Source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/kuyper/holy_spirit.html)

Note: This is part thirty-seven of a 123-part series taken from the book Work of the Holy Spirit by Abraham Kuyper. The following excerpt is from "Volume One: The Work of the Holy Spirit As A Whole," Tenth Chapter "The Church of Christ," titled "Spiritual Gifts."


XXXVII.
Spiritual Gifts.

"But desire earnestly the greater gifts. And a still more excellent way show I unto you." —1 Cor. xii. 31 (R.V.).

The charismata or spiritual gifts are the divinely ordained means and powers whereby the King enables His Church to perform its task on the earth.

The Church has a calling in the world. It is being violently attacked not only by the powers of this world, but much more by the invisible powers of Satan. No rest is allowed. Denying that Christ has conquered, Satan believes that the time left him may yet bring him victories. Hence his restless rage and fury, his incessant attacks upon the ordinances of the Church, his constant endeavor to divide and corrupt it, and his ever-repeated denial of the authority and kingship of Jesus in His Church. Altho he will never succeed entirely, he does succeed to some extent. The history of the Church in every country shows it; it proves that a satisfactory condition of the Church is highly exceptional and of short duration, and that for eight out of ten centuries its state is sad and deplorable, cause for shame and grief on the part of God’s people.

And yet in all this warfare it has a calling to fulfill, an appointed task to accomplish. It may sometimes consist in being sifted like wheat, as in Job’s case, to show that by virtue of Christ’s prayer faith cannot be destroyed in its bosom. But whatever the form of the task, the Church always needs spiritual power to perform it; a power not in itself, but which the King must supply.

Every means afforded by the King for the doing of His work is a charisma, a gift of grace. Hence the internal connection between work, office, and gift.

Wherefore St. Paul says: "To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal," (1 Cor. xii. 7) i.e., for the general good (ðñïò 185 ro avpotpov) (1 Cor. xii. 7). And, again, still more clearly: "Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel, to the edifying of the Church" (1 Cor. xiv. 12). Hence the petition, "Thy Kingdom come," which the Heidelberg Catechism interprets: "Rule us so by Thy Word and Spirit that we may submit ourselves more and more to Thee; preserve and increase Thy Church; destroy the works of the devil, and all violence which would exalt itself against Thee, and also all wicked counsels devised against Thy Holy Word, till the full perfection of the Kingdom takes place, wherein Thou shall be all in all."

It is wrong, therefore, to consider the life of individual believers too much by itself, separating it from the life of the Church. They exist not but in connection with the body, and thus they become partakers of the spiritual gifts. In this sense the Heidelberg Catechism confesses the communion of saints: "First, that all and every one who believes, being members of Christ, are in common partakers of Him and of all His riches and gifts; secondly, that every one must know it to be his duty readily and cheerfully to employ his gifts for the advantage and salvation of other members." The parable of the talents has the same aim; for the servant who with his talent failed to benefit others receives a terrible judgment. Even the hidden gift must be stirred up, as St. Paul says; not to boast of it or to feed our pride, but because it is the Lord’s and intended for the Church.

St. John writing, "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things" (1 John ii. 20), and "Ye need not that any man teach you" (1 John ii. 27), does not mean to say that every individual believer possesses the full anointing, and in virtue of this knoweth all things. For if this were so, who would not despair of salvation, nor dare say: "I have, the faith"? Moreover, how could the statement, "Ye need not that any man teach you," be reconciled with the testimony of the same apostle, that the Holy Spirit qualifies teachers appointed by Jesus Himself? Not the individual believer, but the whole Church as a body possesses the full anointing of the Holy One and knows all things. The Church as a body needs not that any come to teach it from without; for it, possesses all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge, being united with the Head, who is the reflection of the glory of God, in whom dwelleth all wisdom.

And this applies not to the Church of one period, but of all 186 ages. The Church of to-day is the same as in the, day of the apostles. The life lived then is the life that animates it now. The gains of two centuries ago belong to its treasury, as well as those received to-day. The past is its capital. The wonderful and glorious revelation received by the Church of the first century was given, through it, to the Church of all ages, and is still effectual. And all the spiritual strength and insight, the inward grace, the clearer consciousness, received during the course of the ages are not lost, but form an accumulated treasure, increasing still by the ever-renewed additions of spiritual gifts.

He who realizes and acknowledges this fact feels himself rich, and blessed indeed. For this apostolic view of the matter causes us to be thankful for our brother's gift, which otherwise we might envy; inasmuch as those gifts do not impoverish, but enrich us. In one city there may be twelve ministers of the Word, all gifted in various directions. According to the natural man, each will be jealous of his brother’s gifts and fear that his talents will excel his own. But not so among the Lord’s own servants. They feel that together they serve one Lord and one flock, and bless God for giving them together what the leading and feeding require. In an army the artillerist is not jealous of the cavalryman, for he knows that the latter is for his protection in the hour of danger.

Moreover, this apostolic standpoint excludes isolation; for it creates the longing for fellowship with distant brethren, even tho they walk in more or less deviating paths. It is impossible, Bible in hand, to limit Christ's Church to one’s own little community. It is everywhere, in all parts of the world; and whatever its external form, frequently changing, often impure, yet the gifts wherever received increase our riches.

This apostolic standpoint is also against the foolish notion that for eighteen centuries the Church has received no gifts whatever; and hence that, like the early Church, each of us must take his Bible to formulate his own confession. That standpoint makes one so intensely conscious of the communion of spiritual gifts that he can not but appreciate the Church's treasure accumulated during the centuries. In fact, Christ's Church has received greatest abundance of spiritual gifts; and to-day we have the disposition not only of the gifts of the churches in our own city, but of all those imparted to the churches elsewhere, and of the historic capital accumulated during eighteen centuries.
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Hence the treasure of every particular church is threefold: First, the charismata in its own circle; secondly, those given to other churches; and lastly, those received since the days of the apostles.

According to their nature these spiritual gifts may be divided into three classes: the official, the extraordinary, and the ordinary.

St. Paul says: "To one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit, and to another faith by the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healing in the one Spirit; and to another workings of miracles, and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; and to another divers kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as He will" (1 Cor. xviii. 8-11). In like manner the apostle speaks to the Church of Rome: "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; he that giveth let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness" (Rom. xii. 6-8).

From these passages it is evident that among these charismata St. Paul assigns the first place to the gifts pertaining to the ordinary service of the Church by its ministers, elders, and deacons. For by prophecy St. Paul designates animated preaching, wherein the preacher feels himself cheered and inspired by the Holy Spirit. By "teaching" he means ordinary catechizing. "Ministry" refers to the management of the temporalities of the Church. "Giving" has reference to the care for the poor and the miserable. "He that ruleth" refers to the officers in charge of the government of the Church. These are the ordinary offices embracing the care of the spiritual and temporal affairs of the Church.

Then follows a different series of charismata, viz., tongues, healing, discernment of spirits, etc. These non-official gifts divide themselves into two classes—those that strengthen the gifts of saving grace, and those distinct from the grace of salvation.

The former are, e.g., faith and love. Without faith no one can be saved. It is therefore the portion of all God’s children, and as such not a "charisma," but a "doron."But while all have faith, God is free to let it manifest itself more strongly in the one than in another. 188 Of one degree Scripture says: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shaft be saved" (Acts xvi. 31); and of another: "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove." (Matt. xvii. 20) The first works internally, the other externally. For this reason St. Paul speaks not only of ministries and gifts, but also of "workings," which consist in a more vigorous exercise of the grace which the believer as such possesses already. Where the faith of many languishes, the Lord frequently grants extraordinary workings of faith to some, thus to refresh and comfort others. The same is true of love, which also is the portion of all, but not in the same effectual degree. And where the love of many waxes cold, the Lord sometimes quickens it in the few to such extent that others see it and are provoked to holy jealousy.

Besides these ordinary charismata, which are only more energetic manifestations of what every believer possesses in the germ, the Lord has also given to His church extraordinary gifts, working partly upon the spiritual and partly upon the physical domain. Of the latter are the charismata of self-restraint and healing of the sick. Of the former Christ speaks in Matt. xix. 12, where he calls such persons "eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom." St. Paul says that for the sake of the weak brother he will abstain from meat; and again, that he keeps under the body, bringing it into subjection, etc. The charisma of healing refers to the glorious gift of healing the sick: not only those who suffer from nervous diseases and psychological ailments, who are more susceptible to spiritual influences, but also those whose diseases are wholly outside the spiritual realm.

Of an entirely different nature are the extraordinary, purely spiritual charismata, of which St. Paul mentions five: wisdom, knowledge, discernment of spirits, tongues and their interpretation. These may also be divided in two classes, inasmuch as the first three mentioned are also found, altho in a different form, outside of the Kingdom of God; and the last two, which present a wholly peculiar phenomenon, within the Kingdom. Wisdom, knowledge, and discernment of spirits exist even among the heathen, and are much admired by those who reject the Christ. But those natural gifts appear in the Church in a different way. The charisma of wisdom enables one without much investigation, with great tact and clearness, to understand conditions and to offer judicious advice. Knowledge is a charisma whereby the Holy 189 Spirit enables one to acquire an unusually deep insight into the mysteries of the Kingdom. Discernment of spirits is a charisma whereby one can discern between the genuine spirits raised up of God and those that only pretend to be such. The charisma of tongues we have discussed at length in the twenty-eighth article.

The charismata now existing in the Church are those pertaining to the ministry of the Word; the ordinary charismata of increased exercise of faith and love; those of wisdom, knowledge, and discernment of spirits; that of self-restraint; and lastly, that of healing the sick suffering from nervous and psychological diseases. The others for the present are inactive.

Source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/kuyper/holy_spirit.html)

Note: This is part thirty-six of a 123-part series taken from the book Work of the Holy Spirit
by Abraham Kuyper. The following excerpt is from "Volume One: The Work
of the Holy Spirit As A Whole," Tenth Chapter "The Church of Christ," titled "The Church of Christ."

XXXVI.
The Church of Christ.

"It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is ruth."—1 John v. 6.

We now proceed to discuss the work of the Holy Spirit wrought in the Church of Christ.

Altho the Son of God has had a Church in the earth from the beginning, yet the Scripture distinguishes between its manifestation before and after Christ. As the acorn, planted in the ground, exists, altho it passes through the two periods of germinating and rooting, and of growing upward and forming trunk and branches, even so the Church. At first hidden in the soil of Israel, wrapped in the swaddling-clothes of its national existence, it was only on the day of Pentecost that it was manifested in the world.

Not that the Church was founded only on Pentecost; this would be a denial of the Old Covenant revelation, a falsification of the idea of Church, and an annihilation of God’s election. We only say that on that day it became the Church for the world.

And in it the Holy Spirit has wrought a very comprehensive work.

Not its formation, however, for that is the work of the Triune God in the divine decree; or, speaking more definitely, of Jesus the King when He bought His people with His own blood.

Indeed, the Spirit of God regenerates the elect, whom He does not find in the world, but already in the Church. Every representation as tho the Holy Spirit gathers the elect out of a lost world, and so brings them into the Church, opposes the Scripture’s representation 180 of the Church as an organism. Christ's Church is a body, and as the members grow out of the body and are not added to it from without, so must the seed of the Church be looked for in the Church and not in the world. The Holy Spirit works that only which is already sanctified in Christ. Hence our form of Baptism reads: "Do you acknowledge that altho our children are conceived and born in sin, and therefore are subject to all miseries, yea to condemnation itself; yet that they are sanctified in Christ?"

However, since regeneration belongs to His work in the individual, and we are considering now His work in the Church as a whole, as a community, we direct our attention, in the first place, to His work of imparting spiritual gifts, particularly those called "charismata." Some New Testament passages speak of gifts like those offered to God (Matt. v. 23): "If thou bring thy gift to the altar"; or gifts communicated to others (2 Cor. viii. 9 and Phil. iv. 17) and the gift of salvation; but those we do not consider.

