J. B. Lightfoot
by Jose Davila on Saturday, April 21, 2012 at 11:50am ·
In every inspired writing there are two elements, the human and the Divine, or, as it is sometimes expressed, the letter and the spirit; and the different views held of the doctrine of inspiration depend upon the prominence given to one or the other of these elements, and the judgment formed of their mutual relations. Hence it will be seen that no conceivable shade of opinion is excluded, and every attempt at classifying these views must be more or less fallacious. But it will be sufficiently exact for our present purpose roughly to assume a threefold division in the attitude taken by writers on this question—in the first of these the Divine element being too exclusively considered, in the second this undue prominence being assigned to the human agency, and in the third, and only adequate view of inspiration, each of these elements being recognised in its proper sphere and the two harmoniously combined. The first of these views is irrational, the second is rationalistic, the third alone is in accordance alike with the highest reason and the fullest faith.
The irrational view—that which loses sight of the human agency—is prior in time (I am speaking now of modern criticism) to the rationalistic. It refuses to recognise any peculiarities in the individual writer who is under the guidance of the Spirit; it is insensible to any varieties in style, any difference in the method of treatment in different books of Holy Scripture. It reduces the whole Bible to one uniform colour. It is needless to say that such a view must fall at once before the assaults of criticism. If this were all, it might be borne patiently, but unhappily it has dragged down the tottering faith of not a few in its fall. It may also be said that it is derogatory to the majesty of God, that it has no support from analogy in His workings elsewhere, and no authority from Holy Scripture itself.
This theory of inspiration provokes a reaction. The rationalistic view is the natural consequence of its exaggerated form. In this the human element is put so prominently forward that the Divine is obscured. The Divine agency is perhaps not actually denied, but it is so virtually. By indefinitely extending the action of inspiration, it is in fact rendered meaningless. It is allowed that Moses and David, that St Paul and St John, were inspired, but then the same privilege is claimed for Homer and Aeschylus, for Pythagoras and Plato. Now I should be the last to deny that whatever is good, whatever is beautiful, is true in the heathen writers is derived from the primal source of all beauty, truth and goodness. I have been taught—and I fully believe it—that every good gift and every perfect gift cometh from above. But practically there is such a vast difference between the illumination of the apostle and prophet, and the illumination of the philosopher and poet, that to call both by the same term 'inspiration,' instead of tending to clear our conceptions, does in fact leave a very erroneous impression on our minds. Inspiration is thus emptied of its significance.
The true view is a mean between these extremes, or rather it is a combination of the two. It recognises the element of truth which each contains, adopting and uniting the elements. And it recognises them too in all their fulness. It does not assign less power to the Divine agency, nor does it ignore any of the characteristics of the human instrument. The truth is one, but it has many sides. One man is more fitted than another by natural endowments to appreciate it from some particular point of view. No man is capable of seeing it from every side, else he becomes more than a man. The Holy Spirit has chosen His instruments, as Christ chose His Apostles, for their natural gifts, whether intellectual or spiritual, and has inspired them for our instruction and guidance. But He has not destroyed their individuality. Each with his special message to deliver, they become fit instruments under Divine guidance to develop a particular aspect of the truth, and we may suppose, without presumption, that they had each their part assigned them, according to their natural capabilities and acquirements, in penning the volume of Holy Scripture, as we know that they had in rearing the fabric of the Church.
To sum up and to apply what has been said. Inspiration is not a mechanical power or a magical agency. It does not use men merely as its instruments. It is a moral and spiritual power. It does not transmute its agents: it moulds them. Hence, as a natural result arising from the varied circumstances and training of the inspired writers, it is not uniform. And, for a right appreciation of the lessons of Holy Scripture, three stages in this absence of uniformity must be recognised. First, there is a growth from age to age. From the Law we advance to the prophets; from the prophets to the Gospels. Thus inspiration is developed. Secondly, there is a diversity of inspiration in different persons in the same age. One sacred writer, St Paul, views the Gospel as the abrogation of the Law; another, St James, as its fulfilment. They are not contradictory, but complementary the one to the other, for the Gospel is at once the abrogation and the fulfilment of the Law. One Evangelist, St John, dwells chiefly on the Eternal Sonship of the Saviour; another, St Luke, on His human tenderness and His sympathy with our infirmities. They are both true, for He is very God and very Man. Thus they have different functions to perform; their office is to set forth the Gospel message from different points of view, which are determined by their respective positions and characters. Thirdly, there is a diversity in the same writer in different stages in his career. When we apply this principle to St Paul, we discover on examination that he exhibits a historical development in his teaching. By the word 'development' is meant, not that St Paul added to his doctrines, but that he altered the lights in which he placed them, making one point more prominent at one time than at another. The whole doctrine is there from the first implicitly involved in the fundamental conception of the person of Christ, but the particular aspects are brought into special prominence, as they are called out at different times by the exigencies of external circumstances.
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