The Divine Origin and Authority of the Bible

It is a well-known fact that the Jews divided the books of the Old Testament into three divisions: the Law, the Prophets (the books we call prophetical and some of the historic books), and the Psalms (the remaining books of our Old Testament). Jesus here takes up each of these divisions and puts His seal on its absolute divine authority, asserting “all things” therein written “must be fulfilled.” So, it is plain that if we accept the authority of Jesus Christ, we must accept the divine origin and authority of the entire Old Testament.

But how about the New Testament books? Does Jesus testify to their divine origin and authority? He does. This might appear at first thought impossible; for not a single one of those books was written until after Jesus had spoken His last word on earth. But when we turn to John 14:26 we hear Him saying to the apostles, “The Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you.” Here, then, Jesus testifies to the inspiration and completeness of the apostolic teaching. He puts His seal on its divine origin and authority. Further than that, He certifies to the accuracy and completeness of their recollection of what He Himself had said. The question is often asked, “What guarantee have we that in the reports of the apostles we have an accurate record of the words of Jesus? Might they not forget what He said, and thus misreport it?” Undoubtedly, they might forget, but Jesus Himself tells us that they should not be left to their own fallible memories, but that the Holy Spirit should bring to their remembrance all that He had said to them.

So, in the gospels we have not the apostles’ recollection of what Jesus said, but the Holy Spirit’s recollection, and He never forgets. In John 16:12-13, Jesus goes still further in His endorsement of the apostolic teaching. He says, “I have yet many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.” Here Jesus says that the teaching of the apostles would not only be as true as His own, but that it should be even more complete than His own. There were many things to be said which He must keep back in His personal ministry, for they were not yet ready for them; but when the Holy Spirit came, He would lead them “into all truth.” So, if we accept the authority of Jesus Christ, we must accept the authority of the apostolic teaching, and that teaching as being a more perfect revelation of the truth than His own, as, indeed, being an absolutely perfect and complete revelation containing “all the truth.” One of the favourite cries today of those who would minimize the authority of apostolic teaching is “Back to Christ”; but when we get “back to Christ,” we hear Him crying: “Forward to the apostles! In their teaching you will find a more complete revelation of truth than in the words I uttered while on earth, for I kept back some things because men were not ready for them. But in the “Holy Spirit-taught” apostles you will find ‘all the truth.’”