Mathers Systematic Theology. Norman W. Mathers

to the Old Testament, the prophets, and messianic and kingdom promises (1:19). The prophetic word is like a lamp shining in a dark place (kosmos- the evil world system- by application – this is the dark place). He exhorts them to pay heed to it until the day star dawns (arises) in your hearts. Peter alludes to the revelation of Jesus Christ. The divine mind, God the Holy Spirit, using Peter’s personality has in mind the rapture (1 Pet. 1:7). Now, the apostle Peter gives us the first principle of interpretation. All prophecy – scripture did not originate with man (2 Pet. 1:20). Epiluseos is best understood as to originate. Meaning is established through usage in the New Testament. Epiluo – the verb from which epiluseos is a derivative means to release (Arndt& Gingrich 1973:295). This word is formed from two greek words the preposition epi and the verb luo. Peter gives the reason as indicated by the connective (gar) that scripture did not originate with man (1:21). Prophecy not ever not even once has come (aorist passive- action has been done to the subject) “by the will of man” [author’s translation] (Aland & Black 1968:807). God, the Holy Spirit, who restrains evil, restrained men from writing the scriptures. No prophecy has ever originated by will of man (thelmati anthropou) but by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the agent and divine author of scripture “but by the Holy Spirit” (1:21) [author’s translation] (Aland & Black 1968:807). The verb “pheromenoi” is a present middle participle, nominative, masculine, plural. The subject of this verb is men which is nominative, masculine, plural. “Men being moved by the Spirit of God have spoken from God” (2 Pet. 1:21)[author’s translation](ibid:1968:807). There is a dual authorship behind the writing of the scriptures. The Textus Receptus text has “holy men of God being moved by the Holy Spirit have spoken” (Textus Receptus 1825 edition 1973:509).

      2.2 Inspiration extends to all parts, words, and letters of Scripture.

      2.2.1 The Bible claims to be inspired in its entirety.

      The Bible testifies to the fact that all scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Scripture originated with God, the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:20-21). There is a dual authorship behind the scriptures. Inspiration extends to both the Old and the New Testaments (1 Tim. 5:18). The apostle Paul quotes from Deuteronomy (25:4) and also from the gospel of Luke (10:7) calling both scripture. The inspiration of the Word of God extends to the very choice of words of scripture (1 Cor. 2:13). Jesus taught that the inspiration extends to the letters of scripture (Matt. 5:18). The Bible is completely reliable (2 Pet. 1:16-18) and trustworthy (1:19). The Scriptures cannot be broken (John 10:35). “The Scripture is not able to have been loosed” [author’s translation] (John 10:35) (Aland & Black 1966:369). The verb luo to loose has the idea of to be abolished or to do away with (Arndt & Gingrich 1973:485.4). The Bible teaches the verbal plenary inspiration of the scriptures. Verbal inspiration means that the words are inspired. Plenary inspiration means that inspiration extends to all scripture. The scriptures come from God. The same perfections of the character of God are extended to the Word of God (Walvoord 1974:22). The Holy Spirit moved on holy men of God to write the scriptures (2 Pet. 1:20-21). It is begging the question to assume that this extends to the oral prophecies as well beyond what is written. This is an irrelevant question. Oral prophecies are recorded in the Word of God as well. An example of this is the prophecy of Caiaphas who spoke from God. This is recorded in the gospel of John 11:51. The Thessalonians received the apostolic preaching not as the words of men but the Word of God. “And for this very reason also we give thanks to God unceasingly, because having received word of preaching” (akoes-oral message) “from us of God you yourselves have received” (welcomed 1^st Aorist middle, 2^nd person plural – Han 1974:374) “not word of men” (plural) “but just as it is truly Word of God, which also supernaturally energizes in you those believing” (present active participle, dative,plural, masculine-ibid:374) [author’s translation] (1 Thess. 2:13) (Aland & Black 1968:706). Word is in the accusative case. Akoes is a genitive of apposition. Word names a broad or general category. “Akoes” as a genitive of apposition names a specific category within that broad or general category. “Of God” is a genitive but a genitive of simple apposition. It agrees in number and case to the word to which it is related in the sentence (Williams 1971:5:12). In this case, it is in simple apposition to “akoes.” “Of God” is related to “akoes.” The oral message their preaching was the Word of God. The Thessalonians received the apostolic preaching as the Word of God. It was not “word of men” but “just as it is truly Word of God.” “Kathos” is a subordinate conjunction that introduces a comparative clause. The preaching of the apostles is compared to the Word of God. This is true as indicated by “alethos” because their message was the Word of God. Another comparison could be observed in the context the comparison of the word of men (plural) to the Word of God. The apostle’s preaching was not a humanistic message but the very Word of God. The infallibility of the Word of God is related to inspiration. The Holy Spirit, the third member of the triune God, cannot lie.

