Hello dear friends,
Today, let’s take a look at a statement that Peter makes to the rest of Jesus’ disciples. This statement provides some insight into the apostles’ view on the authorship of the Holy Scriptures:
“Men, brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.”
— Acts 1:16
In this text, Peter is speaking to his fellow disciples right before they decide to select someone to replace Judas Iscariot, ensuring there are twelve apostles:
“Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us—”
— Acts 1:21
Today, we want to focus on how Peter refers to Old Testament scripture. Peter says that the Old Testament prophecy had to be fulfilled as it was foretold by the Holy Spirit. He mentions that this prophecy was through the writings of King David and then goes on to quote the Psalms:
“For it is written in the book of Psalms,
‘Let his residence be made desolate,
And let no one dwell in it’;
and,
‘Let another man take his office.’”
— Acts 1:20
We find that Peter is actually quoting two Psalms:
“May their camp be desolate;
May none dwell in their tents.”
— Psalm 69:25“Let his days be few;
Let another take his office.”
— Psalm 109:8
It should be understood that as David was writing these Psalms, he did not have Judas Iscariot in mind. This is the case for many authors of Scripture. Sometimes they wrote about events specific to their times, but these writings were later revealed in the New Testament to have a larger significance.
A good example of this is the writings of the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 53, where he speaks about the suffering servant. Isaiah did not specifically know who he was writing about. However, in the New Testament, we understand that Isaiah 53 speaks about Jesus Christ:
“But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our peace fell upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed.”
— Isaiah 53:5
As we continue reading the writings of Peter, particularly his second epistle to the exiles, we find that Peter had a broad understanding of how the Holy Scriptures came to be. He explains to his readers that it was holy men moved by the Holy Spirit:
“For no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
— 2 Peter 1:21
This is what theologians call the doctrine of inspiration. Biblical inspiration is the doctrine in Christian theology that the human writers and canonizers of the Bible were led by God, resulting in their writings being designated as, in some sense, the word of God.
Paul had a similar understanding when writing his epistle to his protégé Timothy:
“All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness,”
— 2 Timothy 3:16
This applies not only to the Old Testament but also to the New Testament. We see Peter referring to Paul’s writings as Scripture:
“Consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.”
— 2 Peter 3:15-16
From the writings of Paul and Peter, we should understand that all Scripture has one singular author: God the Holy Spirit. The apostles understood that God the Holy Spirit inspired the authors to write something relevant for their time, which would also be providentially relevant for believers in the future.
As believers, we need to understand this about Scripture so that we do not pit one scripture against another. When we recognize that all Scripture is written by God Himself, we can find the harmonious intended interpretation instead of contrasting the words of Paul against those of Jesus or the Old Testament.
“It has God for its Author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter: it is all pure, sincere, nothing too much, nothing wanting.”
— John Locke
I pray that this word reminds us to see the whole canon of Scripture as one unit instead of divided or against itself.
I pray that you are built up for the glory of God.
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