Robert Shindler on Divine Inspiration

                                                                Vol. VII, No. 7, September 1994

This quote is by Robert Shindler, a close friend of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the greatest English pastor of the last half of the 19th century. Spurgeon was involved in what he and Shindler called the "Down Grade" controversy, which sprang from creeping liberalism among protestant churches in England. Spurgeon published a monthly magazine, The Sword and the Trowel. Our selection first appeared in the Sword and the Trowel of April 1887.

"The first step astray is a want of adequate faith in the divine inspiration of the sacred Scriptures. All the while a man bows to the authority of God's Word, he will not entertain any sentiment contrary to its teaching. ‘To the law and to the testimony' is his appeal concerning every doctrine. He esteems the holy Book, concerning all things to be right, and therefore he hates every false way. But let a man question, or entertain low views of the inspiration and authority of the Bible, and he is without chart to guide him, and without anchor to hold him.

"In looking carefully over the history of the times, and the movement of the times, ... this fact is apparent: that where ministers and Christian churches have held fast to the truth that the Holy Scriptures have been given by God as an authoritative and infallible rule of faith and practice, they have never wandered very seriously out of the right way. But when on the other hand, reason has been exalted above revelation, all kinds of errors and mischiefs have been the result." [Bold print added for emphasis.]

[Editorial comment: This is not, of course, to be anti-intellectual. Rather, it is to stress that our intellect, like all earthly things, has been created by God in order to serve His ends and magnify His glory. If we use our minds to undercut the authority of God's Word, our intellect is being applied to undercut the perfection, power, omniscience, and glory of God Himself. Moreover, our intellects, being contaminated by our sin natures, will inevitably lead us astray when not scrupulously guided and controlled by the Holy Spirit and by God's personal revelation as set forth in the Bible. Finally, like the rest of His creation, our minds can never attain their potential service to Him if we persist in rejecting any part of God's self-revelation.

There will be no antiheritage item this issue in view of the rather long interview with Cecil Sherman, "Cecil Sherman Talks about the Bible and Liberalism," elsewhere in this Banner. As you read that interview, note Sherman's attitude that each person should make up his own mind about what the Bible says, about which parts pertain today. ]