Basic HTML Version
presented by one than by another. And as several writers present
a subject under varied aspects and relations, there may appear, to
the superficial, careless, or prejudiced reader, to be discrepancy or
contradiction, where the thoughtful, reverent student, with clearer
insight, discerns the underlying harmony.
As presented through different individuals, the truth is brought
out in its varied aspects. One writer is more strongly impressed with
one phase of the subject; he grasps those points that harmonize with
his experience or with his power of perception and appreciation;
another seizes upon a different phase; and each, under the guid-
ance of the Holy Spirit, presents what is most forcibly impressed
upon his own mind—a different aspect of the truth in each, but a
perfect harmony through all. And the truths thus revealed unite to
form a perfect whole, adapted to meet the wants of men in all the
circumstances and experiences of life.
God has been pleased to communicate His truth to the world
by human agencies, and He Himself, by His Holy Spirit, qualified
men and enabled them to do this work. He guided the mind in
the selection of what to speak and what to write. The treasure was
entrusted to earthen vessels, yet it is, nonetheless, from Heaven. The
testimony is conveyed through the imperfect expression of human
language, yet it is the testimony of God; and the obedient, believing
child of God beholds in it the glory of a divine power, full of grace
and truth.
In His Word, God has committed to men the knowledge
[9]
necessary for salvation. The Holy Scriptures are to be accepted as an
authoritative, infallible revelation of His will. They are the standard
of character, the revealer of doctrines, and the test of experience.
“Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness; that
the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every
good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16, 17
, RV.
Yet the fact that God has revealed His will to men through His
Word has not rendered needless the continued presence and guiding
of the Holy Spirit. On the contrary, the Spirit was promised by our
Saviour, to open the Word to His servants, to illuminate and apply
its teachings. And since it was the Spirit of God that inspired the