The Fundamentals - Torrey - XXIV - Chapter 2 (Inspiration)

Required reading
The Fundamentals edited by R. A. Torrey (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 2 (Inspiration).

My summary
Now Munhall carries on the defence of Biblical inspiration.

Firstly he defines inspiration: 'We mean by Inspiration that the words composing the Bible are God-breathed'.

Secondly Munhall demonstrates that the church Fathers understood the Bible to be inspired.  Quotes are included from:
(i) Justin;
(ii) Irenaeus;
(iii) Clement of Alexandria;
(iv) Origen;
(v) Augustine.

Thirdly he shows that the Bible plainly teaches that its words are inspired through three kinds of evidence:
(i) direct testimony - it says that it is inspired;
(ii) inferential testimony - that which is assumed by the Bible and the natural implication belonging to many of its statements;
(iii) resultant testimony - the Bible imparts spiritual life, cleanses and keeps us from evil.

What grabbed me
Munhall got really wound up at the end - he wasn't writing so much as preaching: 'Be at least, as decent as Balaam! "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do ;" and whatsoever He saith unto you, say. Tell it to every reader and hearer of the Word, that what "Moses saith" and "David saith" and "Isaiah, Peter, Paul, John and the Scripture, saith", is what "God saith". Tell it to the dying saint, when his last pulse quivers at the wrist, and friends are weeping by his bed, and "Science" has exhausted in vain all her poor resources, that God, who breathed the Scriptures, "cannot lie", that Jesus is a Rock, and that the "firm Foundation" laid in the Word for his faith can never disappoint his trust. To every question of Exegesis or of Criticism, return the answer, "What saith the Scriptures"? "How readest thou?" "It is written!" And cease to deride the most sacred, age-established, and time-honored tradition the Apostolic Church has left us. With such an attitude as this, the days will revisit the Church, as once they were "in the beginning", and God, honored in His Word, will no longer restrain the Spirit, but open the windows of heaven, and pour upon her a blessing so great that there will not be room to receive it. God hasten the day! '

I love that first sentence - Balaam's statements about God's word puts many Christians to shame!

Next week's reading
Read Chapter 3 (The moral glory of Jesus Christ a proof of inspiration).

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.