Principle No. 6 The Agreement Principle
By Clifton L. Fowler
Taken from Grace and Truth Magazine 1923
For nearly two millenniums the
enemies of the Word of God have determinedly
contended that the Bible abounds in
contradictions, discrepancies, inconsistencies and
inaccuracies. The first great
writer taking the positions of
so-called modernism was
Porphyry. He wrote in the latter part of
the third century, and although his mind had never been
instructed in the “newer conceptions of this enlightened
age,” he took the same positions, to a very large extent,
which are now taken by the modernist. His method of attack
upon the Word of God. was identical with modernism. He
wrote fifteen books against the Bible taking the
Pentateuch, Daniel and many of the other sections which
are the favorite battle grounds of the followers of
Shailer Matthews, George “Albert Coe, Harry Emerson Fosdick, et al. The Christians of that early day recognized Porphyry as a wicked blasphemer and classified his writings
as satanic. Jerome calls him a “rabid dog against Christ.” The claim that the Bible contradicts itself is still
heard. Books are written with such titles as “One Thousand Contradictions from the Bible,” and surface inconsistencies and alleged inaccuracies are paraded before the minds of the untrained as though they were incontrovertible contradictions. The fact of the matter is, not one supposed inaccuracy in the Bible has ever been demonstrated to actually exist. They have all been shown to have been resting upon the flimsy basis of a false transcription, or an
interpretation that is repugnant
to the balance of Scripture. As has been frequently said in
this series of studies on the Eighteen Principles of
Divine Revelation, it is not our purpose in these discussions
to prove the inspiration of the Scriptures. We are simply
seeking to adduce from the Word of God itself proof of
existence of underlying principles of Divine Revelation.
The “Higher Critic” is constantly boasting that his
conclusions are based upon internal evidence. We accept his
challenge and submit the inescapable and indubitable
demonstration that the Fighteen Principles rest upon
nothing more nor less than a convincing array of internal
evidence. The plenary and verbal inspiration of God's Holy
Word is constantly assumed. The definition of the Agreement
Principle is:
THE AGREEMENT PRINCIPLE IS THAT
PRINCIPLE OF DIVINE REVELATION
(a) Under which the truthfulness
and faithfulness of God become His
guarantee that He will not set forth any
passage in His Word which contradicts any
other passage. So common has unfaithfulness and
disloyalty become among men that their conception
of God has become a reflection of their own wicked
and degraded condition. ‘The modernist unhesitatingly
accuses the Lord Jesus Christ of accommodating Himself to the
ignorance of the people of His day in many points in His
teaching. The Saviour is frankly accredited with
“knowing better” but He employed tact in order that He
should not be guilty of antagonizing those whom He was
seeking to teach. ‘This abominable defamation of the moral character of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, is quite generally held by those who have embraced the fallacies of modern thought. Furthermore, the modernist denies the accuracy of the narratives pertaining to the miracles and fancies that he sees on almost every page of the Old Testament contradictions and discrepancies, some minor and some of major importance. To entertain these ideas is to accuse
God of unspeakable falsehood and to deny His faithfulness to His people. The faithfulness of God is declared over and over again in the Word:
“Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven, ‘Thy faithfulness is unto all generations.” (Ps, 119;89-90.)
If God is faithful, and God has
settled His “Word,” then it may be declared with
assurance there is no unfaithfulness or falsehood in that
Word. Because God is faithful He cannot disagree with
Himself. Because God is faithful the Book which purports
to be God’s Book cannot contain discrepancies and
contradictions. If discrepancies and contradictions are
demonstrated to exist in the Bible, then one of two things
becomes inescapably certain, —cither the Bible is not God’s
Book for God is faithful, ‘or else the Bible is God's Book
and God is not faithful, We unhesitatingly repudiate both
of these conclusions and accept the ultimatum of
inspiration,—God is faithful,
and the Bible is His changelessly
harmonious Book. If God is faithful then God does
not falsify. To this the Scriptures bear witness: “God is not man that He should
LIE.” (Num. 23:19.)
“He is the Rock, His work is
perfect, * * * a God of TRUTH and without iniquity;
just and right is He.” (Deut. 32:4.) “The Strength of Israel WILL
NOT LIE.” (1 Sam. 15:29.) “The Word of the Lord is
RIGHT.” (Ps. 33:4.)
