The substance of all the apostolic teaching is the witness of Christ, the gospel, and the free
message of that divine love and salvation, which appeared in the person of Christ, was secured to
mankind by his work, is gradually realized in the kingdom of God on earth, and will be completed
with the second coming of Christ in glory. This salvation also comes in close connection with
Judaism, as the fulfilment of the law and the prophets, the substance of all the Old Testament types
and shadows. The several doctrines entering essentially into this apostolic preaching are most
beautifully and simply arranged and presented in what is called the Apostles’ Creed, which, though
not in its precise form, yet, as regards its matter, certainly dates from the primitive age of Christianity.
On all the leading points, the person of Jesus as the promised Messiah, his holy life, his atoning
death, his triumphant resurrection and exaltation at the right hand of God, and his second coming
to judge the world, the establishment of the church as a divine institution, the communion of
believers, the word of God, and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper, the work of the
Holy Spirit, the necessity of repentance and conversion, of regeneration and sanctification, the final
completion of salvation in the day of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the body, and the life
everlasting—on all these points the apostles are perfectly unanimous, so far as their writings have
come down to us.
The apostles all drew their doctrine in common from personal contact with the divine-human
history of the crucified and risen Saviour, and from the inward illumination of the Holy Spirit,
revealing the person and the work of Christ in them, and opening to them the understanding of his
words and acts. This divine enlightenment is inspiration, governing not only the composition of
the sacred writings, but also the oral instructions of their authors; not merely an act, but a permanent
state. The apostles lived and moved continually in the element of truth. They spoke, wrote, and
acted from the spirit of truth; and this, not as passive instruments, but as conscious and free organs.
For the Holy Spirit does not supersede the gifts and peculiarities of nature, which are ordained by
God; it sanctifies them to the service of his kingdom. Inspiration, however, is concerned only with
moral and religious truths, and the communication of what is necessary to salvation. Incidental
matters of geography, history, archeology, and of mere personal interest, can be regarded as directed
by inspiration only so far as they really affect religious truth.
The revelation of the body of Christian truth essential to salvation coincides in extent with
the received canon of the New Testament. There is indeed constant growth and development in the
Christian church, which progresses outwardly and inwardly in proportion to the degree of its vitality
and zeal, but it is a progress of apprehension and appropriation by man, not of communication or
revelation by God. We may speak of a secondary inspiration of extraordinary men whom God
raises from time to time, but their writings must be measured by the only infallible standard, the
teaching of Christ and his apostles. Every true advance in Christian knowledge and life is conditioned
by a deeper descent into the mind and spirit of Christ, who declared the whole counsel of God and
the way of salvation, first in person, and then through his apostles.
The New Testament is thus but one book, the teaching of one mind, the mind of Christ. He
gave to his disciples the words of life which the Father gave him, and inspired them with the spirit
of truth to reveal his glory to them. Herein consists the unity and harmony of the twenty-seven
writings which constitute the New Testament, for all emergencies and for perpetual use, until the
written and printed word shall be superseded by the reappearance of the personal Word, and the
beatific vision of saints in light.A.D. 1-100.