# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1886_S58
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

58 Proceedings of the eleventh convention

Similar is the proof in 2 Pet. 1:19-21: "We have a
sure prophetic word..... And this ye shall know first, that
no prophecy in Scripture comes of any private interpretation; for it has
never been that prophecy was brought forth by human will; but
holy men of God spoke, moved by the
Holy Ghost." Here too everything is traced back to divine
working. Not only what the holy men of God thought, but also
what they uttered happened under the influence of the Holy
Spirit, and indeed so that they nowhere followed their own will.

That the LORD Christ and the apostles really regarded and treated the expressions
of Holy Scripture as stemming from God is evident also from all those passages of Scripture
where in an argument that is being conducted a single word is what matters. If the
expression there were not also inspired by the Holy Spirit, all such proofs
would fall to the ground; one would only need to say: How do you know that precisely
this word was chosen by God and not by the apostles themselves? Now
we read in John 10:34: "Jesus answered them: Is it not
written in your law: I said, Ye are gods?" Christ
appeals here to Ps. 82:6: "I have said: Ye are gods."
The LORD holds this up to his adversaries, who object that he
calls himself God. Even men, the LORD would say, are in
Scripture called gods. You cannot shake that, for Scripture
says it. Therefore the LORD continues in v. 35: "If he called them gods
unto whom the Word of God came; and the Scripture cannot
be broken." If the Jews could now have said:
"You cannot bind and convict us with the single expression in the psalm;
the single word does not matter," Christ's proof would have collapsed. But that the Jews dare not say of the
Old Testament. For Christ could say to them: Even
this single word gods cannot be broken, this you must recognize as
God's Word. So the LORD Christ appeals to Ps. 110:1
for the fact that he is the LORD, when it says in Matt. 22:43-44: "How then
doth David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying: The LORD said
unto my Lord?" etc. That David, then, in the Spirit calls Christ
Lord is a circumstance which the LORD Christ takes up, with which
he argues and stops the mouths of his enemies. Paul proceeds likewise
with the word Gentiles. He cites from the Old Testament
several passages where it is said of the Gentiles that they praise God.
Rom. 15:9-12: "And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his
mercy; as it is written: For this cause I will confess to thee among the
Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And again he saith: Rejoice,
ye Gentiles, with his people. And again: Praise the LORD, all
ye Gentiles, and laud him, all ye peoples. And again, Isaiah saith: