Inspiration and Interpretation Part 38

(p. 145.)

[_How the Inspired authors of the New Testament handle the writings of the Inspired authors of the Old._]

"Let me repeat:--The question is, how we should address ourselves to the study of the sacred page? For example, how am I to regard, and how to deal with, the great diversities there are between the several sacred writers? For there is the greatest diversity of mind appearing between them. St. Paul is no more the same with St. John, than any two good men now are perfectly alike in their const.i.tution of mind. Nay, the diversity seems especially great in the case of the sacred writers: as if to forbid us to adopt any theory which should ignore or neglect that diversity. It is striking. How shall I deal with these and like circ.u.mstances?... Can it be suggested to me what a good and wise man would do in this matter?

"In answer; it can apparently be suggested; and through that which is the best and safest of arguments, the argument from a.n.a.logy. For there has been a parallel case; the case of the _inspired writers of the New Testament dealing with the Scriptures of the Old_. To this parallel I now invite your attention. If we can observe how and upon what great principles, piety and wisdom, guided by Inspiration, dealt with the volume of the Holy Scriptures which were then its whole volume, namely the Old Testament; we have so far forth a parallel case to the case of Christians now. The first Christians looked back on the Old Testament as their sacred Scriptures. If we can discern how they regarded their sacred volume, and how they proceeded in interpreting it, we have a pattern to guide us in regard of the question, how we shall regard the sacred volume, and how proceed in the study and interpretation of it; they with the Bible that they had,--we with the Bible that we have, the completed volume.--In this point of view I cannot but regard it as most distinctly providential that there are introduced in the pages of the New Testament so many quotations from the pages of the Old. For they furnish us with an answer applicable in every age of the Church to the question, How shall piety and wisdom deal with a sacred volume; that volume being from the pen of many writers; but with this aggravated difficulty in the former case, that the writers there were widely separated from one another in point of time, were in contact therefore with most difficult forms of life and stages of society? How in approaching a volume so originated, did the New Testament writers regard and deal with its contents?"--_Sermons_, by the Rev. C. P. Eden, pp.

183-5.

"And it is impossible for us to imagine,--I say the thoughtful reader of the Holy Scriptures will find it impossible to imagine,--an Evangelist or Apostle, evoking out of its grave the Human Element of the ancient prophetic communications; disinterring it once more as if to gaze upon it. I am sure the impression left on the mind by the pa.s.sages in the New Testament where the Old is referred to, is in accordance with what I say. In other words,--(for it is but in other words the same,)--these divinely instructed students,--these inspired readers of the sacred page,--are aware of that which they read, being inspired; G.o.d its author, and not Man. And they shew this consciousness, putting off their shoes from their feet, as if on holy ground. A divinely instructed mind, interprets a divinely indited Scripture; the Spirit His own interpreter; and we are taught,--not by man but by the Author of Inspiration,--how Inspiration is to be dealt with.--Let him who would deal aright with the sacred pages of the New Covenant, observe in due seriousness what instruction he may gain from the consideration now suggested to his thoughts. Let him learn from the sacred page, how to deal with the sacred page. And if he has observed these things; if he has seen how the writers of the New Testament, discern in lines and words of the Old Testament, that which speaks to _them_,--(for it speaks to CHRIST, and in Him to His Church, i.e. to them:) ... how these utterers of inspired sounds are found, when their words receive at length an authentic interpretation, to have been speaking of the Christian Church, its terms of Salvation, its spiritual gifts;--a reader of the Holy Scriptures practised in these observations will have learned in some measure _how_ to approach the sacred volume; with a sense not only of its unfathomed depth, but also of its unity of scope; and a conscious interest rather in its universal truths,--its ever present truths,--than in those transitory imports which some of its pages can be shewn to have had, over and above their Evangelical meaning."--(_Ibid._, pp. 186-9.)

APPENDIX K.

(p. 199.)

[_Bishop Bull on Deut._ x.x.x.]

"Jam hic etiam quaestionem unam et alteram solvendam exhibebimus.--Quaeritur, _An nullum omnino extet in lege Mosis SPIRITUS SANCTI promissum?_ Resp. Legem, si per eam intelligas pactum in monte Sinai factum, et mediatore Mose populo Israelitico datum, (quae, ut modo diximus, est maxime propria ac genuina ipsius in Paulinis Epistolis notio atque acceptio,) nullum Spiritus Sancti promissum continere, manifestum est. Si, inquam, per eam intelligas pactum in Sinai factum; quia in hagiographis et Scriptis Propheticis, (quae nomine legis et Veteris Test. laxius sumpto non raro veniunt,) de SPIRITU SANCTO, tum ex gratia Divina promisso, tum precibus hominum impetrato, pa.s.sim legimus.

Imo et in Mosaicis scriptis, licet non in ipso Mosaico foedere, promissum (ni fallor) satis clarum de gratia SPIRITUS SANCTI Israelitis a DEO danda reperire est.

"Ejusmodi certe est illud Deut. x.x.x. 6: 'Circ.u.mcidet JEHOVA DEUS tuus animam tuam et animam seminis tui, ad diligendum Jehovam Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo,' &c. Etenim circ.u.mcisionem cordis, praesertim ejusmodi qua ad DEUM toto corde diligendum homines praeparentur, non sine magna SPIRITUS SANCTI vi atque efficacia fieri posse, apud omnes, qui a Pelagio diversum sentiunt, in confesso est. Sed hoc etiam ad Evangelicam Just.i.tiam pertinebat, quam sub cortice externorum rituum et ceremoniarum lat.i.tantem primum Moses ipse, dein prophetae alii, digito quasi commonstrarunt. Just.i.tia enim Fidei, quae in evangelio pefa????ta?

olim erat ?p? t?? ???? ?a? t?? p??f?t?? a?t???????,--ut diserte affirmat Apostolus. (Rom. iii. 21.) Dixi autem, exerte hanc SPIRITUS SANCTI promissionem in ipso Mosaico foedere non haberi. Addam aliquid amplius,--_partem eam fuisse Novi Testamenti_, ab ipso Mose promulgati.

Nam foedus c.u.m Judaeis sancitum, (Deut. xxix., _et seq._, in quo haec verba reperiuntur,) plane diversum fuisse a foedere in monto Sinai facto, adeoque renovationem continuisse pacti c.u.m Abrahamo initi, h. e.

foederis Evangelici tum temporis obscurius revelati,--multis argumentis demonstrari potest. (1) Diserte dicitur, (cap. xxix. 1.) verba, quae ibidem sequuntur, fuisse 'verba foederis quod DEUS praecepit Mosi, ut pangeret c.u.m Israelitis, _praeter foedus illud, quod pepigerat c.u.m illis in Ch.o.r.ebo_.' Qui renovationem tantum hic intelligunt foederis in monte Sinai facti, nugas agunt, quin et textus ipsius apertissimis verbis contradic.u.n.t. Neque enim verba foederis in Sinai facti repet.i.ta ac renovata ullo sensu dici possunt verba foederis, quod DEUS sancivit praeter illud, quod in monte Sinai pepigerat. (2) Diserte dicitur, hoc foedus idem prorsus fuisse c.u.m eo, quod DEUS juramento sanciverat c.u.m Israelitici populi majoribus, Abrahamo puta, Isaaco et Jacobo, (ejusdem cap. ver. 12, 13,)--quod foedus ipsum Evangelic.u.m fuit, obscurius revelatum, ipso apostolo Paulo interprete, Gal. iii. 16, 17. (3) Nonnulla hujus foederis verba citat Paulus, ut verba foederis Evangelici, quae fidei just.i.tiam manifesto prae se ferant. (Vide Rom. x. 6. _et seq._ Coll. Deut. x.x.x. 11, _et seq._) _Haud me fugit esse nonnullos, qui statuunt, haec Mosis verba ab Apostolo ad fidei just.i.tiam per allusionem tantum accommodari_: sed fidem non faciunt, c.u.m Paulus verba ista manifesto alleget ut ipsissima verba just.i.tiae fidei, h. e. foederis Evangelici, in quo just.i.tia ista revelatur. _Atque, ut verum fatear, semper existimavi, allusiones istas (ad quas confugiunt quidam tanquam ad sacrum suae ignorantiae asylum,) plerumque aliud nihil esse, quam sacrae Scripturae abusiones manifestas._ Sed non necesse erat, hoc saltem in loco, ut tali ???sf???t?

uterentur. Nam, (4) quaecunque in hoc foedere continentur, in Evangelium mire quadrant. (i.) Quod ad praecepta attinet, praescribuntur hic ea tantum, quae ad mores pertinent, et per se honesta sunt; illorum rituum, qui, si verba spectes, pueriles videri possent, quorumque totum foedus legale fere plenum est, nulla facta mentione. Addas, totam illam obedientiam, quae hic requiritur, ad sincerum sedulumque studium Deo in omnibus obediendi referri. (Vid. cap. x.x.x., 10, 16, 20.) (ii.) Ad promissa quod spectat, plenam hic omnium peccatorum, etiam gravissimorum, remissionem post peractam poenitentiam repromitt.i.t DEUS; (cap. x.x.x., 1-4.) quae gratia in foedere legali nuspiam concessa est, ut supra fusius ostendimus. Deinde, gratia SPIRITUS SANCTI, qua corda hominum circ.u.mcidantur, ut JEHOVAM diligant ex toto corde atque ex tota anima, hoc in loco, de quo agimus, (nempe praedicti capitis ver 6.) clare promitt.i.tur. Hui! quam procul ab usitata Mosaicorum scriptorum vena!... (5) Foedus illud, de quo praedixit Jeremias, (x.x.xi. 31. _et seq._) foedus esse Evangelic.u.m, negavit Christia.n.u.s nemo; c.u.m Divinus auctor Epistolae ad Hebraeos idipsum expresse doceat, (viii. 8, _et seq._) Jam quae de pacto isto praenuntiat propheta, omnia huic foederi Moabitico ad amussim respondent. Appellat suum foedus Jeremias 'foedus novum; ab eo, quod c.u.m majoribus populi Israelitici aegypto exeuntibus pepigerat DEUS, omnino diversum.' Idem etiam de Moabitico foedere dicit Moses. Causam reddit Jeremias cur novum DEUS pactum, Sinaitic.u.m aboliturus, molitus fuerit; nempe, quod Israelitae, praepotentiore gratia dest.i.tuti, Sinaitic.u.m illud irritum fecissent, praeceptis ejusdem non obtemperando, (ver. 32.) Eandem causam et Moses manifesto designat; 'Nondum,' inquit, 'dederat vobis JEHOVA mentem ad cognoscendum, et oculos ad videndum, et aures ad audiendum, usque ad diem hunc:' (Deut. xxix. 4.) h. d. Pactum prius vobisc.u.m pepigerat DEUS, in quo voluntatem suam praeceptis, tum promissis tum minis, tum denique miraculis omne genus satis superque communitis, vobis ipsis patefecerat.

Sed vidit foedus illud parum vobis profuisse; vidit vobis opus esse efficaciore adhuc gratia, qua nempe corda vestra circ.u.mcidantur, &c.

ideoque novum foedus meditatur, in quo gratiam illam efficacissimam vobis adstipulaturus sit. Eandem autem cordis circ.u.mcisionem procul dubio designant verba Jeremiae, v. 33, praed. cap.; 'Indam legem meam menti eorum, et cordi eorum inscribam eam.' Porro remissio ista omnium peccatorum, quae poenitentibus promitt.i.tur a Mose, (Deut. x.x.x. 1. _et seq._) a Jeremia etiam clare exprimitur praedicti cap. ver 34. 'Ero propitius iniquitatibus eorum, et peccatorum ipsorum et transgressionum ipsorum non recordabor amplius.' Denique Jeremias claritatem ostendit adeoque facilitatem praeceptorum, quae in novo suo foedere continebantur, ob quam Dei populo non opus esset laboriosa disquisitione, aut exactiori disciplina, ut praecepta istius foederis cognoscerent implerentque, (Ejusdem capitis, ver. 34.) Idem Mosen quoque voluisse manifestum erit, (si verba ejus Deut. x.x.x. 11, _et seq._ c.u.m iis, quae Apostolus ad eundem loc.u.m disserit Rom. x. 6, et seq.

accuratius perpenderis.) Mihi certe clara videntur omnia. (6) Ac postremo, ut res haec tota extra omnem controversiae aleam ponatur, _ipsi Hebraeorum magistri ea, quae Deut. xxix. et deinceps continentur, ad Messiae tempus omnino referenda censuerunt_. Testem advoco fide dignissimum P. f.a.gium, qui (ad Deut. x.x.x. 11,) haec annotat; 'Diligentur observandum est, ex consensu Hebraeorum caput hoc ad regnum Christi pertinere. Unde etiam Bachai dicit, hoc loco promissionem esse, quod sub Rege Messiah omnibus, qui de foedere sunt, circ.u.mcisio cordis contingat, citans Joelem, ii. 28.' f.a.gio consent.i.t Grotius in ejusdem capitis ver. 6.

