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| All Scripture is Gospel; But the Gospels are Distinguished Above Other Scriptures. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
5. All
Scripture is Gospel; But the Gospels are Distinguished Above Other
Scriptures.
Here, however, some one may object, appealing to the
notion just put forward of the unfolding of the first fruits last, and
may say that the Acts and the letters of the Apostles came after the
Gospels, and that this destroys our argument to the effect that the
Gospel is the first fruits of all Scripture. To this we must
reply that it is the conviction of men who are wise in Christ, who have
profited by those epistles which are current, and who see them to be
vouched for by the testimonies deposited in the law and the
prophets,4465
4465 This passage is
difficult and disputed. | that the apostolic
writings are to be pronounced wise and worthy of belief, and that they
have great authority, but that they are not on the same level with that
“Thus sayeth the Lord Almighty.”4466 Consider on this point the language of
St. Paul. When he declares that4467
“Every Scripture is inspired of God and profitable,” does
he include his own writings? Or does he not include his
dictum,4468 “I say, and
not the Lord,” and4469 “So I ordain
in all the churches,” and4470 “What
things I suffered at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra,” and similar
things which he writes in virtue of his own authority, and which do not
quite possess the character of words flowing from divine
inspiration. Must we also show that the old Scripture is not
Gospel, since it does not point out the Coming One, but only foretells
Him and heralds His coming at a future time; but that all the new
Scripture is the Gospel. It not only says as in the beginning of
the Gospel,4471 “Behold the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world;” it also
contains many praises of Him, and many of His teachings, on whose
account the Gospel is a Gospel. Again, if God set in the
Church4472 apostles and
prophets and evangelists (gospellers), pastors and teachers, we must
first enquire what was the office of the evangelist, and mark that it
is not only to narrate how the Saviour cured a man who was blind from
his birth,4473 or raised up a dead
man who was already stinking,4474 or to state what
extraordinary works he wrought; and the office of the evangelist being
thus defined, we shall not hesitate to find Gospel in such discourse
also as is not narrative but hortatory and intended to strengthen
belief in the mission of Jesus; and thus we shall arrive at the
position that whatever was written by the Apostles is Gospel. As
to this second definition, it might be objected that the Epistles are
not entitled “Gospel,” and that we are wrong in applying
the name of Gospel to the whole of the New Testament. But to this
we answer that it happens not unfrequently in Scripture when two or
more persons or things are named by the same name, the name attaches
itself most significantly to one of those things or persons. Thus
the Saviour says,4475 “Call no man
Master upon the earth;” while the Apostle says that
Masters4476 have been appointed
in the Church. These latter accordingly will not be Masters in
the strict sense of the dictum of the Gospel. In the same way the
Gospel in the Epistles will not extend to every word of them, when it
is compared with the narrative of Jesus’ actions and sufferings
and discourses. No: the Gospel is the first fruits of all
Scripture, and to these first fruits of the Scriptures we devote the
first fruits of all those actions of ours which we trust to see turn
out as we desire.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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