#2. “A Threefold Cord is not quickly broken” (Eccles. iv. 12).


Quite apart from the question of inspiration, we should expect that men like Peter and Paul, when conscious that their days on earth drew to a close, would not trifle with truth, nor waste precious opportunities, but that they would speak plainly of those things that were of lasting importance. If this be expected of fallible men, how much more of the Son of God Himself? If therefore we find that in the final scenes of their lives Peter, Paul and the Lord Himself chose to emphasize the inspiration and integrity of the Scriptures, we shall in that fact, possess a threefold testimony that will not quickly be broken by the fleeting and fickle opinions of fallible critics.

PETER, when he wrote his second epistle, knew that the hour of his death drew near:

“Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me” (II Pet. i. 14).

PAUL, when he wrote his second epistle to Timothy, knew that he had reached the end of his earthly life.

“I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand” (II Tim. iv. 6).

CHRIST, when He prayed, as recorded in John xvii., knew that death drew near, for He said:

“Father, the hour is come” (John xvii. 1).

What is the testimony of these two great witnesses and that supreme Witness, to the truth of the Scriptures?

PETER.—“No prophecy of the Scripture is of its own unfolding (idias epiluseos), for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (II Pet. i. 20, 21).

Such is Peter’s explicit testimony. He declared that he had not followed “cunningly devised fables” (II Pet. i. 16), and he endorsed as historic facts the flood in the days of Noah, the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the deliverance of Lot, and the record of Balaam and the dumb ass that spoke (II Pet. ii. 5, 6, 7, 15, 16).

To Peter, the words written in the Scriptures are “holy commandments” (II Pet. ii. 21), whether written by prophets of old or apostles of the Lord and Saviour (II Pet. iii. 2). Finally, he does not hesitate in the same epistle to include the epistles of Paul as part of “the other scriptures” (II Pet. iii. 16).

PAUL.—“All scripture is given by inspiration of God” (II Tim. iii. 16).

Such is the testimony of Paul before his martyrdom for Christ’s sake. The truth especially entrusted to him as “The Lord’s prisoner” (II Tim. i. 8, 11, 12, 13), to be passed on to “faithful men who shall be able to teach others also” (II Tim. ii. 2), and the testimony to the Scriptures as a whole, are all associated with Paul’s own appointment and trust (II Tim. iii. 14).

These inspired Scriptures are equally fitted both to make a child “wise unto salvation” and to provide complete equipment for the service of the man of God (II Tim. iii. 15, 17).

In view of that solemn day when the Lord shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and kingdom, Paul exhorts Timothy to “Preach the Word” (II Tim. iv. 2), and assumes that this Word is both “Truth” and “Sound doctrine”, the preaching of which constitutes the “Work of an evangelist” (II Tim. iv. 3, 4, 5). For his own part testimony to the veracity of the Holy Scriptures formed no small portion of the “faith” which he had so faithfully “kept” (II Tim. iv. 7). Finally, if Paul was mistaken in his attitude to the Scriptures, how can the “Righteous Judge” be expected to approve of such mistaken zeal “in that day”?

CHRIST.—“I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me . . . . . I have given them Thy Word . . . . . Thy Word is truth” (John xvii. 8, 14, 17).

The Saviour, in full view of the fact that His hour had come, with emphasis upon the knowledge of the “true God”, the finishing of His work, and His investment with the glory which He had before the world was, brings into prominence both “The Words” and “The Word” which He had received and passed on, declaring that this Word was “Truth”.

Here then we have a threefold witness that cannot be set aside without destroying the whole Christian fabric. But the endorsement of the Holy Scriptures by Peter, Paul and the Lord is not confined to their last testimonies, for it forms the very warp and woof of their whole witness. In illustration of this, and as a supplement to the threefold testimony to which we have referred, we append the headings of a discourse upon the Saviour’s endorsement of Holy Scripture.

(1) THE O.T. CANON . . .                “THE LAW OF MOSES—
                                                          THE PROPHETS—
                                                          THE PSALMS.”

(2) SPECIFIC AUTHORS . . .              MOSES (John v. 46, 47).
                                                           DAVID (Matt. xxii. 41-46).
                                                           ISAIAH (Luke iv. 16-19).
                                                           JONAH (Matt. xii. 40, 41).
                                                           DANIEL (Matt. xxiv. 15).

(3) SCRIPTURE IN GENERAL . . .       BEFORE BIRTH (Heb. x. 7).
                                                           AT BIRTH (Matt. i. 22, 23; ii. 6).
                                                           IN TEMPTATION (Matt. iv. 4, 7, 10).

(4) BY THE CROSS . . .                      THE CRY (Matt. xxvii. 46).
                                                           PIERCED HANDS AND FEET(John xx. 25).
                                                           THE LOTS (John xix. 24).
                                                           THE THIRST (John xix. 28, 29).
                                                           THE UNBROKEN BONES (John xix. 36).
                                                           THE PIERCED SIDE (John xix. 37).

(5) IN RESURRECTION . . .                “THUS IT BEHOVED CHRIST”(Luke xxiv. 46).

(6) HIS UNCHANGING ATTITUDE . . . “ONE JOT OR ONE TITTLE”(Matt. v.18).
                                                          “CANNOT BE BROKEN”(John x. 35).

(7) THE MORAL FOR US . . .            “THE SERVANT IS NOT GREATER
                                                                THAN HIS LORD” (John xiii. 16).


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(From The Berean Exposxitor, vol. 32, page 165).

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