Page 38 - Bible Writers Theology Original

22 ♦ BibleWriters'Theology Chapter Three
follow^ (I Peter 1:10-11).Therefore, to understand the meaning of Christ and His mission of earth, the early Christians had to refer to the inspired scrip tures of the Old Testament, which naturally was their "Bible". They were persuaded that the salvation brought in by Christ could only be understood against the backdrop of the inspired words of the prophets. Paul used to "reason" with the Jews of the synagogues "out of the scriptures"; to show that the Jesus he preached was Christ (Acts 17:2-3). Philip preached Christ to the Ethiopian eunuch out of Isaiah 53 (Acts 8:26-40). And the Bereans were said, in Acts 17:11, to have received the word of Paul "with all readiness of mind, andsearched thescriptures daily, whether those things were so."
Moreover, Jesus, of whom the voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son; hear Him" (Mark 9:7), promised the Holy Spirit to His follow ers Oohn 14:16-17, 20, 26; 16:7-11,13-15; Acts 1:8). Consequently, as the dis ciples were bearing apostolic witness to Jesus, they were inspired by the sameSpiritastheprophetswhopointedtothecomingoftheMessiah. This
is exactly the belief of Peter: "The prophets... unto whom it was revealed,
that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gosp)el unto you
withtheHolyGhostsentdownfromheaven" (IPeter1:10-12).
For the early Christians, the Holy Spirit who inspired the prophetic writ ings was putting His seal on the word of Jesus (Hebrews 1:1-2), and His apostles, (I Thessalonians 2:13; Luke 10:16; Galatians 1:11-12; I John 4:6; Acts
2:42; 8:14; 11:1; 12:24; Ephesians 2:20; Hebrews 2:2-3; Ephesians 3:5). Peter classified Pauls epistles alongside the other scriptures (II Peter 3:15,16). Paul, on his part, could assert to have the mind ofChrist, to act as an oracle of God and to teach in words imparted by the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:16; I Thessalonians 2:13; I Corinthians ^;13; I Corinthians 14:37; Colossians
4:16).
Furthermore, not only did the Spirit of the Lord fully inspire the men He used to transmit His message, but the vocabulary used to transcribe it into the language of the day, was also divinely selected to make it plain and intel
ligible to the readers or hearers. Did not the Lord command: "Seek ye out of thebookoftheLORD,andread: nooneoftheseshallfail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them." (Isaiah 34:16). The Spirit of the Lord has surely gathered the myriad
ofexpressions, symbols, parables, metaphors, phrases, exclamations, and questionstoformthebookoftheLord. Itwaswrittenwithpurposeandit is mighty in its influence.
No less than a full inspiration that extends itself to the divine selection of