1	THE REVELATION OF GOD’S PURPOSE
2	"If God has an eternal..." If God has an eternal purpose which involves man, how will He make known this plan to man? In the introduction to the course, we stated that God’s plan has been revealed in the Bible. In this lesson, we will take a closer look at the method, procedure, or process used by God in revealing His plan to man.
3	Part I The Old Testament I. God has revealed His plan to man in the Bible. All scripture is inspired by God. 2 Tim. 3:16-17 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, [17] so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
4	"1" 1. The phrase “inspired by God” (NASB) or “inspiration of God” (KJV) is from the single Greek word theopneustos. Theopneustos is a compound word from two Greek words, theos, God, and pneo, to breathe. Benjamin Warfield, who did some outstanding writing on the subject of inspiration, pointed out that this word, “very distinctly does not mean inspired of God.” He said the Greek term has “nothing to say of inspiring or inspiration; it speaks only of a spiring or spiration. What is says of Scripture is, not that it is breathed into by God or is the product of the Divine inbreathing into its human authors, but that it is breathed out by God, God-breathed, the product of the creative breath of God” (ISBE, II:839ff).
5	"2" 2. Paul’s claim is that the scripture is God-breathed. God is the source or originator of scripture. Theopneustos is used only here in the New Testament. Nowhere does the scripture speak of “inspired men”. A recognition of this fact will help us to speak more accurately regarding the process of revelation.
6	"B" B. What is included in the term scripture? 1. Scripture is from the Greek word graphē. It can be used in a general sense of ordinary writing, or in a technical sense of Scripture as the “oracles of God”. 2. The ASV translators understood graphē in the general sense. The KJV, NKJV, NASB, and the NIV understood it in the technical sense.
7	"3" 3. The word graphē is used 51 times in the New Testament. The words scripture or Scriptures “always refer to the Oracles of God”, the books authoritive” (Miller, General Biblical Introduction, p. 44). 4. In 1 Tim. 5:18, Old and New Testament Scripture is linked together. Paul quotes from Dt. 25:4 and Lk. 10:7 under the designation of scripture. This is important because it places one of the Gospels on a par with generally acknowledged God-breathed literature.
8	"II" II. God spoke in times past by prophets 2 Pet. 1:20-21 “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. [21] For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
9	"A" A. Prophecy of Scripture is not a matter of “one’s own interpretation” (NASB). This does not mean that an individual cannot study or interpret the Scripture on his own. It means that the prophecies of Scripture did not originate with the men themselves. Verse 21 explains the statement of verse 20: “for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will…” It was not the result of human investigation and research.
10	"B" B. The prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit. 1. Moved is from the Greek pherō which means to be conveyed, moved, driven, or borne. 2. Bauer says pherō means “move out of position, drive.” In the passive sense it means to “be moved, be driven, let oneself be driven.” This can be literally by wind and weather (Acts 27:15,17), or figuratively by the Spirit of God (2 Peter 1:21) (BAGD, p. 855).
11	"3" 3. “What is ‘borne’ is taken up by the ‘bearer’, and conveyed by the ‘bearer’s power, not its own, to the bearer’s goal, not its own. The men who spoke from God are here declared, therefore, to have been taken up by the Holy Spirit and brought by His power to the goal of His choosing. The things which they spoke under this operation of the Spirit were therefore His things, not theirs. And that is the reason which is assigned why ‘the prophetic word’ is so sure (Warfield, ISBE, II:841).
12	"4" 4. The Old Testament prophets were moved, guided, or borne by the Holy Spirit to say the very things God wanted said at the very time He wanted them said. Neither the Old Testament nor the New Testament is the product of mere human genius; it is the product of God through human penmen.
13	"III" III. The Prophets spoke words and claimed to be speaking as the Spirit guided them. A. The Spirit of Christ was in them revealing certain things which are now announced in the Gospel.
14	"1 Peter" 1 Peter. 1:10-12 “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, [11] trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. [12] It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.”
15	"B" B. The term prophet in the Old Testament is from the Hebrew nabhi. Originally the word seems to have meant something like bubble up or bubble forth, then to speak, or to announce. The best way to determine its definition is to examine its use of Scripture. That is, let the Bible define its own terms.
16	"1" 1. The Lord made Moses “as God to Pharoah”, and Aaron his brother was his prophet. (Ex. 7:1) 2. Exodus 4:16 shows that Aaron was the spokesman or mouth of Moses (who was as God to him). This means that the prophet is God’s spokesman, or God’s mouth.
17	"3" 3. When God gave His standard for a prophet He said, “I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him” (Dt. 18:18-19). Here we have God as the originator of words which He would speak through his prophets.
18	"C" C. The term prophet implies that he was a forthteller, but not necessarily a foreteller. A great amount of the work done by the Old Testament prophets was to their own generation. They were preachers who were directly guided by the Spirit of God.
19	"D" D. The Old Testament writers claimed to be speaking the word of God. The expression “thus saith the Lord”, or its equivalent, occurs more than 2,000 times in the Old Testament (cf. 2 Sam. 23:1-2; Mt. 22:43; Isa. 1:1-2; Jer. 10:1-2; Ezek. 1:3). E. Zechariah 7:12 mentions the complete process of revelation. The Lord sent His words by the Spirit through the prophets.
20	"Zech" Zech. 7:12 “They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.”