A gift offered to God is called in the Greek "doron"; imparted, to others, it is commonly called "charis"; while the gift of grace is usually called "dorea." Hence these gifts are distinct from those that now occupy our attention. And this distinction appears strongest when we compare the gift of the Holy Spirit with spiritual gifts. The Holy Spirit Himself is a gift of grace. But when He imparts spiritual gifts He adorns us with holy ornaments. The first refers to our salvation; the last to our talents.

Referring to our salvation, the Scripture calls it a free and gracious gift, generally "dorea" in the Greek, which, being derived from a root meaning to give, denotes that we were not entitled to it, having neither merited nor bought it, but that it is a given good. St. Paul exclaims: "Thanks unto God for His unspeakable gift," i.e., of salvation (2 Cor. ix. 15). And again: "Much more the grace of God and the gift of grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many." "Much more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Rom. v. 15, 17). And lastly: "But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." (Ephes. iv. 7).1717 It should be noticed that in Rom. v. 15, 16; vi. 23; xi. 29, the word "charisma" is found in the Greek text, referring to salvation. The reason is that these passages refer not to the graciousness of the gift, but to its scintillating brightness, in contrast with corruption and death. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life."
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The same expression is used invariably for the imparting of the Holy Spirit: "Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts ii. 38). And: "Because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts x. 45). Hence it should be carefully noticed that this has nothing to do with the subject under consideration. When St. Paul speaks of faith as the gift of God, he refers to our salvation and God’s saving work in the soul. But the gifts of which we now speak are wholly different. They are not unto salvation, but to the glory of God. They are lent to us as ornaments, that we should show their beauty as talents to gain other talents therewith. They are additional operations of grace; which can not take the place of the proper work of the grace of salvation, nor confirm it, having an entirely different purpose. The work of grace is for our own salvation, joy, and upbuilding; the charismata are given us for others. The first implies that we have received the Holy Spirit; the latter that He imparts gifts unto us.

Properly speaking, the charismata are given to the churches, not to individual persons. When a ruler selects and trains men for officers in the army, it is evident that he does this not for their personal enjoyment, honor, and aggrandizement, but for the efficiency and honor of the army. He can search for men with talents for the military service, and train and instruct them; but he can not create such talents. If this were possible, every king would endow his generals with the genius of a Von Moltke, and every admiral would be a De Ruyter.

But Jesus is not thus limited. He is independent; unto Him all power is given in heaven and on earth. He can create talents, and freely impart them to whomsoever He will. Hence, knowing what the Church requires for its protection and upbuilding, He can fully supply all its need. His purpose is not merely to please or enrich individuals, much less to give to some what He withholds from others; but with the persons thus endowed to adorn and favor the whole Church. We do not put a lamp upon the table to show it a special favor or because it is more excellent than chair or stove; but simply because thus it serves its purpose, and the whole room is lighted. To consider the charismata as intended merely to adorn and benefit the person endowed would be just as absurd as to say: 182 "I light the fire to warm not the room, but the stove"; and to be jealous of the charismata given to others in the Church would be just as foolish as for the table to be jealous of the stove because it gets all the fire.

The charismata must therefore be considered in an economical sense. The Church is a large household with many wants; an institution to be made efficient by the means of many things. They are to the Church what light and fuel are to the household; not existing for themselves, but for the family, and to be laid aside when the days are long and warm. This applies directly to the charismata, many of which, given to the apostolic Church, are not of service to the Church of the present day.

These charismata have undoubtedly more or less an official character. God has instituted offices in the Church; not in a mechanical way, or depending upon robe or gown; such unspiritual conception is foreign to the Scripture. But as there is division of labor in the army or in the human body, so there is in the Church.

Take, e.g., the body. It must be protected against injury; blood must be carried to muscles and nerves; venous blood must be converted into arterial; the lungs must inhale fresh air, etc. All these activities are laid upon the various members of the body. Eye and ear keep watch; the heart propels the blood; the lungs supply the oxygen, etc. And this can not be changed arbitrarily. The lungs can not watch; the eye can not supply oxygen; the skin can not propel the blood. Hence this division of labor is neither arbitrary, by mutual consent, nor, a matter of pleasure; but it is divinely ordained, and this ordinance must not be ignored. Hence the eye has the office and gift of watching over the body; the heart of circulating the blood; the lungs of supplying fresh air; etc.

And this applies to the Church in every respect. That great body requires the doing of many and various things for the common weal. There is need of guidance, of prophesying, of heroism; mercy must be exercised, the sick must be healed, etc. And this great mutual task the Lord has divided among many members. He has given to His body, the Church, eyes, ears, hands, and feet; and each of these organic members a peculiar task, calling, and office.

Hence to be called to an office simply means to be charged by Jesus, the King, with a definite task. You have done some work. Very well, but how? From impulse, or in obedience to the 183 charge of your Sender? This makes all the difference. The King may send us in the ordinary or in an extraordinary way. Zacharias was a priest of the course of Abijah; but his son John was the herald of Christ by extraordinary revelation. The Levite served by right of succession; the prophet because he was chosen of God. But this makes no difference; called in the one way or the other, the office remains the same, so long as we have the assurance that King Jesus has called and ordained us.

For this reason our fathers devoutly spoke of an office of all believers. In Christ's Church there are not merely a few officials and a mass of idle, unworthy subjects, but every believer has a calling, a task, a vital charge. And inasmuch as we are convinced that we perform the task because the King has laid it upon us not for ourselves, nor even from the motive of philanthropy, but to serve the Church, to this extent has our work an official character, altho the world denies us the honor.

Source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/kuyper/holy_spirit.html)

Note: This is part thirty-five of a 123-part series taken from the book Work of the Holy Spirit
by Abraham Kuyper. The following excerpt is from "Volume One: The Work
of the Holy Spirit As A Whole," Ninth Chapter "The Holy Scriptures in the New Testament," titled "The Character of the New Testament Scripture."

XXXV.
The Character of the New Testament Scripture.

"And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full."—1 John i. 4.

From the two preceding articles it is evident that the New Testament Scripture was not intended to bear the character of a notarial document· If this had been the Lord’s intention we should have received something entirely different. It would have required a twofold legal evidence:

In the first place, the proof that the events narrated in the New Testament actually occurred as related.

Secondly, that the revelations received by the apostles are correctly communicated.

Both certifications should be furnished by witnesses, e.g., to prove the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand would require:

1. A declaration of a number of persons, stating that they were eye-witnesses of the miracle.

2. An authentic declaration of the magistrates of the surrounding places certifying to their signatures.

3. A declaration of competent persons to prove that these witnesses were known as honest and trustworthy people, disinterested and competent to judge. Moreover, it would be necessary by proper testimony to prove that, among the five thousand, there were only seven loaves and two fishes.

4. That the increase of bread took place while Jesus broke it.

In the presence of a number of such documents, each duly authenticated and sealed, persons not too skeptical might find it possible to believe that the event had occurred as narrated in the Gospel.

To prove this one miracle would require a number of documents as voluminous as the whole of St. Matthew. If it were possible 175 thus to prove all the events recorded in the gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, then the credibility of these narratives would be properly established.

And even this would be far from satisfactory. For the difficulty would remain to prove that the epistles contain correct communications of the revelations received by the apostles. Such proof would be impossible. It would require eye- and ear-witnesses to these revelations; and a number of stenographers to report them. If this had been possible, then, we concede, there would have been, if not mathematical certainty for every expression, yet sufficient ground for accepting the general tenor of the epistles.

But when the apostles wrote them there was no audible voice. And when a voice was heard, it could not be understood, as in the base of Paul’s revelation on the way to Damascus. The same may be said of what occurred on Patmos: St. John actually heard a voice, but the hearing and the understanding of the words which it uttered required a peculiar, spiritual operation that was lacking in the people at the same time on the island.

The fact is, that the revelation of the Holy Spirit granted to the apostles was of such a nature that it could not be perceived by others. Hence the impossibility to prove its genuineness by notarial evidence. He that insists upon it ought to know that the Church can not furnish it, either for the historical narratives of the gospels, or for the spiritual contents of the epistles.

Hence it is evident that every effort to prove the truth of the contents of the New Testament by external evidence only condemns itself, and must result in the absolute rejection of the authority of the Holy Scripture. If a judge of the present day should condemn or acquit an accused person on the ground of the insignificant evidence which satisfies many honest people with reference to the Scripture, what a storm of indignation would it raise! The whole list of the so-called evidences as to the credibility of the New Testament writers, that they were competent to judge, willing to testify, disinterested, etc., proves nothing indeed.

Such externals may suffice when it concerns ordinary events, of which one might say: "I believe that it has really happened; I have no reason to doubt it; but if to-morrow it should prove not to be so, I will lose nothing by it." But how can such superficial methods be applied when it concerns the extraordinary events related by the Holy Scripture, upon the positive certainty of which my own and 176 my children’s highest interests depend; so that, if they proved to be untrue, e.g., the report of the resurrection of Christ, we should suffer the priceless and irreparable loss of an eternal salvation?

This can not be; it is absolutely unthinkable. And experience proves that the efforts of foolish people to prop their faith by such proofs has always ended with the loss of all faith. Nay, such kind of proof is by its very insignificance either unworthy to be mentioned with reference to such serious matters, or, if it be worth anything, it can not be furnished, nor ought it to be.

Notarial or mathematical proof neither can nor may be furnished, because the character and nature of the contents of Scripture are inconsistent with or repellent to such demonstration.

No man may demand legal proofs for the fact that the man whom he loves and honors as father is his father indeed; God has made such proof impossible by the very nature of the case. The delicacy which ennobles all family life cuts off the very appearance of such investigation; and, if it were possible, the son, furnished with such proof, would ipso facto have lost his father and mother; they would be his parents no more; and beneath the pile of evidence his child-life would be buried.

The same principle applies to the Holy Scripture. The nature and character of the revelation has been so ordered that it allows no notarial demonstration. The revelation to the apostles is unthinkable, if other persons could have heard, recorded, and published it as well as they. It was an operation of holy energies; not intended to compel doubters to a mere outward faith, but simply to accomplish that for which God had sent it, without caring much for the contradiction of the skeptics. It concerns a work of God which legal or mathematical investigation can not fathom; which manifests itself upon the spiritual domain where certainty obtains not by outward demonstration, but by personal faith of the one in the other.

As faith in father and mother springs not from mathematical demonstration, but from the contact of love, the fellowship of life, and personal trust in each other, even so here. A life of love unfolded itself. The mercies of God came bending down to us in tender compassion. And every man touched by this divine life was affected by its influence, taken up by it, lived in it, felt himself in sympathetic fellowship with it; and, in a way imperceptible and not understood, obtained a certainty, far above any other, that he was in the presence of facts, and that they were divinely revealed.
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And such is the origin of faith; not supported by scientific proof, for then it would be no faith; which has mastered the reader of the Holy Scripture in an entirely different way. The existence of the Scripture is owing to an act of the unfathomable mercies of God; and for this reason man’s acceptance must equally be an act of absolute self-denial and gratitude. It is only the broken and contrite heart, filled with thankfulness to God for His excellent mercy, that can cast itself into the Scripture as into its life-element, and feel that here is found real assurance, casting out all doubt.

Hence we must distinguish a threefold operation of the Holy Spirit with reference to faith in the New Testament Scripture:

First, a divine working giving a revelation to the apostles.

Second, a working called inspiration.

Third, a working, active to-day, creating faith in the Scripture in the heart at first unwilling to believe.

First comes revelation proper.

E g., when St. Paul wrote his treatise on the resurrection (1 Cor. xv.), he did not develop that truth for the first time. Probably he had apprehended it previously, and in his sermons and private correspondence expounded it. Hence the revelation antedates the epistle. It belonged to the things of which Jesus had said: “When the Holy Spirit has come He shall guide you into all truth, and He will show you things to come.” (John xvi. 13) And he received that revelation in such a way that he had the positive conviction that thus the Holy Spirit had revealed it to him, and that thus he would see it in the Judgment day.

But the epistle was not yet written. This required a second act of the Holy Spirit—that of inspiration.

