Critics of the Word
Via “What Is Christianity”
Our third thesis reads: “The objections which are raised against the inspiration of Scripture are invalid.”
The objections to the verbal inspiration of Holy Scripture do not manifest great ingenuity or mental acumen, but the very opposite: they serve as a shining example of how God inflicts His just punishment upon all critics of His Word – they lose their common sense and become utterly unreasonable and illogical. We shall learn this fact as we review the alleged objections of the Bible critics… Now the argument of those who deny the divine inspiration of Holy Scripture runs as follows: If all Scripture were given by inspiration of God, then the entire Scripture would have to be written in the same style. Although critics make much of this argument, it is extremely stupid. We reply: The variety of style in the Bible does not militate against the doctrine of inspiration; on the contrary, it is rather demanded by it, since God did not speak merely through one man, but through many, each of whom had his own style and each of which styles God employed as He found it in the individual writer. God could not have used His own divine style to speak to us; for we should not have been able to comprehend it. This truth is made evident in 2 Cor. 12, 4, where the apostle tells us that he “was caught up into paradise, where he heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter,” that is to say, among men here upon earth. God be praised for His grace that impelled Him to speak to us in the human style of the various holy writers in order to lead us to heaven. The heavenly style, which we cannot understand here upon earth, we shall fully understand in the mansions of our Father in heaven. Quanstedt says: “As the holy writers spoke or wrote according to training or habit, either in simple language or in a more lofty style, so the Holy Spirit used them; for He wished to accommodate Himself to them and condescend to them.” (I. 109) The human speech of Holy Scriptures may be likened to the conduct of Christ during the thirty-three years that He sojourned here on earth. To be able to redeem us, that is, to fulfill in our place the divine Law and to suffer and die in our stead, Christ had to take upon Himself the form of a servant and to be made in the likeness of men. Phil. 2, 7. Had He appeared in His divine glory, every one in the land of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, would have fled from His presence. Similarly, since He has gained salvation for mankind, He again appears in human form in Holy Scripture in order that He may bestow on us the fruits of His redemption. This could not be done by means of heavenly language, which no man can understand, but only in that speech and mode of expression which men here upon earth employ when they converse with one another.