"In his ideo prolixius immorati sumus, tum, ut vel hinc manifestum fieret, omnia, quae in Mosaicis scriptis continentur, ad foedus Mosaic.u.m, proprie sic dictum, nequaquam pertinere; adeoque quam vera ac prorsus necessaria sit distinctio Augustini, (de qua aliquoties jam dictum est,) legem veterem ?????? sumptam ad solum pactum in monte Sinai factum restringentis; tum imprimis ut exinde etiam clare eluceret optima ac sapientissima DEI ???????a, quam in dispensando gratiae suae foedere usurpare visum ipsi fuerit. Pepigerat DEUS c.u.m Abrahamo foedus illud gratiosum multis ante latam legem annis; cui postea placuit ipsi superaddere pactum aliud, multis, iisque operosis, ritibus ac ceremoniis conflatum, quibus rudem et carnalem Abrahami posteritatem, recens ex aegypto eductam, adeoque paganicis ritibus ac superst.i.tionibus nimis addictam, in officio contineret, i.e. ab ethnicorum idololatrico cultu arceret. Quod optime expressit Tertullia.n.u.s (adversus Marcion. 2.) his verbis: 'Sacrificiorum onera, et operationum et oblationum negotiosas scrupulositates nemo rcprehendat, quasi DEUS talia proprie sibi desideraverit, qui tam manifeste exclamat, "Quo mihi mult.i.tudinem sacrificiorum vestrorum?" et, "Quis exquisivit ista de manibus vestris?"

sed illam DEI industriam sentiat, qua populum p.r.o.num in idololatriam et transgressionem ejusmodi officiis religioni suae voluit adstringere, quibus superst.i.tio saeculi agebatur, ut ab ea avocaret illos, sibi jubens fieri quasi desideranti, ne simulacris faciendis delinqueret.' (Conf.

Gal. iii. 19.) Sed praevidens sapientissimus DEUS, fore, ut hoc ipsius propositum populus obtusi pectoris non intelligeret, post latam istam carnalem legem, praecepit Mosi, ut Israelitis novum foedus promulgaret, seu potius ut vetus illud, c.u.m Abrahamo ante multos annos initum, (quod spiritualem imprimis just.i.tiam exigebat, et gratia ac misericordia plenum erat,) renovaret: ut hinc tandem cognoscerent Judaei, pactum Abrahamitic.u.m etiam post latam legem ritualem adhuc viguisse, adeoque pro foedere habendum fuisse, cui unice salus ipsorum inniteretur.

(Conf. Gal. iii. 17.) ... Quis hic c.u.m Apostolo non exclamet, ?

???? p???t?? ?a? s?f?a? ?a? ???se?? Te??! (Rom. xi. 33.) Sed haec obiter, etsi haudquaquam frustra. Pergo."--From Bp. Bull's _Harmonia Apostolica_, cap. xi., sect. 3.--_Works_, vol. iii. pp. 197-201.

APPENDIX L.

(p. 218.)

[_Opinions of Commentators concerning Accommodation._]

Cornelius a Lapide, on this place, writes us follows:--"Licet Cajeta.n.u.s, Adamus, Pererius, Toletus, putent Mosem ad litteram loqui de Christo et Christi just.i.tia, referunt enim haec ejus verba ad poenitentiam, de qua eodem capite egerat Moses, ver. 1; (Poenitentia enim et dilectio Dei, ac consequenter peccatorum venia, ipsaque just.i.tia sine fide Christi haberi non potest;) tamen _longe planius est, ut non litteraliter, sed allegorice tantum alludat Apostolus ad Mosem. Moses enim ad litteram, sive in sensu litterati loquitur, non de Christo ejusque Evangelio, sed de lege data Judaeis, ut patet eum intuenti_. Ita Chrysostomus, Theodoretus, Theophylactus, Oec.u.menius, Abulensis, Soto.... Haec, inquam verba, Mosem ad suos Judaeos literaliter loqui plane certum, evidens, et manifestum est; ita tamen ut eadem haec ejus verba _allegorice Evangelio ejusque catechumenis et fidelibus optime conveniant_. aeque enim, immo magis, ad manum est omnibus jam Evangelium et fides Christi, quam olim fuerit lex Mosis: ita ut fidem hanc omnes facillime corde, id est mente, complecti: et ore proloqui, itaque justificari et salvari possint."