21	Part 2 The New Testament
22	"Christ came as the revelation..." Christ came as the revelation of God to man. His second coming is spoken of as a revelation (1 Pet. 1:13; 2 Thess. 1:7). The word revelation literally means an uncovering or unveiling. Christ came and declared, explained, or exegeted the Father (Jn. 1:18). He told the apostles that He had shown them the Father (Jn. 14:6-9).
23	"C" C. Christ came to make known the mystery of God which had been hidden in past generations (Col. 1:26-27). D. Jesus did reveal the Father, but there were many more things which needed to be revealed. The apostles were not able to understand all of them during the personal ministry of Christ. He promised to return to the Father and send the Holy Spirit (another Helper or Comforter) to guide them into all truth (Jn. 16:12-14; 14:16-17).
24	"II" II. Promises of Divine guidance made to the Apostles. A. Jesus promised the apostles freedom from anxiety. 1. “Do not become anxious about HOW or WHAT you will speak; for it shall be given you in that hour what you are to speak” (See Mt. 10:17-20). The Spirit of your Father speak in you (Read also Mk. 13:11; Lk. 12:12).
25	"2" 2. J.W. McGarvey made the following excellent comment on the promise of Jesus: “Under how is included the manner of speech; that is, the style, diction and arrangement; under what, the matter; that is, the thoughts and facts. They are told not to be anxious about any of these, even when their lives depended on what they would say. It is impossible that mortal man should be free from anxiety under such circumstances, without supernatural aid. It follows that the reason which Jesus proceeds to give for this prohibition is the only one that could be given by a rational being. This assurance would be sufficient to free them from anxiety, if they could only implicitly believe it; but what an implicit faith it required! How different from the feeble faith which now staggers at the thought that such a promise as this was ever realized! (J.W. McGarvey, Evidences of Christianity, pp. 172-173).
26	"B" B. Freedom from premedition. “So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves” (Lk. 21:12-15). Imagine telling a Christian who has been falsely accused of a crime not to prepare beforehand to make a defense!
27	"C" C. The direct guidance of the Holy Spirit ( the Comforter, Helper, or Paraclete). Note the specific work of the Spirit in relation to the apostles. Guide the apostles into all truth. (Jn. 14:26; 16:12-14; Lk. 12:12) He was to declare things to come. (Jn. 16:13)
28	"Through them He was to..." Through them He was to convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment (Jn. 16:7-11). He was to bear witness of Jesus. (Jn. 15:26)
29	"D" D. To be baptized with (or, in) the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5, 8). McGarvey comments: “Here the same gift of the Spirit previously promised is called a baptism in the Spirit—a figure which designates the subsidence of their own mental powers in those of the Holy Spirit when he should come upon them; and he assures them that they should then receive power, and be his witnesses in every land. The power necessary to be such witnesses, as we learn from the sequel, is both the power to work physical miracles and the power to speak with absolute knowledge concerning the exaltation of Jesus, and concerning his will in all things on which he had not spoken in person” (p. 175).
30	"E" E. Were these promises fulfilled? Listen again to McGarvey: “In setting forth these promises of Jesus, as all four of these writers do, they mean either to assert that Matthew and John, who were of the Twelve, experienced their fulfillment, or that they remained unfulfilled. No matter what we may think of the truthfulness of these writers, we cannot suppose they meant the latter, and thereby meant that their Master made promises which he failed to fulfill. Unquestioningly they intended to convey the thought that every one of these promises was fulfilled; and they wrote at a time when the fulfillment was a fact of their own past experience or observation” (p. 176).
31	"III" III. Apostles and the words of the New Testament A. God revealed His words unto the apostles by the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:9-13; See also Eph. 3:1-5). This passage teaches the verbal inspiration of the Bible. “Verbal inspiration is the work of God through the Holy Spirit so directing men in their choice of the subject matter and in their choice of words that their writings contain, written accurately, exactly what God desired, and all that He desired, them to contain.
32	"It is doctrine of the..." It is doctrine of the superintendence, or guidance; that is, God so guided in the writing of the books of the Bible that the words are His words in the style of the writers. Verbal Inspiration is the opposite of Inspired Concepts” (H.S. Miller, General Biblical Introduction, p. 24).
33	"B" B. Paul claimed that the gospel which he preached was received by revelation (Gal. 1:8,11-12). C. The apostles (and prophets) of the New Testament were directed by the Holy Spirit. The totality of what they wrote is inspired. This is plenary inspiration. It means that inspiration extends to every part of their writing; every part is equally inspired (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16-17). God utilized the following human elements within the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
34	"1" 1. The investigation of documents (Lk. 1:1-4). 2. The use of human experience (1 Cor. 15:32; Phil. 1:12-14). 3. The arrangement of materials (Jn. 20:30-31). 4. Choice of words peculiar to the writer’s vocabulary (1 Cor. 2:7-13). Consider the medical language of Luke. Hobart, in The Medical Language of St. Luke, says that Luke used 480 contemporary medical terms in Luke-Acts (Cf. Lk. 4:38, high fever, and 5:12, full of leprosy).
35	"In Christ and the Gospel" In Christ and the Gospel, God has made a complete and final revelation of His purpose and will to man (Heb. 1:1-2; Rom. 1:16-17). It is our duty to study in order that we might appreciate His eternal purpose. As we learn we must do His will (Mt. 7:21-23).