Without this the knowledge that St. Paul had received a revelation would be useless. What warrant should we have that he had correctly understood and faithfully recorded it? He might have made a mistake in the communication, adding to it or taking from it, thus making it an unreliable report. Hence inspiration was indispensable; for by it the apostle was kept from error while he recorded the revelation previously received.

Lastly, the spiritual bond must be created connecting the soul and the consciousness with the spiritual realities of the infallible Word of God—positive conviction of spiritual things.

The Holy Spirit accomplishes this by the implanting of faith, with the various preparations that ordinarily precede the breaking 178 forth of the act of believing. The result is inward conviction. This is not wrought by referring us to Josephus or Tacitus, but in a spiritual way. The content of the Scripture is brought to the soul. The conflict between the Word and the soul is felt. The conviction thus wrought causes us to see not that the Scripture must make room for us, but we for the Scripture.

In the discussion of regeneration we shall refer to this point more largely. For the present we shall be satisfied if we have succeeded in showing that the existence of the New Testament Scripture and our faith in it are not the work of man, but a work in which the Holy Spirit alone must be honored.

Source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/kuyper/holy_spirit.html)

Note: This is part thirty-four of a 123-part series taken from the book Work of the Holy Spirit
by Abraham Kuyper. The following excerpt is from "Volume One: The Work
of the Holy Spirit As A Whole," Ninth Chapter "The Holy Scriptures in the New Testament," titled "The Need of the New Testament Scripture."

XXXIV.
The Need of the New Testament Scripture.

"For I testify onto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book."—Rev. xxii. 18.

If the Church after the Ascension of Christ had been destined to live only one lifetime, and had been confined only to the land of the Jews, the holy apostles could have accomplished their task by verbal teaching. But since it was to live at least for eighteen centuries, and to be extended over the whole world, the apostles were compelled to resort to the written communication of the revelation which they had received.

If they had not written, the churches of Africa and Gaul could never have received trustworthy information; and the tradition would have lost its reliable character ages ago. The written revelation has, therefore, been the indispensable means whereby the Church, during its long and ever-extending career, has been preserved from complete degeneration and falsification.

However, from their epistles it does not appear that the apostles clearly understood this. Surely, that the Church would sojourn in this world for eighteen centuries, they did not expect; and almost all their epistles bear a local character, as tho not intended for the Church in general, but only for particular churches. And yet, altho they understood it not, the Lord Jesus knew it; He had thus planned it; hence the epistle written exclusively for the church of Rome was intended and ordained by Him, and without Paul's knowledge, to edify the Church of all ages.

Hence two things had to be done for the Church of the future:

First, the image of Christ must be received from the lips of the apostles and be committed to writing.

Secondly, the things of which Jesus had said, "Ye can not bear 170 them now, but the Holy Spirit will declare them unto you," must be recorded. This is the postulate of the whole matter. The condition of the churches, their long duration in the future, and their world-wide extension demanded it.

And the facts show that the provision was made; but not immediately. So long as the Church was confined to a small circle, and the remembrance of Christ remained fresh and powerful, the apostles' spoken word was sufficient. The decree of the Synod of Jerusalem was probably the first written document that proceeded from them. But when the churches began to extend across the sea to Corinth and Rome, and northward to Ephesus and Galatia, then Paul began to substitute written for verbal instructions. Gradually this epistolary labor was extended and Paul's example followed. Perhaps each wrote in turn. And to these epistles were added the narratives of the life, death, and Resurrection of Christ and the Acts of the Apostles. At last the King commanded John from heaven to write in a book the extraordinary revelation given him on Patmos.

The result was a gradually increasing number of apostolic and non-apostolic writings, probably far exceeding that contained in the New Testament. At least Paul's epistles show that he wrote many more than we now possess. But even if he had not thus informed us, the fact would have been sufficiently well established; for it is improbable that such excellent writers as Paul and John should not have written more than a dozen letters during their long and eventful lives. Even in one year they must have written more than that. The controversy of former days over the assertion that no apostolic writings could have been lost was most foolish, and showed little reckoning with real life.

It is remarkable that from this great mass a small number of writings was gradually separated. A few were collected first, then more were added, and arranged in certain order. It took a long time before there was uniformity and agreement; indeed, some writings were not universally recognized until after three centuries. But in spite of time and controversy, the sifting took place, and the result was, that the Church distinguished in this great mass of literature two distinct parts: on the one hand, this arranged set of twenty-seven books; and on the other, the remaining writings of early origin.

And when the process of sifting and separating was ended, and 171 the Holy Spirit had borne witness, in the churches that this set of writings constituted a whole, and was, indeed, the Testament of the Lord Jesus to His Church, then the Church became conscious that it possessed a second collection of sacred books of equal authority with the first collection given to Israel; then it put the Old and the New Testament together, which unitedly form the Holy Scripture, our Bible, the Word of God.

To the question, How did the New Testament Scripture originate? we answer without hesitation, By the Holy Spirit.

How? Did He say to Paul or John: "Sit down and write"?

The gospels and the epistles do not so impress us. It does indeed apply to the Revelation of St. John, but not to the other New Testament Scriptures. They rather impress us as being written without the slightest idea of being intended for the Church of all ages. Their authors impress us as writing to certain churches of their own definite time, and that after a hundred years perhaps not a single fragment of their writings would be in existence. They were indeed conscious of the Holy Spirit's aid in writing the truth even as they enjoyed it in speaking; but that they were writing parts of the Holy Scripture, they surely knew not.

When St. Paul had finished his Epistle to the Romans, it never occurred to him that in future ages his letter would possess for millions of God's children an authority equal to, or even higher than that of the prophecies of Isaiah and the Psalms of David. Nor could the first readers of his epistle, in the church of Rome, have imagined that after eighteen centuries the names of their principal men would still be household words in all parts of the Christian world.

But if St. Paul knew it not, surely the Holy Spirit did. As by education the Lord frequently prepares a maiden for her still unknown, future husband, so did the Holy Spirit prepare Paul, John, and Peter for their work. He directed their lives, circumstances, and conditions; He caused such thoughts, meditations, and even words to arise in their hearts as the writing of the New Testament Scripture required. And while they were writing these portions of the Holy Scripture, that one day would be the treasure of the universal Church in all ages, a fact not understood by them, but by the Holy Spirit, He so directed their thoughts as to guard them against mistakes and lead them into all truth. He foreknew what the complete New Testament Scripture ought to be, and what parts would belong to it. As an architect, by his mechanics, prepares the 172 various parts of the building, afterward to fit them in their places, so did the Holy Spirit by different workers prepare the different parts of the New Testament, which afterward He united in a whole.

For the Lord, who by His Holy Spirit caused the preparation of these parts, is also King of the Church; He saw these parts scattered abroad; He led men to care for them, and believers to have faith in them. And, finally, by means of the men interested, He united these loose fragments, so that gradually, according to His royal decree, the New Testament originated.

Hence it was not necessary that the New Testament Scripture should contain only apostolic writings. Mark and Luke were no apostles; and the notion that these men must have written under the direction of Paul or. Peter has no proof nor force. What is the benefit of writing under the direction of an apostle? That which gives divine authority to the writings of Luke is not the influence of an apostle, but that he wrote under the absolute inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Believing in the authority of the New Testament, we must acknowledge the authority of the four evangelists to be perfectly equal. As to the contents, Matthew's gospel may surpass that of Luke, and John's may excel the gospel of Mark; but their authority is equally unquestionable. The Epistle to the Romans has higher value than that to Philemon; but their authority is the same. As to their persons, John stood above Mark, and Paul above Jude; but since we depend not upon the authority of their persons, but only upon that of the Holy Spirit, these personal differences are of no account.

Hence the question is not whether the New Testament writers were apostles, but whether they were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Assuredly, it has pleased the King to connect His testimony with the apostolate; for He said: "Ye are My witnesses." Hence we know that Luke and Mark obtained their information concerning Christ from the apostles; but our guaranty for the accuracy and reliability of their statements is not the apostolic origin of the same, but the authority of the Holy Spirit. Hence the apostles are the channels through which the knowledge of these things flows to us from Christ; but whether this knowledge reaches us through their writings or through those of others makes no difference. The vital question is, whether the bearers of the apostolic tradition were infallibly inspired or not.
173

Even tho a writing were indorsed by the twelve apostles, this would not be positive proof of its credibility or divine authority. For altho they had the promise that the Holy Spirit would lead them into all truth, this does not exclude the possibility of their falling into mistakes or even untruths. The promise did not imply absolute infallibility, at all times, but merely when they should act as the witnesses of Jesus. Hence the information that a document comes from the hand of an apostle is insufficient. It requires the additional information that it belongs to the things which the apostle wrote as a witness of Jesus.

If, therefore, the divine authority of any writing does not depend upon its apostolic character, but solely upon the authority of the Holy Spirit, it follows, as a matter of course, that the Holy Spirit is entirely free to have the apostolic testimony recorded by the apostles themselves, or by any one else; in both cases the authority of these writings is exactly the same. Personal preferences are out of the question. So far as form, content, wealth, and attractiveness are concerned, we may distinguish between John and Mark, Paul and Jude. But when it touches the question of the divine authority before which we must bow, then, we no longer take account of any such distinctions, and we ask only: Is this or that gospel inspired by the Holy Spirit?

Source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/kuyper/holy_spirit.html)

Note: This is part thirty-three of a 123-part series taken from the book Work of the Holy Spirit
by Abraham Kuyper. The following excerpt is from "Volume One: The Work
of the Holy Spirit As A Whole," Ninth Chapter "The Holy Scriptures in the New Testament," titled "The Holy Scriptures in the New Testament."



XXXIII.

The Holy Scriptures in the New Testament.

"But these are written that ye might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have
life through His name."—John xx. 31.

Having considered
the apostolate, we are now to discuss God's gift to the Church,
viz. the New Testament Scripture.

The apostolate placed a new power in the Church.

Surely all power is in heaven; but it has pleased God to let this
power descend in the Church by means of organs and instruments, chief
among which is the apostolate. This organ was a consolation of the
Comforter, given to the Church after Jesus had ascended to heaven and
was provisionally not to govern His Church in person. Hence it was a
forsaken Church, not yet planted, and soon to be scattered, to which the
Holy Spirit gave the apostolate as a bond of union, as an organ
for self-extension, and as an instrument for its own enrichment
with the full knowledge of the life of grace. Commissioned by the
King of the Church, the apostles were animated by the Holy Spirit. As the
King works for His Church only by the Spirit, so He caused the apostolate
to work also by the higher powers of the Holy Spirit.

It was not the Lord's intention that His Church should set out in
ignorance, to wander about in manifold error, finally the long journey
ended, to arrive at a clearer perception of the truth; but that from the
beginning it should stand in the light of complete knowledge. Hence He
gave it the apostolate, that from the cradle of

165 its existence it should receive the full sunshine of
grace, and that no subsequent development of Christendom should ever
surpass that of the apostles.

This is a very significant fact.

Indeed, in the course of history there is development, especially
in doctrine, which has not yet ceased, and which will continue until
the end. The King has cast His Church into the midst of warfare and
trouble; He has not permitted it to confess His name in an unmanly and
indolent manner, but from age to age He has compelled it to defend that
confession against error, misunderstanding, and hostility. It is only
in this warfare that it has learned gradually to exhibit every part
of its glorious inheritance of truth. God shall judge heretics; but,
besides much mischief, they have rendered the Church this excellent
service of compelling it to wake up from slumbering upon its gold-mines,
to explore them, and to open the hidden treasure.

Hence our conscious insight into the truth is deeper than that of
the preceding centuries. Semper excelsior! Ever higher! Research into
holy things may never cease; even now the Lord fulfils His promise to
every true theologian: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye
shall find." (Luke xi. 9) And in the development
of the consciousness of the Church concerning its treasure of truth,
the Holy Spirit has a special work, and he who denies it leaves the
Church to petrify and is blind for the word of the Lord.

Yet, however great its present and future progress, it will
never possess a grain of truth more than when the apostolate passed
away. Afterward the gold-mine might be explored; but when the apostles
died the mine itself existed already. Nothing can be added to it or ever
will; it is complete in itself. For this reason the great men of God,
who, in the course of ages, by brave words have animated the Church,
have always pointed back to the treasures of the apostles, and without
exception told the churches: "Your treasure lies not before, but behind
you, and dates from the days of the apostles."

And herein was mercy; any other disposition would have been
unmerciful. The people of one or eighteen centuries ago had the same
spiritual needs as we have; nothing less than we have could suffice
for them. Their wounds are ours; the balm of Gilead that has healed
us, healed them also. Consequently the remedy for souls must be ready
for immediate use. Delay would be cruel. Hence it is not strange and
problematic, but perfectly in accord

166 with God's mercy, that the whole treasure of saving
truth was given to the Church directly in the first century:

To accomplish this was the mission of the apostolate. It is like
medical science in this respect, which makes constant progress in the
knowledge of herbs. But however great that progress, no new herb
has been produced. Those that exist now, existed always, having the
same medicinal properties. The only difference is, that we know better
than our ancestors, how to apply them. In like manner, since the days of
the apostolate no new remedy for the healing of souls has been created
or invented. Indeed, some of the powers then at work are lost to us,
e.g., the, charisma of tongues. All the difference between the
Church then and now is, that we, according to this thinking and emotional
age, understand more profoundly the connection between the effect of
the remedy and the healing of our wounds.

This difference does not make us richer or poorer. For the
simple peasant it is sufficient to receive the prescribed medicine,
altho he is ignorant of its ingredients and effects upon blood and
nerves. In his world this need does not exist. But the man of thought,
understanding the connection between cause and effect, has no confidence
in any medicine unless he knows something of its working. To him, this
knowledge is a positive need, and to the psychological effect it is
even indispensable.

This is likewise true of the Church of Christ; it has not been always
the same, neither have its needs. The development of our knowledge has
been such that every age has received an insight adapted to satisfy
its necessity. More than this: the very fermentation of the age has
created the modified need, and has been used of God to give a clearer
understanding of the truth.

And yet, whatever the increased clearness and maturity of the knowledge
concerning the secret of the Lord during the ages, the secret itself
has remained the same. Nothing has been added to it. And the mystery of
the apostolate is, that by the labors of its members the whole secret of
the Lord was made known to the Church, under the infallible authorship
of the divine Inspirer, the Holy Spirit.

This is the great fact accomplished by the apostolate: the publication
of the whole secret of the Lord, by which the revelation in the Old
Testament, to John the Baptist and Christ was enlarged and worked out. For
to complete a thing means to add that which before

167 was lacking; after which nothing more can be added. And
this is the second point that we emphasize.

Through the apostles the Church received something not possessed
by Israel nor imparted by Christ. Christ Himself declares: "I have yet
many things to say unto you, but ye can not bear them now. Howbeit when
He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth;
for He shall not speak from Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear,
that shall He speak; and He will shew you things to come. He shall
glorify Me; for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you"
(John xvi. 12-14). St. Paul spoke not less clearly,
saying: "That the mystery which was kept secret since the world began
was now made manifest" (Rom. xvi. 25). And again:
"To make men see what is the dispensation of the mystery which from all
ages was hid in God." And again: "The mystery which has been hid from
ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints"
(Col. i. 16). Finally, St. John declares that
the apostles testify of what they had looked upon with their eyes, and
their hands had handled of the Word of Life, which was with the Father,
and which is manifested.

Altho we do not deny that the germ of saving knowledge was given in
Paradise, to the Patriarchs, and to Israel; yet the Scripture teaches
distinctly that truth was revealed to the Patriarchs, unknown in Paradise;
to Israel, of which the Patriarchs were ignorant; and by Jesus, truth
that was hidden from Israel. In like manner, truth not declared by Jesus
was revealed to the Church by the holy apostolate.

Against this last statement, however, objections are raised: Many
unbelieving writers of the present century have frequently asserted that
not Jesus, but Paul was the real founder of Christianity; while others
have frequently exhorted us to abandon the orthodox theology of St. Paul,
and to return to the simple teachings of Jesus; especially to His Sermon
on the Mount.

And really, the more the Scripture is studied the more obvious the
difference between the Sermon on the Mount and the Epistle to the Romans
will appear. Not as tho the two contradict each other, but in this way,
that the latter contains elements of truth, new rays of light, not found
in the former.

If one objects to the doctrines of the apostles, as does the Groninger
School, it is natural to place the gospels above the epistles. Hence
the fact that many half-believers still receive the Parables and

168 the Sermon on the Mount, but reject the doctrine of
justification, as taught by St. Paul; while those who wish to break with
Christianity entirely are inclined to consider the Pauline epistles
as its real exponent, but only to reject them with the entire Pauline
Christianity. For the Church of the living God, which receives both,
there is in this unholy tendency an exhortation to have an open eye for
the difference between the gospels and the epistles, and to acknowledge
that our opponents are right when they call it a marked difference.

Yet while our opponents use the difference to attack either the
authority of the apostolic doctrine or that of Christendom itself, the
Church confesses that there is nothing surprising in this difference. Both
are parts of the same doctrine of Jesus, with this distinction, that the
first part was revealed directly by Christ, while the other He gave to
His Church indirectly by the apostles.

Of course, so long as the apostles are considered as independent
persons, teaching a new doctrine on their own authority, our
solution does not solve the difficulty. But confessing that they are
holy apostles, i.e., organs of the Holy Spirit through whom Jesus
Himself taught His people from heaven, then every objection is met,
and there is not even a shadow of conflict.

For Jesus simply acted like an earthly father in the training of
his children, who teaches them according to their, comprehension; and
in case of his death, his task still unfinished, he will leave them
written instructions to be opened after his departure. But Jesus died
to rise again, and even after His Ascension He continued to be in living
contact with His Church through the apostolate. And what we would write
before our decease, Jesus caused to be written by His apostles under
the special direction of the Holy Spirit. Thus the Scriptures of the
New Testament originate—a New Testament in a sense now
easily understood.

The correctness of this representation is proven by Christ's own
words, which teach us—

First, that there were things declared to the apostles before His
departure, and there were things not declared, because they could not
bear them then.

Secondly, that Jesus would declare the latter, also, but by the
Holy Spirit.

Thirdly, that the Holy Spirit would reveal these things to them,
not apart from Jesus, but by taking them from Christ and declaring them
unto them.

Source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/kuyper/holy_spirit.html)

Note: This is part thirty-two of a 123-part series taken from the book Work of the Holy Spirit
by Abraham Kuyper. The following excerpt is from "Volume One: The Work
of the Holy Spirit As A Whole," Eighth Chapter "The Apostolate," titled "Apostles To-Day?."


XXXII.

Apostles To-Day?

"Am I not an apostle? am I not free?
have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are ye not my work in the
Lord?"—1 Cor. ix. 1.

We may not take leave
of the apostolate without a last look at the circle of its members. It
is a closed circle; and every effort to reopen it tends to efface
a characteristic of the New Covenant.

And yet the effort is being made again and again. We see it in
Rome’s apostolic succession; in the Ethical view gradually
effacing the boundary-line between the apostles and believers; and
in its boldest and most concrete form among the Irvingites.1616 The Irvingites are known
in England and America as the Catholic Apostolic Church.—Trans.......

The latter assert not only that the Lord gave to His Church a college
of apostles in the beginning, but that He has now called a body of
apostles in His Church to prepare His people for the coming.

However, this position can not be very successfully supported. Neither
in the discourses of Christ, nor in the epistles of the apostles, nor
in the Apocalypse, do we find the least intimation of such an event. The
end of all things is repeatedly spoken of. The New Testament frequently
rehearses the events and signs that must precede the Lord’s
return. They are recorded so minutely that some even say that the exact
date can be fixed. And yet, among all these prophecies, we fail to
discover the slightest sign of a subsequent apostolate. In the panorama
of the things to come there is literally no room for it.

Nor have the results realized the expectations of these brethren. Their
apostolate has been a great disappointment. It has accomplished almost
nothing. It has come and gone without leaving a trace. We do not deny
that some of these men have done wonderful

159 things; but be it noticed, in the first place, that the
signs wrought were far below those performed by the apostles; second, that
a man like Pastor Blumhardt has also wrought signs that greatly deserve to
be noticed; third, that the Roman Catholic Church sometimes offers signs
that are not pretended nor artificial; lastly, that the Lord has warned
us in His Word that signs shall be wrought by men who are not His own.

Moreover, let us not forget that the apostles of the Irvingites
completely lack the marks of the apostolate. These were: (1) a call
directly from the King of the Church; (2) a peculiar qualification of the
Holy Spirit making them infallible in the service of the Church. These
men lack both marks. They tell us, indeed, of a call come to them by
the mouth of prophets, but this is to little or no purpose, for a call
from a prophet is not equal to one directly from Christ, and again the
name "prophet" is exceedingly misleading. The word prophet has, on the
sacred page, a wide application, and occurs in both a limited
and a general sense. The former involves the revelation of
a knowledge that mere illumination does not afford; while the latter
applies to men speaking in holy ecstasy to the praise of God. We concede
that prophesying, in the general sense, is an enduring charisma of the
Church; for which reason the reformers of the sixteenth century attempted
to revive this office. If the Irvingites, therefore, believe that in their
circles the prophetic activity has been revived, we will not dispute it;
altho we can not say that the reports of their prophesying have had a
very overwhelming effect upon us. However, let it be granted that the
gift has been restored; but even then we ask: What do you gain by it? For
there is not the slightest proof that these prophets and prophetesses
are like their predecessors in the Old Testament. The unrevealed will
of God has not been revealed to them. If prophets at all, then their
prophesying is merely a speaking to the praise of God in a state of
spiritual ecstasy.

The uselessness of an appeal to such prophets for the support of
this new apostolate is evident. It is merely the effort to support an
unsupported apostolate by an equally unsupported prophetism.

Nor should it be forgotten that the labors of these so-called apostles
have not carried out their own program. They have failed to exert any
perceptible influence upon the course of events. The institutions founded
by them have in no respect surpassed the many

160 new church organizations witnessed by this century. They
have established no new principle; their labors have manifested no new
power. Whatever they have done lacks the stamp of a heavenly origin. And
nearly all these new apostles have died not like the genuine twelve
on cross or stake, but on their own beds surrounded by their friends
and admirers.

However, this is not all. The name of apostle may be taken (1) in
the sense of being called directly by Jesus as an ambassador for. God,
or (2) in a general sense, denoting every man sent by Jesus into
His vineyard; for the word apostle means one that is sent. In
Acts xiv. 14 Barnabas is called an apostle: not
because he belonged to their number, but merely to indicate that he was
sent out by the Lord as His missionary or ambassador. In Acts
xiii. 1, 2 Barnabas is mentioned before Saul, who is not
even called by his apostolic name; which shows that this call of the
Holy Spirit bore only a temporary character, having in view only this
special mission. For this reason the Lord Jesus Christ, as the One sent
of the Father, the great Missionary come to this world, the Ambassador
of God to His Church, is celled Apostle: "Wherefore, holy brethren,
. . . consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ
Jesus" (Heb. iii. 1).

If the Irvingites had called the great reformers of the sixteenth
century, or some prominent churchleaders of the present time, apostles,
there could have been no great objection. But they did not mean this. They
claim that these new apostles shall stand before the Church in a peculiar
character, on the same plane with the first apostles, altho differently
employed. And this can not be conceded. It would be in direct opposition
to the apostolic declaration of 1 Cor. iv. 9:
"For I think that God hath set us forth as the last apostles,
as it were appointed unto death" (see Dutch translation). How could
St. Paul speak of the last apostles, if it were God's plan
after eighteen centuries to send other twelve apostles into the world?

