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Divine Message in Human Language, August 4
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past
unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us
by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the worlds.
Hebrews 1:1, 2
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The Bible is not given to us in grand superhuman language. Jesus, in
order to reach man where he is, took humanity. The Bible must be given
in the language of men. Everything that is human is imperfect. Different
meanings are expressed by the same word; there is not one word for each
distinct idea. The Bible was given for practical purposes.
The stamps of minds are different. All do not understand expressions
and statements alike. Some understand the statements of the Scriptures to
suit their own particular minds and cases. Prepossessions, prejudices, and
passions have a strong influence to darken the understanding and confuse the
mind even in reading the words of Holy Writ....
The Bible is written by inspired men, but it is not God’s mode of thought
and expression. It is that of humanity. God, as a writer, is not represented.
Men will often say such an expression is not like God. But God has not put
Himself in words, in logic, in rhetoric, on trial in the Bible. The writers of
the Bible were God’s penmen, not His pen. Look at the different writers.
It is not the words of the Bible that are inspired, but the men that were
inspired. Inspiration acts not on the man’s words or his expressions but on
the man himself, who, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, is imbued with
thoughts. But the words receive the impress of the individual mind. The
divine mind is diffused. The divine mind and will is combined with the human
mind and will; thus the utterances of the man are the Word of God.—
Selected
Messages 1:20, 21
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