Our own learned Hammond writes as follows:--"The two phrases of 'going up into Heaven,' or 'descending into the deep,' are proverbial phrases to signify the doing or attempting to do some hard, impossible thing....

These phrases had been of old used by Moses in this sense, Deut. x.x.x.

12." [And then, the place follows.] "Which words being used by Moses to express the easiness and readiness of the way which the Jews had to know their duty and to perform it, are here by the Apostle _accommodated_ to express the easiness of the Gospel condition, above that of the Mosaical Law."--So far Dr. Hammond; whose notion that there was any accommodation here, I altogether deny. As for his belief that the paraphrase in the Targum of Jerusalem, ["Utinam esset n.o.bis aliquis Propheta, Jonae similis, qui in profundum maris magni descenderet,"] is the "ground of St. Paul's application" of the place to the Death and Resurrection of Christ, I can but feel surprised to find such a view advocated by so learned a man, and so excellent a Divine. But it is not Hammond's way to write thus. In his "Practical Catechism," he often expounds similar Scripture, (e.g. St. Luke i. 72-5,) after a very lofty fas.h.i.+on.

Again:--"Hunc loc.u.m accommodavit ad causam suam B. Paulus, Rom. x. Nam c.u.m proprie hic locus pertineat ad Decalogum, transfertur eleganter et erudite a Paulo ad fidem quae os requirit ut promulgetur, et cor ut corde credamus."--f.a.gius, ad Deut. x.x.x. 11, apud _Criticos Sacros_.

Occasionally, however, we meet with a directly different gloss:--

"Loc.u.m hunc divinus Paulus divine de Evangelica praedicatione ac sermone fidei est interpretatus, tametsi sensum magis, ut aequum est, quam textum ad verb.u.m expresserit; ut illius etiam alibi est mos. Satis enim fuit, atque adeo magis consentaneum viris Spiritu Dei plenis significare quid idem Spiritus in Scriptura intelligi vellet."--Clavius, ad Deut. x.x.x.

14, apud _Criticos Sacros_.

Concerning the general principle of Accommodation, (as explained above, p. 188,) the following pa.s.sages present themselves as valuable.

"Men have suggested that these things were accommodations of the Sacred Writers; and that the New Testament Writers, in the interpretations they gave of pa.s.sages in the Old, meant to say, that the texts _might_ be applied in such way as they applied them. But the suggestors of this view can hardly have considered carefully those conversations of our Blessed SAVIOUR with His disciples going to Emmaus; and afterward in the evening of the same day, in which He distinctly reprehends them for their dulness of heart in not seeing in the pages of the Old Testament the predictions of His Death and of His Resurrection; though, of His Resurrection the intimations are, in those ancient Scriptures, to our view so scanty and obscure. He unfolds to them as they walk the reference of the Old Testament Scriptures to Himself. Then in a later interview He resumes the instruction and 'opens their understanding,'

(it is said,) to discover the same; the relation of the Old Testament Scriptures (namely) to Himself.--He is a bold Commentator who having seen the Disciples thus instructed,--having witnessed this scene,--then, when he meets with these same Disciples' interpretations of the ancient Scriptures in relation to CHRIST, calls them 'Accommodations,' and gives them to a human original. But I ask leave to turn from this theory."--_Sermons_ by the Rev. C. P. Eden, pp. 189--190.

"If we believe that the Apostles were inspired, then all idea of accommodation must be renounced.... The theory of Accommodation, i.e. of erroneous interpretation of the Scripture, cannot be thought of without imputing error to the SPIRIT of Truth and Holiness; or to Him who sent the SPIRIT to recal to the minds of the Apostles all things which He had said to them, and to guide them into all Truth."--From a Sermon by Dr.

M'Caul, _The Hope of the Gospel the Hope of the Old Testament Saints_, (1854,)--p. 8.

=??? ??? ??G?? ??? T???.=.

_By the same Author_.

A PLAIN COMMENTARY ON THE FOUR HOLY GOSPELS. 7 vols. Fcap. 8vo.

NINETY SHORT SERMONS FOR FAMILY READING. 2 vols. Fcap. 8vo.

THE PORTRAIT OF A CHRISTIAN GENTLEMAN: A MEMOIR OF P. F. TYTLER, ESQ.

(2nd. Ed.) 1859. Crown 8vo.