In view of this positive word of the Holy Spirit, we direct all those
that come into contact with the Irvingites to what the Scripture says
concerning them that call themselves apostles, and are not: "For such men
are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles
of Christ." And the Lord Jesus testifies to the church at Ephesus: "I know
that thou halt tried them which say they are apostles and are not."
161

The notion that false apostles must be a sort of incarnate devils
applies in no wise to the calm, respectable, and venerable men frequently
seen in the circles of the Irvingites. But apart from this absurd notion,
and considering that the false prophets of the Old Testament so closely
resembled the true ones that at times even the people of God were deceived
by them, we can understand that the false apostles of St. John's
day could be detected only by a higher spiritual discernment: and
that the pretended apostles of the nineteenth century, who by their
similarity to the genuine twelve blinded the eyes of the superficial,
could be detected only by the touchstone of the Word of God. And that
Word declares that the twelve of St. Paul's day were the last
apostles, which settles the matter of this pretended apostolate.

This error of the Irvingites is therefore not so very innocent. It
is easy to explain how it originated. The wretched and deplorable state
of the Church must necessarily give rise to a number of sects. And we
heartily acknowledge that the Irvingites have sent forth many warnings
and well-deserved rebukes to our superficial and divided Church. But
these good offices by no means justify the doing of things condemned by
the Word of God; and those who have allowed themselves to be carried
away by their teachings will sooner or later experience their fatal
result. It is already manifest that this movement, which started among
us under the pretext of uniting a divided church by gathering together
the Lord's people, has accomplished little more than to add another
to the already large number of sects, thus robbing the Church of Christ
of excellent powers that now are being wasted.

That the apostolate was a closed circle, and not a flexible
theory, is evident from Acts i. 25: "Lord, show
of these two, the one whom Thou hast chosen to take the place of
this ministry and apostleship"; and again from St. Paul's word
(Rom. i. 5): "By whom we have received grace
and apostleship"; and again (1 Cor. ix. 2):
"For the seal of my apostleship are ye in the Lord"; and lastly from
Gal. ii. 8: "For He that wrought for Peter unto
the apostleship of the circumcision, wrought for me also unto the
Gentiles." And again it is evident from the fact that the apostles
always appear as the twelve; and from their being specially appointed
and installed by Jesus breathing upon them the official gift of the Holy
Spirit; and from the exceptional power and gifts that were connected with
the apostolate. And it is especially from its conspicuous place in the

162 coming Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ that the apostolate
obtains its definite character. For the Holy Scripture teaches that
the apostles shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes
of Israel; and also that the New Jerusalem has "twelve foundations
upon which are written the twelve names of the apostles of the Lamb."
(Rev. xii. 14)

St. Paul offers us in his own person the most convincing proof that
the apostolate was a closed college. If it had not been, the question
whether he was an apostle or not could never have caused contention. Yet
a large part of the Church refused to acknowledge his apostleship. He did
not belong to the twelve; he had not walked with Jesus; how could he be
a witness? It was against this seriously meant contention that St. Paul
repeatedly lifted up his voice with such energy and animation. This
fact is the key to the right understanding of his epistles to the
Corinthians and Galatians. They glow with holy jealousy for the reality
of his apostleship; for he was deeply convinced that he was an apostle
as well as St. Peter and the others. Not by virtue of personal merit;
in himself he was not worthy to be called an apostle—1
Cor. xv. 9; but no sooner is his office assailed than he
arouses himself like a lion, for this touched the honor of his Master,
who had appeared unto him in the way to Damascus; not, as is commonly
said, to, convert him—for this is not Christ's
work, but that of the Holy Spirit—but to appoint him an
apostle in that Church which he was persecuting.

As to the question, how the addition of St. Paul to the twelve
is consistent with that number, we are convinced that not the name of
Matthias, but that of St. Paul is written upon the foundations of the New
Jerusalem with those of the others; and that not Matthias, but St. Paul
shall sit down to judge the twelve tribes of Israel. As one of the tribes
of Israel was replaced by two others, so in regard to the apostolate;
for Simeon, who fell out, Manasseh and Ephraim were substituted, and
Judas was replaced by Matthias and Paul.

We would not imply that the apostles erred in electing Matthias to
fill the vacancy occasioned by the suicide of Judas. On the contrary,
the completion of the apostolic number could not be delayed until the
conversion of St. Paul. The vacancy had to be filled immediately. But it
may be said that when the disciples chose Matthias they had too small a
conception of the goodness of their Lord. They supposed that for Judas
they would receive a Matthias, and

163 behold, Jesus gave them a Paul. As to the former, the
Scripture mentions his election and no more. Yet even tho to the Church
of later times the apostolate without St. Paul is unthinkable, and tho it
allowed his person the first place among the apostles and his writings
highest in authority among the Scriptures of the New Testament, to the
person of Matthias the election to the apostolate must have brought
highest honor. The apostolate stands so high that the fact of having
been identified with it, even temporarily, imparts greater luster to a
man’s name than a royal crown.

Source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/kuyper/holy_spirit.html)

Note: This is part thirty-one of a 123-part series taken from the book Work of the Holy Spirit
by Abraham Kuyper. The following excerpt is from "Volume One: The Work
of the Holy Spirit As A Whole," Eighth Chapter "The Apostolate," titled "Apostolic Inspiration."


XXXI.

Apostolic Inspiration.

“When He, the Spirit of truth, is come,
He will guide you into all truth.”—John
xvi. 13.

What is the nature
of the work of the Holy Spirit in the inspiration of the apostles?

Apart from the mechanical and natural theories, which are vulgar and
profane, there are two others, viz., the Ethical and the Reformed.

According to the former the inspiration of the apostles differs from
the animation of believers only in degree, not in nature. They represent
the matter as tho, by the incarnation of the Word, a new sphere of life
was created which they call the “God-human.” They
that have received the life of this higher sphere are called believers;
others are unbelievers. In these believers the consciousness is gradually
changed, illuminated, and sanctified. Hence they see things in a different
light, i.e., their eyes are opened so that they see much of the
spiritual world of which unbelievers see nothing. However, this result
is not the same in all believers. The more favored see more correctly and
distinctly than the less favored. And the most excellent among them, who
possess this God-human life most abundantly, and look into the things of
the, Kingdom with greatest clearness and distinctness, are the men called
apostles. Hence the inspiration of the apostles and the illumination of
believers are in principle the same; differing only in degree.

The Reformed churches can not agree with this view. In their judgment
the very effort to identify apostolic inspiration with the illumination of
believers actually annihilates the former. They hold that the inspiration
of the apostles was wholly unique in nature and kind,
totally different from what the Scripture calls illumination of
believers. The apostles possessed this latter gift even in its

153 highest degree, and we heartily indorse all that the
Ethical theologians say in this respect. But, when all is said, we hold
that apostolic inspiration is not even touched upon; that it lies entirely
outside of it; is not contained in, but added to, it; and that the Church
must reverence it as an extraordinary, peculiar, and unique work of the
Holy Spirit, which was wrought exclusively in the holy apostles.

Hence both sides concede that the apostles were born again, that
they had received illumination in a peculiarly high degree. But while
the Ethical theorists maintain that this extraordinary illumination
includes inspiration, the Reformed hold that illumination in its highest
degree has nothing to do with inspiration; which was unique in its kind,
without equal, given to the apostles alone; never to other believers.

The difference between the two views is obvious.

According to the Ethical view, the epistles are the writings of very
worthy, godly, and sanctified men; the thoughtful utterances of highly
enlightened believers. And yet, having said all this, they are after all
only fallible; they may contain ninety per cent of truth, well expressed
and accurately defined; but the possibility remains that the other ten
per cent is full of errors and mistakes Even tho there be one or more
infallible epistles, how can this avail us, since we do not know it? In
fact, we are without the least certainty in this matter. And for this
reason it is actually conceded that the apostles have made mistakes.

Hence the Reformed churches can not accept this fascinating
representation; and the conscience of believers will always protest
against it. What we expect in “holy apostles” is this
very certainty, reliability, and decision. Reading their
testimony, we want to rely upon it. This certainty alone has been the
strength of the Church of all ages. This conviction alone has given
her rest. And the Church of to-day feels as instinctively that the
reliability of the Word that is its Bible is being taken away
from it, inasmuch as, these beautifully sounding theories strip the
apostolic word of its infallibility.

The holy apostles appear in their writings as
such, and not otherwise. St. John, the most beloved among the twelve,
testifies that the Lord Jesus gave them as apostles a rare promise,
saying, “He shall guide you into all truth,” (John
xvi. 13) a word that may not be applied to

154 others, but to the apostles exclusively. And again:
"The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost shall teach you all things, and
bring to your remembrance all things whatsoever I have said unto you."
(John xiv. 26); which promise was not intended
for all, but for the apostles only, securing them a gift evidently
distinct from illumination. In fact, this promise was nothing else than
the permanent endowment with the gift received only temporarily when
they went forth on their first mission among Israel: "For it is, not
you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you."
(Matt. x. 20)

Moreover, the Lord Jesus did not only promise them that the word
proceeding from their mouth would be a word of the Holy Spirit, but He
granted them such personal power and authority that it would be as tho
God Himself spoke through them. St. Paul testified of this to the church
of Thessalonica, saying: "For this cause we thank God that ye received it
not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the Word of God"
(1 Thess. ii. 13). And St. John tells us that, both
before and after the resurrection, the Lord Jesus gave His disciples power
to bind on earth in the sense that their word would have binding power
forever: "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and
whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained"; — (John
xx. 23) words that are horrible and untenable except they
be understood as implying perfect agreement between the minds of the
apostles and the mind of God. Of similar import are the words of Christ
to Peter: "Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
(Matt. xvi. 19)

However, reading and pondering these remarkable
and weighty words, let us be careful not to fall into the error of Rome,
or, in order to escape from this, make the Word of God of no effect,
which is equally dangerous. For the Church of Rome applies these words of
Jesus to His disciples, to the whole Church as an institution; especially
the word to Peter, making it to refer to all Peter’s successors
(so-called) in the government of the Church of Rome. If that be indeed
the meaning of these words, then Rome is perfectly right; then to the
Pope is granted power to bind, and the priests of Rome have still the
power to absolve. Our reason for denying that Rome has this power is not
the impossibility for men to have it, for it was given to the apostles;
Peter was infallible in his sentences ex cathedra, and the apostles
could grant absolution. But we

155 deny that Rome has the slightest authority to confer
this power of Peter upon the Pope, or that of the apostles upon its
priests. Neither Matt. xvi. 19 nor John
xx. 23 contains the least proof for such claim. And inasmuch
as no man has the liberty to exercise such extraordinary power except he
can show the credential’s of his mission, so we deny Rome’s
qualifications to exercise it in pope or priest, not because this is
impossible, but because Rome can not substantiate its claims.

At the same time, let us, in our contending with Rome, not fall into
the opposite error of disparaging the plain and clear meaning of the
word. This is done by the Ethical theologians; for the words of Jesus
referred to do not receive justice so long as we refuse to recognize
in the apostles a working of the Holy Spirit entirely peculiar, unique,
and extraordinary. We dilute the words of Jesus and violate their sense
so long as we do not acknowledge that, if the apostles were still living,
they would have the power to forgive us our sins; and that Peter, if he
were still living, would have power and authority to issue ordinances
binding upon the whole Church. The words are so plain, the qualification
was granted in such definite terms, that it can not be denied that John
could forgive sin, and that Peter had power to issue an infallible
decree. The Lord said to the disciples: "Whosesoever sins ye remit,
they are remitted unto them" (John xx. 23); and to
Peter: "Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven."
(Matt. xvi. 19)

Thus acknowledging the unique position and extraordinary power of the
apostles, we immediately add that this power was granted to them alone
and to no one else.