“Let God be TRUE but every man a
liar,” (Rom. 3:4)
“In hope of eternal life which
GOD THAT CANNOT LIE, promised
before the world began.” (Titus
1:2) |“and they cried with a loud
voice, saying, How long, O Lord, HOLY AND TRUE.”
(Rev. 6:10.) “I am the Way, the TRUTH, and
the Life.” (Jno. 14:6.) God is not a liar. God does not
contradict Himself. He cannot contradict Himself and
still be GOD. God does not tell us a beautiful
narrative of an astonishing
miracle in order to produce dramatic
effect and then let it be discovered a few thousand years
later that He had put a ‘rather clever one over on His
trusting and credulous people. ‘The positions of modernism
are an insult to God and a repudiation of His Word.
Our God is Truth!
The truthfulness and
faithfulness of God become His ‘guarantee that He will not
allow to creep into His Divine ‘revelation passages the true
meaning of which is repugant to any other passage. ‘The
Agreement Principle is that principle of Divine
Revelation under which God never disagrees with Himself. If
God were to say any‘thing in Genesis which He later
contradicts in Revelation ‘His faithfulness would be
exploded and His truthfulness ‘a farce. Well may the child of
God be grateful for the fact that the Bible so
insistently and repeatedly
declares ‘the truthfulness and
faithfulness of God. Because God {is truthful and God is faithful
even finite man may come ‘to the Bible, that infinite and
celestial Book, knowing that if there comes to his attention
an apparent contradiction, pr: fancied inconsistency, that
it is either his own limitation, which has kept him from
understanding the holy Word, or else Satan himself has
wrought within his soul a God-denying and
Bible-destroying imagination.
Be‘cause God is true and God is
faithful, the Agreement Principle is wrought into the
very warp and woof of God's Book.
Passages which are cloudy
because of faulty translation, have become the
fertile soil in. which J | the enemies of the Bible have
produced fancied discrepancies and imaginary
contradictions. In view of this fact, the value
of the Agreement Principle becomes instantly
self-evident. This principle,
underlying the entire fabric of
revelation declares
unhesitatingly that the veracity and
integrity of God are the perpetual guarantee that the
Bible will unchangingly ‘agree with itself. Hence, when
an obscure passage is
encountered, it must never be
interpreted so as to contradict ‘a clear passage. To contradict
a clear passage with a ‘cloudy one, is to place a
private interpretation on the difficult passage because we
have the chance to do so. The Bible is delightfully definite
on this point:
“Knowing this first that no
prophecy is of any PRIVATE INTERPRETATION.” (II
Pet, 1:20-21.) Surely this is final. Private
interpretation is forbidden. It is manifest from this passage
that the Holy Spirit regards a man’s private
interpretation as dangerous,
indeed so dangerous as to make it the
subject of a specially emphasized warming. By the Holy
Spirit’s thus repudiating private interpretation, it
becomes plain to the ‘earnest
and willing student that the only
correct interpretation of a Bible passage is the AUTHOR'S
INTERPRETATION. The Author of the Bible is
God. ‘The Bible is the sum total of His revelation.
Hence, the Author's notes on any given passage may
be found in the balance of the Scriptures. Dear
fellow-student, have you found an obscure passage which is
puzzling you? Does it seem to contradict some clear
passage? If this has been your experience, beware of using that
cloudy passage to controvert the clear one because of
your private interpretation ; beware of making God contradict
Himself; beware of such high-handed methods of
interpreting God’s Word. Remember because God is true and
God is faithful, Bible passages cannot disagree! Reject
your private interpretation and “search the
Scriptures” for God's interpretation. When you get God's light
on your difficult passage you will find it
perfectly
agrees with all the rest of Scripture. Blessed and happy
contemplation! ‘The Bible is self-interpreting and the
Agreement Principle never breaks down.
The Agreement Principle
Illustrated by Correct interpretation of Obscure
Passages
A cloudy passage, the
interpretation of which has disturbed many of the
writers, is found in Rev. 5:8-10:
“And when he had taken the book,
the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell
down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps,
and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers
of the saints, And they sung a new song, saying, Thou
art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals
thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of every Kindred, and tongue, and people,
and nation, And hast made us unto our God kings and
priests: and we shall reign on the earth,” Let it be observed that both the
beasts (living creatures) and the four and twenty elders
are represented as saying “God hath redeemed US by blood.”