      2.2.2 The Canonicity of the Scriptures

      The definition of canon means a standard or rule by which the book was measured. The early church recognized the authority of the New Testament. It did not give any authority to the Bible. The authority of the Bible is the Bible’s testimony to itself (Shedd 1979:1:142). The Scriptures claim to be God breathed. They were written by men chosen by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:20-21). There is a dual authorship behind the scriptures. Christ charged the scribes with the blood of all the prophets from Abel to Zacharias. This reference is found in Luke 11:51. This covers the entire Old Testament canon from Genesis to the last book of the Hebrew Old Testament which is 2 Chronicles (Ryrie 1974:45). The discovery of the Old Testament Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 gave us an account of the Old Testament books which is a 1000 years earlier than the previous copies which was A.D. 895. (ibid:45). The Old Testament books were written on scrolls from Moses in the fifteenth century B.C. to Malachi in the fifth century B.C. (ibid:45). The Dead Sea Scrolls gave us the Hebrew Old Testament at the time of the second or first century B.C. (ibid:45). The one exception was the book of Esther (ibid:45). The Masoretes had added the vowel pointings to the Hebrew Bible at A.D. 900. The Hebrew Old Testament had been translated into the Greek language in B.C. 250. This translation is known as the Greek Septuagint (ibid:46). The Council of Jamnia in A.D. 90 recognized the authority of the Old Testament scriptures. The Council of Carthage in A.D. 397 recognized the authority of the 27 books of the New Testament (Lightner 1972). The scriptures are authoritative because of the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. The scriptures are witnessed to by the Prophets. The Holy Spirit testifies that the scriptures are the Word of God (Eph. 6:17, 1 Tim. 4:1). The power of the Word of God testifies to both its authority and power to be obeyed (Chafer 1971:1:89-104). Hodge (1975:1:152-153) argued that only the Old Testament books which Christ and his apostles recognized as the Word of God are to be part of the canon. They testified to the authority of the Old Testament books to be the Word of God. In the case of the New Testament, only those books proven to be written by apostles or having apostolic approval are recognized as having divine authority. They are the Word of God. The apostles were appointed by Christ. It must be underscored that the early church did not lend any authority to the Old and New Testaments. They recognized the authority of each of the 66 books of the Bible. Hebrews, James, Jude were slower to be added to the canon than others (Warfield 1948:415). Other books which were not readily accepted until later were 2 Peter, 2^nd and 3^rd John (Ryrie 1974:44). This points to the fallibility of the early church to recognize parts of the Bible to be the Word of God (Warfield 1948:416). These books had to be written by a prophet, a recognized leader in Israel or an apostle or someone who wrote under the supervision of an apostle. An example of this would be the Gospel of Mark who wrote his gospel under the supervision of Peter. Luke wrote his gospel and the book of Acts under the supervision of Paul (Ryrie 1974:43). The reader should check 1 Peter 5:13 and 2 Timothy 4:11. Warfield (1948:411) based his argument for New Testament canonicity on whether the book of the Old or New Testament was written by a prophet or an apostle. The apostles recognized the authority of the Old Testament. Paul quotes both Deuteronomy and Luke in 1 Timothy 5:18 calling them both scripture. The authenticity of the writer was recognized not only by the church but by scholars throughout the ages. The testimony of the books of the Bible claiming to be the Word of God (ibid:412). The Bible book claims to be authoritative (Ryrie 1974:43). The contents of the New Testament books must be consistent