We emphasize this in opposition to Rome and to those who apply the
words of Christ, spoken to His disciples exclusively, to ministers
and other believers. Neither Rome nor the Ethical theologians have
the right to do this, unless they can show that the Lord Jesus gave
them such right. But they never can. Care should be taken, therefore,
in the choice of texts, proofs, and quotations from the Scripture, to
ascertain not only what is said, but also to whom it was
said. And thus the error concerning the apostolate will soon be overcome;
and believers will see that the apostles occupy a different position from
other Christians, that the promises quoted bear an exceptional character,
and that the Word of the Lord is misunderstood when inspiration is
confounded with illumination.
156

In opposition to these wrong views, which are Romish, clerical in
principle, and at the same time strongly tending to rationalism, we
maintain the ancient confession of the Christian Church, which declares
that, as the ambassadors extraordinary of Christ, the apostles occupied
a unique position in the race, in the Church, and in the history of
the world, and were clothed with extraordinary powers that required an
extraordinary operation of the Holy Spirit.

But we do not deny that these men were born again and partakers of
the heavenly illumination; so that the man of sin was driven back,
and the new man was powerfully revealed in them. But their personal
state and condition was the cause of their continued sinfulness until
the hour of their death; hence their infallible authority could never
spring from the fallible condition of their hearts. Even tho they
had been less sinful, such power could not be thus accounted for. And
if they had fallen more deeply into sin, it would not have hindered
the Holy Spirit's operation with reference to the exercise of this
authority. It is remarkable that Peter, who was clothed with the highest
power, fell again and again into great sin. They were saints
because they were hid in Christ like other Christians; but they were
holy apostles not on the ground of their spiritual state and
condition, but only by virtue of their holy calling and the working of
the Holy Spirit that was promised and given unto them.

Finally, the question arises, whether there was a difference
between the operation of the Holy Spirit in the prophets and in the
apostles. We answer in the affirmative. Ezekiel's oracles are
different from St. John's Gospel. The Epistle to the Romans bears
witness to a different inspiration from that of the prophecies of
Zacharias. Undoubtedly the book of Revelation proves that the apostles
were also susceptible to inspiration by visions; the book of the Acts is
evidence that in those days there were also wonderful signs; and St. Paul
speaks of visions and ecstasies. And yet the collective treasure that
came down to us under the apostles' name bears evidence that the
inspiration of the New Testament has another character than that of the
Old. And the principal difference consists in the mighty fact of the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The prophets were inspired before Pentecost, and the apostles after
it. This fact is so strongly marked in the history of their mission that
before it the apostles sit still, while immediately after it they appear
in their apostolic character before the world.

157 And since in the outpouring the Holy Spirit came to dwell
in the body of Christ, which before He had been preparing, it is obvious
that the difference of inspiration in the Old and the New Testament
consists in the fact that the former was wrought upon the prophets from
without, while the latter wrought upon the apostles from within,
proceeding from the body of Christ.

And this is the reason that the prophets give us more or less the
impression of an inspiration independent of their personal, spiritual
life, while the inspiration of the apostles acts almost always through
the life of the soul. It is this very fact that offers to the error
of the Ethical view its starting-point. Surely the person and his
condition appear in the apostles much more in the foreground than in the
prophets. And yet in both prophet and apostle inspiration is that wholly
extraordinary operation of the Holy Spirit whereby, in a manner for us
incomprehensible and to them not always conscious, they were kept from
the possibility of error.

Source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/kuyper/holy_spirit.html)

Note: This is part thirty of a 123-part series taken from the book Work of the Holy Spirit
by Abraham Kuyper. The following excerpt is from "Volume One: The Work
of the Holy Spirit As A Whole," Eighth Chapter "The Apostolate," titled "The Apostolic Scriptures."


XXX.

The Apostolic Scriptures.

“And I think that I also have the
Spirit of God.”—1 Cor.
vii. 40.

We have seen that
the apostolate has an extraordinary significance and occupies a unique
position. This position is twofold, viz., temporary, with reference to
the founding of the first churches, and permanent, with regard to the
churches of all ages.

The first must necessarily be temporary, for what was then accomplished
can not be repeated. A tree can be planted only once; an organism can be
born only once; the planting or founding of the Church could take place
only once. However, this founding was not unprepared for. On the contrary,
God has had a Church in the world from the beginning. That Church was
even a world-Church. But it went down in idolatry; and only a
small Church remained among an almost unknown people—the Church in
Israel. When this particular Church was to become again a world-Church,
two things were required:

First, that the Church in Israel lay aside its national dress.

Secondly, that in the midst of the heathen world
the Church of Christ appear, so that the two might become manifest as
the one Christian Church.

By these two things the apostolic labor is almost exhausted. In
St. Paul the two are united. No apostle labored more zealously to divest
the Church of Israel of its Jewish attire, and no one was more abundant
in the planting of new churches in all parts of the world.

The apostolate had, however, a much more extensive and higher calling,
not only for those days, but also for the Church of the ages. It was
the task of the apostles for which they were, ordained: by giving to
the churches fixed forms of government to determine their character;
and by the written documentation of the revelation of Christ Jesus to
secure to them purity and perpetuity.

This is evident from the character of their labors: for they not

147 only founded churches, but also gave them
ordinances. St. Paul writes to the Corinthians: “As I have
given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye”
(1 Cor. xvi. 1). Hence they were conscious
of possessing power, of being clothed with authority: “And so
ordain I in all the churches,” says the same apostle (1
Cor. vii. 17). This ordaining is not like that of our official
church boards which have power to make rules; or as a minister in the name
of the consistory announces from the pulpit certain regulations. Nay,
the apostles exercised authority by virtue of a power they consciously
possessed in themselves, independent of any church or church council. For
St. Paul writes, after having given ordinances in the matter of marriages:
“And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.” (1
Cor. vii. 40) Hence the power and authority to command, to
ordain and to judge in the churches, they derived not from the Church,
nor from church council, nor from the apostolate, but directly from the
Holy Spirit. This is true even of the power to judge; for, concerning
an incestuous person in the church of Corinth, St. Paul judged that he
should be delivered to Satan; the execution of which sentence he left
to the elders of that church, but upon which he had determined by virtue
of his apostolic authority—1 Cor. v. 3.

In this connection it is remarkable that St. Paul was conscious of a
twofold current running through his word: (1) that of tradition,
touching the things ordained by the Lord Jesus during His ministry; and
(2) that of the Holy Spirit, touching the things to be decided
by the apostolate. For he writes: “Now concerning virgins, I
have no commandment of the Lord; yet I give my judgment as one that
hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful” (1
Cor. vii. 25). And again he saith: “Unto the married
I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her
husband” (ver. 10).
And in verse 12 he saith:
“But to the rest speak I, not the Lord.” Many have received
the impression that St. Paul meant to say: “What the Lord commanded,
you must keep; but the things by me enjoined are of less account and not
binding”;—a view destroying the authority of the apostolic
word, and therefore to be rejected. The apostle has not the least
intention of undermining his own authority; for having delivered the
message, he adds expressly: "And I think that I also have the Spirit of
God”; (1 Cor. vii. 40) which, in connection
with the commandment of the Lord, can not mean anything else than this:
“That which I have enjoined rests upon the same authority as the
Lord’s own words”;—a declaration which was already

148 contained in the word: “I have received mercy to be
faithful,” i.e., in my work of regulating the churches.

By these ordinances and regulations the apostles not only gave to
the churches of those days a fixed form of life, but they also prepared
the channel that was to determine the future course of the life of the
Church. They did this in two ways:

First, partly by the impressions they made upon the life of the
churches, and which were never wholly obliterated.

Secondly, partly also and more particularly by leaving us in writing
the image of that Church, and by sealing the principal features of these
ordinances in their apostolic epistles.

Both these influences, that directly on the life of the churches,
and that of the apostolic Scriptures, have taken care that the image of
the Church should not be lost, and that, where it was in danger of such
loss, by the grace of God it should be fully restored.

This leads us to consider the second activity
of the apostles, whereby they operated upon the Church of all ages,
viz., the in heritance of their writings.

Our writings are the richest and maturest products of the mind;
and the mind of the Holy Spirit received its richest, fullest, and most
perfect expression when His meaning was put into documental form. The
literary labor of the apostles deserves, therefore, careful attention.

When the apostles Peter and Paul preached the Gospel, healed the
sick, judged the unruly, and founded churches, giving them ordinances,
they performed in each of these a great and glorious work. And yet the
significance of St. Paul’s labor when he wrote, e.g., the
Epistle to the Romans so far surpassed the value of preaching and healing
that the two can not be compared. When he wrote that one little book,
which in ordinary pamphlet form would make no more than three sheets of
printed matter, he performed the greatest work of his life. From this
little book the most far-reaching influences have gone forth. By this
one little book St. Paul became a historic person.

We know, indeed, that many of our present theologians
reverse this order, and say: “These apostles were profoundly
spiritual men; they lived near the Lord and had entered deeply into the
mind of Christ; they labored and preached and occasionally wrote a few
letters, some of which have come down to us; yet this letter-writing

149 was of little significance to their persons”; but
against this whole representation we protest with all our might. Nay,
these men were not such excellent personalities that the few occasional
letters from their hands could scarcely have any significance in their
lives. On the contrary, their epistolary labor was the most important of
all their lifework; small in compass, but rich in content; apparently of
less, but by virtue of its comprehensive and far-reaching influence of
much higher significance. And since the apostles may not be considered
half-idiots, knowing scarcely anything of the future of the Church,
and without any realization of what they were doing, we maintain that
a man like St. Paul, having finished his Epistle to the Romans, was
indeed conscious of the fact that this work would occupy a prominent
place among his apostolic labors.

Even tho it be granted that the apostle was unconscious of it, yet this
alters not the fact. To-day, when the churches founded eighteen centuries
ago have all past away, and the church of Rome can scarcely be recognized;
when the people who by his wonderful power were healed or saved have all
crumbled to dust, and not a single memory remains of all his other toil;
to-day his epistolary inheritance still governs the Church of Christ.

We can not conceive what the condition of the Church would be without
St. Paul’s epistles; if we were to lose the inheritance of the
great apostle that has come to us through our fathers. What is it that
controls our confession, if not the truths developed by him; what is it
that governs our lives, if not the ideals so highly exalted by him? We
can safely say, with reference to our own Church, that without the Pauline
epistles its whole form and appearance would be totally different.

This being so, we are also justified in saying that the objectifying
of Christian truth in the apostolic epistles is the most important of
all their labors. Instead of calling it a “dead-letter,”
we confess that in it their activity reached its very zenith.

However, the peculiar work of the Holy Spirit
in the apostolate being the subject of our present inquiry, and not the
apostolate itself, we will consider now the serious question: What is
the nature of this work?

Our choice lies between the theory of the mechanical, and that
of the natural, process.
150

The supporters of the first say: “Nothing can be more simple than
the work of the Holy Spirit in the apostles. They had only to sit down,
take pen and ink, and write at His dictation.” The advocates of
the natural process state its case as follows: “The apostles had
entered more deeply into the mind of Christ; they were holier, purer,
and more godly than others; hence they were better fitted to be the
instruments of the Holy Spirit, who after all animates every child of
God.” These are the extreme views. On the one hand, the work of the
Holy Spirit is considered as a foreign element introduced into the life
of the Church and that of the apostles. Any schoolboy competent to write
a dictation might have written the Epistle to the Romans just as well
as St. Paul. The obvious difference of style and manner of presentation
between his epistles and those of St. John does not spring from the
difference of personalities, but from the fact that the Holy Spirit
purposely adopted the style and way of speaking of His chosen scribe,
be he St. Paul or St. John.

The other extreme considers that the persons of the apostles account
for the whole matter; so that to speak of a work of the Holy Spirit
is only to repeat a pious term. According to this view, the influence
of Christ’s personal intercourse had an educating effect upon His
disciples, which left such impress of His life upon them that they could
understand His Person and aims much better than others; hence being the
best-developed minds of the Christian circle of those days, they adopted
in their writings—a certain apostolic authority.

Besides these two extremes, we must mention the view of certain
friendly theologians who turn this natural into a supernatural, but still
self-developed, process. They acknowledge, with us, that there is a work
of the Holy Spirit which they also call regeneration, and allow that to
this the gift of illumination is often added. And from this they argue:
“Among the regenerated there are some in whom this divine work
is only superficial, and others in whom He operates more deeply. In
the former; the gift of illumination is undeveloped; in the latter, it
attains great luster; and it is to this class that the apostles belonged,
who were partakers of this gift in its highest degree. Owing to these
two gifts, the work of the Holy Spirit attained in them such clearness
and transparency that, in speaking or writing concerning the things
of the Kingdom of God, they struck almost invariably the right note,
chose the right word,

151 and continued in the right direction. Hence the power of
their writings, and the almost binding authority of their word.”

