simply on his own word.  Nor can we decide simply from the contents of the book.  Very important indeed is the question concerning the contents of any book which claims to be a revelation from God.  Yet we cannot take the naked ground that a given book is inspired because its contents are of a given character.  This would be virtually to set up our own reason as the supreme arbiter of divine truth, which is the very position of rationalism.  Nor can we receive a book as inspired on the so-called authority of the church, whether this mean the authority of a man who claims to be its infallible head, or the authority of a general council of the churches.  Admitting for a moment the Romish doctrine of the infallibility of the church, we could know this infallibility not from the declaration of any man or body of men in the church, but from Scripture alone.  But this is assuming at the outset the infallibility of Scripture, and therefore its inspiration, which is the very point at issue.  Looking at the question on all sides, we shall find for a given book of the New Testament no valid test of the writer’s inspiration except his relation to the Lord Jesus Christ.  This presupposes our Lord’s divine mission and character, and his supreme authority in the church.  It is necessary therefore to begin with the great central fact of the gospel, that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, and that through him God has made to men a revelation of his own character and will for their salvation.  This fact is to be first established according to the ordinary rules of human evidence, as has been attempted in the preceding chapters.  After that we come naturally to the inspiration of the record, and can establish it also on a sure foundation.

2.  The great fundamental truth that Jesus is the Son of God, who dwelt from eternity with the Father, knew all his counsels, and was sent by him to this fallen world on a mission of love and mercy, being established on an immovable foundation, we have a sure point of departure from which to proceed in our inquiries respecting inspiration.  It becomes at once a self-evident proposition—­the great axiom of Christianity, we may call it—­that the teaching of Jesus Christ, when he was on earth, was truth unmixed with error.  This he himself asserted in the most explicit terms:  “The Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth.”  John 5:20.  “I am the light of the world:  he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”  John 8:12.  “He that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.”  John 8:26.  “I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.  And I know that his commandment is life everlasting:  whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.”  John 12:49, 50.  Proceeding then from the position of our Lord’s infallibility, let us inquire whether any of his disciples, and if so, who among them, were divinely qualified to teach, and consequently to record, without error, the facts and doctrines of his gospel.  There are but two grades of relationship to Christ with which we can connect such a high endowment:  that of apostles, and that of their companions and fellow-laborers.  Let us consider each of these in order.