you want
to
hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, read your Bible. If you want to be
filled
with the Spirit, be filled with the Bible. If you want the power of the
Holy
Spirit, be mighty in the Scriptures. If you want to share the holiness of
the Spirit, guard your way according to his word. If you long to be led by
the Spirit follow his Word in scripture. If you want the mind of the
Spirit,
saturate your mind with the Bible. If you want to love other people, give
them the word of God -- give them a dramatization of it in your life; give
them a verbalization of it in your witness; and give them a donation of it
with a gift copy or a written-out ****tion in a letter.
Since God has gripped us at Bethlehem with his global cause of frontier
missions let me stress this last implication. If the Spirit of God is the
divine author of the Bible, then the most loving thing you can do for any
group of people is to give them the Bible. If this is where God speaks and
if the word of God gives life, then life-giving missions is essentially
Bible translation (helping the Word of God be understood in another
culture). William Carey's partner in India in 1796, John Thomas, wrote,
I would give a million pounds sterling, if I had it, to see a Bengal
Bible.
O most merciful God, what an inestimable blessing it will be to these
millions! Methinks all heaven and hell will be moved at a Bible's entering
such a country as this. O Lord, send forth thy light and thy truth
(Periodical Accounts, 1:292-293).
This passion for God's word enabled William Carey during his forty-one
years
in India to put at least part of the Bible into thirty-six different
languages.
Adoniram Judson, another Baptist missionary, who poured out his life for
the
people of Burma and finished his translation of the Bible in 1834, wrote a
warning and a challenge in his Memoirs (2:236-7) which rings true 150
years
later:
This one perfect book is the sacred deposit in the hands of the church. It
has been deposited with injunction, "Freely ye have received. Freely
give."
Woe be to that man who withholds the treasure from his neighbor. Woe be to
him who attempts to obscure the light of the lamp of heaven . Praised be
God
for Bible and Missionary Societies, the peculiar institutions of modern
times. May their efforts be continued and enlarged a hundred-fold, until
their work is consummated until the Bible is translated and published in
every language under heaven and a copy of the sacred volume deposited in
every palace and house and hut inhabited by man.
Where are we today? The World Christian Encyclopedia (1982, p. 13)
describes
the situation like this:
The world of the 20th century has some 7010 distinct and different
languages
in it . Of these by the year 1900 the Christian Scriptures had become
available, in whole or in part, in 537 languages. Through prodigious
efforts, this total rose by 1980 to 1,811 languages with Scriptures. This
leaves 5,200 languages with no translations as yet -- a staggering
challenge
to global Christianity. Native speakers of these languages in 1980
numbered
some 185 million -- 4.2% of the world with no access to the Scriptures in
their mother tongue. Translation projects are therefore in progress in 986
languages . Despite this monumental translation work by the churches
worldwide, it is calculated that at least 3,297 further languages have a
definite need for immediate Bible translation . but up to the present no
one
has begun the necessary work in them.
So Judson's words are even more forceful today: Freely you have received,
freely give.
I close with a personal testimony and call for action. On my fifteenth
birthday my parents gave me this Bible with my name printed on the front.
My
mother wrote in the front leaf, "Happy Birthday, Son, January 11, 1961.
This
Book will keep you from sin. Or sin will keep you from this Book. Mother
and
Daddy." On the next leaf I wrote what I would have called then a life
verse,
Galatians 2:20. Five years later at the beginning of my sophomore year at
Wheaton I spent three weeks in the campus hospital with mono. I can
remember
as though it were yesterday Chaplin Evan Welsh with his gray-haired
flat-top
coming to visit me. Just as he was leaving he turned at the door and said,
"Do you have a favorite verse?" And without any hesitation I said,
"Galatians 2:20, 'I am crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live
but
Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by
faith
in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me."'
And I remember turning on the bedside radio to the campus station WETN to
listen to the spiritual emphasis week speaker. It was John Harold Okenga,
the pastor of Park Street Church in Boston. For five days I listened to
him
each morning. And I was so moved by his exposition of Scripture that I
said,
"Lord, I would love to understand and teach and preach the Bible like
that.
And I believe that week in 1966 was the decisive moment in my life where
God
gripped me with the glory of the ministry of his Word. I said to Noël at
the
end of that week, "I think I'm going to seminary." I dropped organic
chemistry and all my pre-med plans and from that day to this have loved
nothing more than to study, to teach and to preach the Bible. And today
the
doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture has such glorious implications
for
life and ministry that I cannot imagine anything more thrilling, more
fulfilling or more rewarding for me than to study and preach the Word of
God.
My call to you young people is that you bow before the mighty God of the
Bible and ask: Is there not a famine of the Word of God world-wide and
even
in many churches and seminaries? Is not the inspired Scripture the only
hope
of the lost and power for the church? Is there anything I could do with my
life more satisfying, more God-exalting than to understand and share his
word.
And to those of you who are not called to a vocational ministry of the
word,
I call you to be the incarnation of God's word where you live and work --
to
be so saturated with the Bible that the way you feel and think and do
everything is changed. Believe it, study it, memorize it, obey it, sing
it.
For as it is written
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the way of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
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