Over against these three opponents we wish to present the view of the
best theologians of the Christian Church, which, altho fully appreciating
the effects of regeneration and illumination in the apostles, still
maintain that from these the infallible, apostolic authority can not be
explained; and that the authority of their word is recognized only by
the unconditional confession that these operations of grace were but
the means used by the Holy Spirit when, through the apostles, He cast
His own testimony into documental forms for the Church of all ages.

Source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/kuyper/holy_spirit.html)


Note: This is part twenty-nine of a 123-part series taken from the book Work of the Holy Spirit
by Abraham Kuyper. The following excerpt is from "Volume One: The Work
of the Holy Spirit As A Whole," Eighth Chapter "The Apostolate," titled "The Apostolate."




XXIX.

The Apostolate.

“That ye also may have fellowship
with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son
Jesus Christ.”—1 John i. 3.

The apostolate bears
the character of an extraordinary manifestation, not seen before or
after it, in which we discover a proper work of the Holy Spirit. The
apostles were ambassadors extraordinary — different from the prophets,
different from the present ministers of the Word. In the history of
the Church and the world they occupy a unique position and have a
peculiar significance. Hence the apostolate is entitled to a special
discussion.

Moreover, the apostolate belongs to the great things which the Holy
Spirit has wrought. All that the Holy Scripture declares concerning
the apostles compels us to look for an explanation of their persons and
mission in a special work of the Holy Spirit. Before His ascension Jesus
predicted repeatedly that they should be His witnesses only after they
shall have received the Holy Spirit in an extraordinary manner. Until
this promise is fulfilled they remain hiding in Jerusalem. And when
they raise the banner of the cross in Jerusalem and in the ends of the
earth, they appeal to the power of the Holy Spirit as the secret of
their appearance.

The apostolate was holy, and we call them holy
apostles, not because they had attained a higher degree of perfection,
but “holy" in the Scriptural sense of being separated, set apart,
like the Temple and its furniture, for the service of a holy God.

By sin many things have become unholy. Before sin entered

140 into the world all things were holy. That part of creation
which became unholy stands in opposition to that which remained holy. The
latter is called Heaven; that which was made holy is called Church. And
all that belongs to the Church, to its being and organism, is called
holy.

Hence Jesus could say to the disciples who were about to deny Him:
“Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” In like manner the members of the
Church and their children are called “sanctified”; and in his
epistles St. Paul addresses them as holy and beloved: not
because they were sinless, but because God had set them as called saints
in the realm of His holiness, which by His grace He had separated from the
realm of sin. In like manner the Scripture is called holy: not to indicate
that it is the record of holy things only, but that its origin is not
in man’s sinful life, but in the holy realm of the life of God.

We confess, therefore, that the apostles of Jesus were set apart for
the service of God’s holy Kingdom, and that they were qualified
for their calling by the power of the Holy Spirit.

By omitting the word “holy,” as many do, we make the
apostles common; we consider them as ordinary preachers; in degree
above us undoubtedly, being more richly developed, especially by
their intercourse with Christ, and as His witnesses very dear to us,
but still occupying the same level with other teachers and ministers
of the Church of all ages. And so the conviction will be lost that the
apostles are men different in kind from all other men; lost the
realization that in them appeared a peculiar and unique ministry; lost
also the grateful confession that the Lord our God gave us in these men
extraordinary grace.

And this explains why some ministers, at the special occasion of
installation, departure, or jubilee, apply to themselves apostolic
utterances that are not applicable to their persons, but exclusively
to the men who occupy a peculiar and unique position in the Church
of all ages and all lands. For this reason we repeat purposely the
title of honor, “holy apostles,” in order that the peculiar
significance of the apostolate may again receive honorable recognition
in our churches.

This peculiar significance of the apostolate
appears in the Holy Scripture in various ways.

We begin with referring to the prologue of the First Epistle of St.

141 John, in which, from the fulness of the apostolic
sense, the holy apostle solemnly addresses us. He opens his epistle by
declaring that they, the apostles of the Lord, occupy an exceptional
position regarding the miracle of the incarnation of the Word. He says:
“The Word became flesh, and in that incarnate Word, Life was
manifested; and that that manifested Life was heard and seen and handled
with hands.” By whom? By everybody? No, by the apostles; for he
adds emphatically: “That which we have seen and heard declare we
unto you, and shew you that eternal life which was with the Father and
was manifested unto us.”

And what was the aim of this declaration? To save souls? Surely this
also, but not this in the first place. The purpose of this apostolic
declaration is to bring the members of the Church into connection with
the abostolate. For, clearly and emphatically, he adds: “This
we declare unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us.” And
only after this link is closed, and the fellowship with the apostolate
an accomplished fact, he says: “And truly our fellowship is with
the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

The apostle’s reasoning is as transparent as glass. Life was
manifested in such a way that it could be seen and handled. They who
saw and handled it were the apostles; and they were also to declare this
life unto the elect. By this declaration the required fellowship between
the elect and the apostolate is established. And in consequence of this,
there is fellowship also for the elect with the Father and the Son.

This may not be understood as referring only to the people then
living; and, regarding Rome, one’s position, Bible in hand, is
exceedingly weak if he maintain that this higher significance of the
apostolate had reference only to the then living, and not in the same
measure to us. Indeed, we, upon whom the end of the ages has come, must
maintain the vital fellowship with the holy apostolate of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Rome errs by making its bishops the successors of the apostles,
teaching that fellowship with the apostolate depends upon fellowship with
Rome: an error which is obvious from the fact that St. John expressly
and emphatically connects the fellowship of the apostolate with men who
have seen and heard and handled that which was manifested of the Word of
Life—something to which no Roman bishop can appeal in the present
day. Moreover, St. John says distinctly that this fellowship with the
apostolate must be the result of the declaration of the Word

142 of Life by the apostles themselves. And inasmuch
as Rome established this fellowship not by the preaching of the
Word; but by the sacramental sign, it is in direct opposition to the
apostolic doctrine.

However, from this it follows not that Rome errs in the fundamental
thought, viv., that every child of God must exercise communion with
the Father and the Son through the apostolate; on the contrary,
this is St. John’s positive claim. The solution of this apparent
conflict lies in the fact that they have not only spoken, but
also written: i.e., their declaration of the Word of Life was
not limited to the little circle of the men that happened to hear them;
on the contrary, by writing they have put their preaching into real and
enduring forms; they have sent it out to all lands and nations; that,
as the genuine, ecumenic apostles they might bring the testimony of
the Life which was manifested to all the elect of God in all lands and
throughout the ages.

Hence even now the apostles are preaching the living Christ in the
churches. Their persons have departed, but their personal testimony
remains. And that personal testimony, which as an apostolic document has
come to every soul in every land and in every age, is the very testimony
which even now is the instrument in the hand of the Holy Spirit to
translate souls into the fellowship of the Life Eternal.

And if one says, “Surely in this
sense their word is still effective; however, it results no longer
in fellowship with the apostles, and by means of this fellowship with
Christ, but it points us directly to the Savior of our souls, which is
a more simple way,” then we oppose this unscriptural notion most
energetically.

Such reasoning ignores the body of Christ and overlooks the great
fact of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. There is not the saving of
a few individual souls, but a bringing together of the body
of Christ; and into that body every one that is called must be
incorporated. And inasmuch as the King of the Church gives His Sprit now
not to separate persons, but exclusively to them that are incorporated,
and the inflowing of the Holy Spirit into this body, and principally in
the persons of the apostles, took place on Pentecost, therefore no one
can receive at the present time any spiritual gift or influence of the
Holy Spirit unless he stands in vital connection with the body of the
Lord; and that body is unthinkable without the apostles.
143

In fact, the apostolic Word comes to the soul to-day as the testimony
of what they have seen and heard and handled of the Word of Life. By
virtue of this testimony souls are inwardly wrought upon, and by their
being incorporated into the body of Christ they become manifest. And this
fellowship becomes manifest as a fellowship with the very body of which
the apostles are the leaders, in whose persons and in the persons of whose
associates the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost.

We know that this view, or this confession rather, is in direct
opposition to the view of Methodism,1414
See section 5 in the Preface.—Trans....... which has pervaded all classes and
conditions of men. And the deplorable results have become apparent in
various ways. Methodism has killed the conscious appreciation of the
sacrament; it is cold and indifferent toward church fellowship; it has
cultivated an unlimited disregard for truth in the confession.†1515 † The truth
of this is apparent in the Salvation Army, the latest exponent of
Methodism. It denies the sacraments, stands isolated from the churches,
and does not seem to care for truth in the confession, for it has no
confession.—Trans....... And while
the Lord our God has deemed it necessary to give us a voluminous Holy
Scripture, consisting of six-and-sixty books, Methodism has boasted that
it could write its Gospel upon a dime.

This error can not be overcome, except the Word of God become again
our Teacher and we its docile scholars. And then we shall learn—

(1) Not that a few isolated persons are being rescued from the floods
of iniquity, but that a body will be redeemed.

(2) That all that are to be saved will be incorporated into that
body.

(3) That this body has Christ as its Head and the apostles as its
permanent leaders.

(4) That on Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out into that
body.

(5) That even now each of us experiences the gracious operations of
the Holy Spirit only through fellowship with this body.

Only when these things are clear to the soul, the glorious word
of Christ, “Father, I pray not for these alone, but for them
also which shall believe on Me through their word,” will be well understood.

144 Taken in the current sense, this word has not the least
comfort for us; for then the Lord has prayed only for these then living,
who had the privilege of personally hearing the apostles, and who were
converted by their verbal testimony. We are entirely excluded. But if this
petition be taken in the sense indicated above, as tho Christ would say,
“I pray not for My apostles alone, but also for them who through
their testimony shall believe on Me, now and in all ages and lands and
nations,” then it acquires widest scope, and contains a prayer
for every child of God called even now and from our own households.

This unique significance of the apostolate is so deeply embedded
in the heart of the Kingdom, that when in the Revelation of St. John
we get a glimpse of the New Jerusalem, we see that the city has twelve
foundations, and on them the names of the twelve
apostles of the Lamb—Rev. xxi. 14. Hence their
significance is not transient and temporary, but permanent and including
the whole Church. And when its warfare shall be ended and the glory of
the New Jerusalem shall be revealed, even then, in its heavenly bliss,
the Church shall rest upon the very foundation on which it was built
here, and therefore bear, engraven on its twelve foundations, the names
of the holy apostles of the Lord.

The apostle Paul considers the apostolate so glorious and exalted that
in his Epistle to the Hebrews he applies the name of Apostle to the Lord
Jesus Christ. “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly
calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ
Jesus.” The meaning is perfectly clear. Properly speaking, it is
Christ Himself calling and testifying in His Church. But as the white ray
of light divides itself into many colors, so does Christ impart Himself
to His twelve apostles, whom He has set as the instruments through whom
He has fellowship with His Church. Hence the apostles stand not each by
himself, but together they constitute the apostolate, the unity of which
is found not in St. Peter nor in St. Paul, but in Christ. If we
should wish to comprehend the whole apostolate in one, it must be He in
whom is contained the fulness of the twelve—the Apostle and High
Priest of our profession, Christ the Lord.

Not until we fully grasp these thoughts and live in them shall
we be able to understand the epistles of St. Paul, and appreciate his
spiritual conflict to maintain the honor of the apostolate for his divine
mission. Especially in his epistles to the Corinthians and

145 Galatians he sustains this conflict bravely and
effectually; but in such a way that the Methodist can not have eye or
ear for it. He rather feels like deploring the apostle’s zeal,
saying: “If Paul had insisted less on his title and more humbly
applied himself to the conversion of souls, his memory would have been
much more precious.” And from his standpoint he is quite right. If
the apostolate has no higher significance than to be the first teachers
and ministers of the Church, then there can be no reason why St. Paul
should waste his strength contending for a meaningless title.

