February 11, 1895

“The Sure Interpreter” The Bible Echo 10, 6, p. 44.

ATJ

A. T. JONES

THE spirit of prophecy is the means through which Christ Himself gives the true understanding and right interpretation of His word. Christ is the Author of the written word of God. This word “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” It was “the Spirit of Christ” in these holy men, which testified the things that are written and now preached unto us with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. 1 Peter 1:11, 12.BEST February 11, 1895, page 44.1

It being the word of Christ Himself, signified and testified by His own Spirit—by Himself through his Holy Spirit—it follows that He alone by that same Spirit is qualified to interpret that word and infallibly give the right meaning of it. The only absolutely sure interpreter of any writing is the author of it Himself. All others are liable to mistake, or fail to catch the real thought which the author intended to convey. How much more, then, is it so with the word of God—that word which is in meaning of eternal depth! How much more with this than with any other writing, are all others liable to mistake or to fail to catch the real thought of the Author! And how certainly therefore is the Author of this word the only one qualified to interpret it and to set forth its meaning! Christ alone, in His own proper person by his Holy Spirit, is the interpreter of His word. And that interpretation is infallible; because Christ alone possesses infallibility. Whoever else would presume to interpret the Bible and declare its meaning, would thereby put himself in the place of Christ. And this is the papacy.BEST February 11, 1895, page 44.2

Christ alone is the interpreter of His word. And the evidence which He gives, the testimony of Christ, as to the meaning of His word, that is the meaning of it as He thinks it. That is the truth itself as it is in Jesus. And he who receives it thus receives the thought of Christ. And “the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.”BEST February 11, 1895, page 44.3

Consequently the one chief object of the gift of prophecy is to draw us to the word of God, and enable us to see there the “deep things of God;” to enable us to find there the precious hidden treasures; and to bring to understanding the things “that are hard to be understood.”BEST February 11, 1895, page 44.4