Commentary on "The Inspiration of the Prophets"

ROY TINKER

 

Day 1: Sabbath Afternoon, January 24, 2009

The lesson for today begins by positing several questions that will be addressed later in the week. Among them are:

• What does it mean when we say that the Bible is inspired?
• What is the difference between inspiration and revelation?
• What is the difference between verbal and thought inspiration?

The questions of the mechanics of how the Bible was inspired and whether it can be taken as the inerrant word of God are essential and foundational. The question of whether the Bible is acceptable and valid based on outside evidence, and therefore not just self-validating and dependent on circular reasoning, is a valid question, but this is not the study to explore it. Suffice it for now to say that there are many good resources available to address this question. For now, however, we'll look at what the Bible says about itself. Scripture speaks of itself regarding all the questions we will address. If we are to accept the Bible at all and in any way, we must accept it on its own terms, not on our terms. There is no middle ground regarding Biblical inspiration and interpretation: we can either accept or reject what the Bible says about itself, which is the same as accepting or rejecting the Bible itself.

Before we think about the inspiration of the Scriptures, it is important to know what is the purpose of Scripture. Hebrews 1:1-2 says:

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, who He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.

Hebrews was written primarily to Jewish Christian believers who were very familiar with the Old Testament. Let's pull some observations out of the passage:

• God spoke long ago to the fathers (referring to men who lived long ago—men of Israel)
• God spoke to these fathers in the prophets – meaning that the prophets themselves communicated God's word to the fathers
• God spoke in the prophets in many portions and in many ways
• God has spoken to us in these last days in His Son (identified as Jesus Christ later in the book of Hebrews)

The writer of Hebrews is clearly drawing a contrast between God's manner of speaking in the prophets and his manner of speaking in Jesus Christ:

Prophets	Jesus Christ
Long ago	In these last days
To the fathers	To us
In many portions and in many ways	Implied: In one portion and in one way

While God spoke in various ways through the prophets in the past, he spoke finally to us through His Son. How are we to respond to God's speaking, both in the prophets and in His Son? Well, incidentally, God the Father Himself has given us the answer, verbally, to remove all question and make His intent and our obligation eminently clear. On the mount of transfiguration, when Jesus appeared in glory along with Moses and Elijah, the figureheads of the Old Testament (symbolizing the Law and the Prophets, respectively, which collectively constitute the Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures), Peter wanted to make Jesus equal to Moses and Elijah:

Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (Matthew 17:4).

But God spoke clearly to them:

While he [Peter] was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” (Matthew 17:5)

God the Father identifies Jesus as His beloved Son, a title given to no one else. He also gives us a command: “listen to Him!” In the presence of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament, in whom God had revealed himself to his people, God the Father says of Jesus, “listen to Him!” The Father's command to listen to Jesus correlates to Jesus' title as the beloved son of God the Father. We are to listen to Jesus, over against anyone else, because Jesus has this title, which is elsewhere referred to as the “name that is above every name” (see Philippians 2:5-11). No one else has a name or title as high as Jesus, the beloved son of God the Father: therefore, we are not to listen to anyone else over against Jesus himself.

Now that we have clarified how God has spoken to us and our proper response, let's address God's purpose in speaking to us. Jesus speaks of himself and of God's eternal purpose in the gospel of John. This is the last public statement that Jesus makes in the gospel of John before he is arrested, tried, and crucified. This statement comes in the context of the unbelief of some and the belief of others in Jesus. John the writer repeatedly covers the topic of belief in Jesus in his gospel.

And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me” (John 12:44-50).

Let's pull some observations from this passage regarding God's purpose in speaking to us in His Son.

• God reveals himself to us in Jesus: “He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.” To believe in Jesus is to believe in God the Father. Jesus says elsewhere, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
• God shines his light on us in Jesus. John says in his epistle, “God is light. In him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Light is a symbol of truth. Elsewhere, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me” (John 14:6). Jesus himself is truth personified; thus, he himself is the light of God that “shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (see John 1:1-14).
• Jesus came to save the world. In chapter 3, Jesus says of himself: “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world...” (John 3:18-19).

God's primary purposes in speaking through Jesus his Son are to reveal himself, to reveal truth, and to save us as we believe in the truth (there are others as well, discussed elsewhere in scripture, but these are the most important).

What about God's purposes when He spoke “long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways?” First, it's important to note that the primary purpose of the Old Testament, both the Law and the prophets, is to point forward, or testify, to Jesus, who is God's full and final word to man. The theme of the Law and the Prophets pointing to Christ is repeated throughout the New Testament. Here are a few examples:

• “For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John” (Matthew 11:13 – see the context for more information). John was the greatest of the prophets up until his time, because he pointed to Jesus and directly testified to him: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) The prophets before John “made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow” (1 Peter 1:10-11), but John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb and recognized Mary, pregnant with Jesus, even before he was born. Moreover, he directly witnessed Jesus, and he testified to Him.
• “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor” (Galatians 3:24-25). The law here refers to the Old Covenant law given to Israel at Sinai, as opposed to the New Covenant, which is given to believers in Christ (See Hebrews 9).
• “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe...” (Romans 3:21)
• “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17).

Perhaps Isaiah 55 most beautifully sums up God's redemptive purposes in speaking to us. God speaks tenderly and compassionately to those he loves:

Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;

And you who have no money come, buy and eat.

Come, buy wine and milk

Without money and without cost.
 

 

Why do you spend money for what is not bread,

And your wages for what does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,

And delight yourself in abundance.
 

 

Incline your ear and come to Me.

Listen, that you may live.

And I will make an everlasting covenant with you,

According to the faithful mercies shown to David. (Isaiah 55:1-3)

 

Summary

• We must accept the Bible on its own terms.
• Jesus is God's full and final revelation of Himself to us.
• God the Father commands us to listen to Jesus over against everyone else.
• The Law and the Prophets point to Jesus; that is their primary purpose.
• God's purposes in speaking are to reveal himself, to reveal truth in Jesus, and to save those who believe in Jesus. These are identical to the purposes of the Bible.

 

 

Copyright 2009 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised January 23, 2009. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com. Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.

 

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