But the undeniable fact that St. Paul’s energetic contending
agrees not with the current opinions of the present time ought
to make us oppose the notion that, since his contention does not
comport with our opinions, he must be wrong! and acknowledge that the
standpoint which we can not occupy without condemning the apostle must be
abandoned—the sooner the better. St. Paul must not conform himself
to our opinions, but our opinions must be modified or altered according
to St. Paul’s.

Source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/kuyper/holy_spirit.html)


Note: This is part twenty-eight of a 123-part series taken from the book Work of the Holy Spirit by Abraham Kuyper. The following excerpt is from "Volume One: The Work of the Holy Spirit As A Whole," Seventh Chapter "The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit," titled "The Miracle of Tongues."

XXVIII.

The Miracle of Tongues.

“If any man speak in an (unknown)
tongue, . . . let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let
him speak to himself, and to God.”— 1 Cor.
xiv. 27, 28.

The third sign
following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit consisted in extraordinary
sounds that proceeded from the lips of the apostles—sounds foreign
to the Aramaic tongue, never before heard from their lips.

These sounds affected the multitude in different ways: some called
them babblings of inebriated men; others heard in them the great works of
God proclaimed. To the latter, it seemed as tho they heard them speaking
in their own tongues. To the Parthian it sounded like the Parthian, to
the Arabian like the Arabic, etc.; while St. Peter declared that this
sign belonged to the realm of revelation, for it was the fulfilment of
the prophecy of Joel that all the people should become partakers of the
operation of the Holy Spirit.

The question how to interpret this wonderful sign has occupied the
thinking minds of all times. Allow us to offer a solution, which we
present in the following observations:

In the first place—This phenomenon of spiritual speaking in
extraordinary sounds is not confined to Pentecost nor to the second
chapter of the Acts.

On the contrary, the Lord told His disciples, even before the
ascension, that they should speak with new tongues—Mark
xvi. 8. And from the epistles of St. Paul it is evident
that this prophecy did not refer to Pentecost alone; for we read in
1 Cor. xii. 10 that in the apostolic Church,
spiritual gifts included that of tongues; that some spoke in
γενη γλωττῶύ,
i.e., in kinds of tongues or sounds. In ver. 28 the apostle declares that God has
set this spiritual phenomenon in the Church. It is noteworthy that in
1 Cor. xiv. 1-33 the apostle gives special attention
to this extraordinary sign, showing

134 that then it was quite ordinary. That the gift of
tongues mentioned by St. Paul and the sign of which St. Luke speaks in
Acts ii., are substantially one and the same can
not be doubted. In the first place; Christ’s prophecy is general:
“They shall speak with new tongues.” Secondly, both phenomena
are said to have made irresistible impressions upon unbelievers. Thirdly,
both are treated as spiritual gifts. And lastly, to both is applied the
same name.

Yet there was a very perceptible difference between the two:
the miracle of tongues on the day of Pentecost was intelligible to
a large number of hearers of different nationalities; while in the
apostolic churches it was understood only by a few who were called
interpreters. Connected with this is the fact that the miracle on
Pentecost made the impression of speaking at once to different hearers
in different tongues so that they were edified. However, this is no
fundamental difference. Altho in the apostolic churches there were but few
interpreters, yet there were some who understood the wonderful speech.

There was, moreover, a marked difference between the men thus
endowed: some understood what they were saying; others did not. For
St. Paul admonishes them, saying: “Let him that speaketh in
an unknown tongue, pray that he may interpret” (1
Cor. xiv. 13). Yet even without this ability, the speaking
with tongues had an edifying effect upon the speaker himself; but it
was an edification not understood, the effect of an unknown operation
in the soul.

From this we gather that the miracle of tongues consisted in the
uttering of extraordinary sounds which from existing data could be
explained neither by the speaker nor by the hearer; and to which another
grace was sometimes added, viz., that of interpretation. Hence three
things were possible: that the speaker alone understood what he said;
or, that others understood it and not himself; or, that both speaker
and hearers understood it. This understanding has reference to one or
more persons.

On the ground of this we comprise these miracles of tongues in one
class; with this distinction, however, that on the day of Pentecost the
miracle appeared perfect, but later on incomplete. As there
is in the miracles of Christ in raising the dead a perceptible increase
of power: first, the raising up of one just dead (the daughter of Jairus),
then, of one about to be buried (the young man of Nam), and lastly, of one
already decomposing (Lazarus); so there is also in the miracle of tongues
a difference of power—not increasing, but decreasing.

135 The mightiest operation of the Holy Spirit is seen first,
then those less powerful. It is precisely the same as in our own heart:
first, the mighty fact of regeneration; after that, the less marked
manifestations of spiritual power. Hence on Pentecost there was the
miracle of tongues in its perfection; later on in the churches, in
weaker measure.

Secondly—There is no evidence that
the miracle of tongues consisted in the speaking of one of the known
languages not previously acquired.

If this had been the case, St. Paul could not have said: “If I
pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding
is unfruitful” (1 Cor. xiv. 14). The word
“unknown” appears in italics, not being found in the
Greek. Moreover, he says that tongues are for a sign not to them
that believe, but to them that believe not—ver. 22. If it had been a question of foreign
but ordinary languages, the matter of understanding them could not depend
upon faith, but simply upon the fact whether the language was acquired
by study or was one’s native tongue.

Finally, the notion that these tongues refer to foreign languages
not acquired by study is contradicted by St. Paul: “I thank my
God that I speak with tongues more than ye all.” By which he can not mean that he had mastered
more languages than others, but that he possessed the gift of tongues in
greater degree than other men. The following verse is evidence: “Yet
in the Church I had rather speak five words with my understanding,
that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in an (unknown)
tongue.” According to the
other view, this ought to have been: “I wish to speak in one
language, so that the Church may understand me, rather than in ten
or twenty languages which the Church understands not.” But the
apostle does not say this. He speaks not of many languages in
opposition to one, but of five sounds or words against
ten thousand words. From this it follows that St. Paul’s
“I speak with glottai (languages or sounds) more than ye
all,” must refer to the miracle of sounds.

For altho it is objected very naturally that on Pentecost the apostles
spoke the Arabic, Hebrew, and Parthian tongues besides many others,
yet the fact appealed to is not proven to be a fact. Surely we learn
from Acts ii. that these Parthians, Elamites, etc.,
received the impression that they were addressed each in his own

136 tongue; yet the narrative itself proves rather the
contrary. Let the experiment be tried. Let fifteen men (the number of
languages mentioned in Acts ii.) speak in fifteen
different languages at once and together, and the result will be not that
every one hears his own language, but that no one can hear anything. But
the narrative of Acts ii. is fully explained in that
the apostles uttered sounds intelligible to Parthians, Medes, Cretans,
etc., because they understood them, receiving the impression that these
sounds agreed with their own mother-tongues. As a Dutch child seeing
a problem on the blackboard worked out by an English or German child
naturally receives the impression that it was done by a Dutch child,
simply because figures are signs not affected by the difference of
language, so must the Elamite have received the impression that he heard
the Elamitian, and the Egyptian that he was addressed in the Egyptian
tongue, when on Pentecost they heard sounds uttered by a miracle, which,
being independent from the difference of language, were intelligible to
man as man.

We must not forget that speaking is nothing else than to produce
impressions upon the soul of the hearer by means of vibrations in the
air. But if the same impressions can be produced without the aid of
air-vibrations, the effect upon the hearer must be the same. Try the
experiment upon the eye. The sight of twinkling stars or dissolving
figures excites the retina. The same effect can be produced by rubbing
the eye with the finger when reclining on a couch in a dark room. And
this applies here. The air vibrations are not the principal thing,
but the emotion produced in the mind by the speaking. The Pamphylian,
accustomed to receive emotions by hearing his mother-tongue, and receiving
the same impression in another way, must think that he is addressed
in the Pamphylian tongue.

Thirdly—According to St. Paul’s
interesting information, the miracle of tongues consisted in this,
that the vocal organs produced sounds not by a working of the mind,
but by an operation of the Holy Spirit upon those organs.

St. Luke writes: “They began to speak with other tongues, as
the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts ii. 4);
and St. Paul proves exhaustively that the person speaking with tongues
spoke not with his understanding, i.e., as a result of his own
thinking, but in consequence of an entirely different operation. That
this is possible,

137 we see, first, in delirious persons, who say things outside
of their own personal thinking; second, in the insane, whose incoherent
talk has no sense; third, in persons possessed, whose vocal organs are
used by demons; fourth, in Balaam, whose vocal organs uttered words of
blessing upon Israel against his will.

Hence it must be conceded that in man three things are possible:

First, that for a time he maybe deprived of the use of his vocal
organs.

Second, that the use of these organs may be appropriated by a spirit
who has overcome him.

Third, that the Holy Spirit, appropriating his vocal organs,
can produce sounds from his lips which are “new,” and
“other” than the language which ordinarily he speaks.

Fourthly—In the
Greek these sounds invariably are designated by the word
ãëùôôáé, i.e., tongues,
hence language. In the Greek world, from which this word is taken,
the word “glotta” always stands in strong opposition to the
“logos,” reason.

A man’s thinking is the hidden, invisible, imperceptible process
of his mind. Thought has a soul, but no body. But when the thought
manifests itself and adopts a body, then there is a word. And the tongue
being the movable organ of speech, it was said that the tongue gives
a body to the thought. Hence the contrast between the logos, i.e.,
that which a man thinks with the mind, and the glotta, i.e.,
that which he utters with the vocal organs.

Ordinarily the glotta comes only through and after the logos. But in
the miracle of tongues we discover the extraordinary phenomenon that while
the logos remained inactive, the glotta uttered sounds. And since it was
a phenomenon of sounds which proceeded not from the thinking mind,
but from the tongue, the Holy Scripture calls it very appropriately a
gift of the glottai, i.e., a gift of tongue or sound-phenomena.

Lastly—In answer to the question, How
must this be understood? we offer the following representation: Speech
in man is the result of his thinking; and this thinking in a sinless
state is an in-shining of the Holy Spirit. Speech in a sinless state is
therefore the result of inspiration, in-breathing of the Holy Spirit.

Hence in a sinless state man’s language would have been the
pure and perfect product of an operation of the Holy Spirit. He

138 is the Creator of human language; and without the
injury and debasing influence of sin the connection between the Holy
Ghost and our speech would have been complete. But sin has broken the
connection. Human language is damaged: damaged by the weakening of the
organs of speech; by the separation of tribes and nations; by the passions
of the soul; by tie darkening of the understanding; and principally by
the lie which has entered in. Hence that infinite distance between this
pure and genuine human language which, as the direct operation of the
Holy Spirit upon the human mind, should have manifested itself, and the
empirically existing languages that now separate the nations—a
difference like unto that between the glorious Adam and the deformed
Hottentot.

But the difference is not intended to remain. Sin will disappear. What
sin destroyed will be restored. In the day of the Lord, at the
wedding-feast of the Lamb, all the redeemed will understand one
another. In what way? By the restoration of the pure and original language
upon the lips of the redeemed, which is born from the operation of the
Holy Spirit upon the human mind. And of that great, still-tarrying event
the Pentecost miracle is the germ and the beginning; hence it bore its
distinctive marks. In the midst of the Babeldom of the nations, on the
day of Pentecost, the one pure and mighty human language was revealed
which one day all will speak, and all the brethren and sisters from all
nations and tongues will understand.

And this was wrought by the Holy Spirit. They spake as the Holy
Spirit gave them utterance. They spoke a heavenly language to praise
God—not of angels, but a language above the influence of sin.

Hence the understanding of this language was also a work of the Holy
Spirit. At Jerusalem, only they understood it who were specially wrought
upon by the Holy Spirit. The others understood it not. And at Corinth
it was not comprehended by the masses, but by him alone to whom it was
given of the Holy Ghost.