But John 3:16 declares, “God so loved the world”
and that only included MEN, and in Heb. 2:9 we find,
“He tasted death for every MAN.” Now the four living
creatures are shown by Ezekiel to be the four
cherubim and the four and twenty elders are the angelic
leaders of heaven's worship
after which was modeled David's plan
of twenty-four courses of priests. These four living
creatures are not MEN. ‘The twenty-four elders are not
MEN. And the record is that Jesus tasted death for
MEN. ‘Then why do the twenty-four elders say, “He
redeemed US?” ‘This apparent contradiction is
fully cleared up when it is learned that the word “us”
is not in the original text. The Revised Version gives
the correct translation:
“Thou hast redeemed MEN to God *
* * and hast made them unto our God kings and
priests and they shall reign on earth.” This translation is endorsed by
Tregelles, Syriac Testament, Ford C. Ottman, Pember,
Mofiatt, Weymouth, Rotherham, Spurgeon and jas. M.
Gray ‘The recognition of the correct
translation completely does away with the seeming
contradiction and the Agreement Principle is vindicated. Another passage which has been
pointed to as a difficult one is
I Cor. 3:17:
“If any man defile the temple of
God, him shall God DESTROY.” This passage does, indeed, seem
to contradict a truth which lies everywhere upon the
sacred page, the truth of the eternal security of the
believer. It is such passages as the following which seem to
be at variance with I Cor. 3:17.
“I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand.” (Jno, 10:28.)
“All that the Father giveth Me
shall come unto Me; and him that cometh unto Me I
will in no wise cast out.”
(Jno. 6:37.) These two statements of our
Lord Jesus teach most clearly that when a man has once been
saved, his salvation is sure forever,—"I will in no wise
cast out.” But the Corinthian passage declares of the
believer who commits certain sin, “Him shall God
destroy.” The correct translation of 1 Cor.
3:17 adjusts this entire difficulty. The passage
should read:
“If any man mars the temple of
God, God will mar him.” Such authorities as Rotherham,
Weymouth and Syriac Testament agree on this
translation. “The message of the passage at once becomes plain.
If a child of God is guilty of taking his body (the temple
of God) into sin, that will “mar” the body and the result
will be that God will “mar” him. The same Greek word
is used in both places. When the Christian is threatened
with the “marring” of God, it is not destruction but
chastening, Every believer who sins shall be “marred,”
chastened, punished by God, —Whom the Lord loveth He
chasteneth.” And once more it is demonstrated
that the Bible does not contradict itself and that
the Agreement Principle is constantly active. Another supposed contradiction
appears in Revelation 20:13-14:
“Death and hell delivered up the
dead which were in them * * * Death and hell
were cast into the lake of fire.” This passage as it stands in our
Authorized Version, teaches that hell will finally
be depopulated. The prophecy reads, “hell delivered up
the dead,” and following this astonishing depopulation of
hell, it is predicted that hell will be cast into “the lake
of fire.” Now “the lake of fire” is the “everlasting
fire” so often spoken of by Jesus and called by Jesus “hell”
(gehenna). Hence, according to this translation of
Revelation 20:14, hell is to be cast into hell! But there is
still further seeming contradiction, for the Saviour in
speaking of hell repeatedly declares it to be the place of
everlasting burnings, and three times over in one
discourse says of it, Where
their worm dieth not and the fire is
not quenched.” The whole thought of the teaching of
Jesus, on this subject, is permanence and eternality. But
Revelation 20:1 3-14 in the Authorized Version teaches
that hell is only a temporary residence for the
unbelieving dead. Confusion could scarcely be made worse. If
hell is to be depopulated then it is not the place of
“everlasting fire,” nor is it
the place where “their worm dieth
NOT and the fire is NOT quenched.” If the Bible teaches
such gross contradiction as this and then adds the
absurdity that hell is to be
cast into hell, we can no longer
expect men to place faith in such a Book. But the solution of this enigma
is readily understood the moment the correct
translation of the Revelation
passage is seen:
“Death and
hades delivered up
the dead which were in them * * * Death and
hades were cast into the lake of fire.” It is hades which is to be
depopulated. Hell is not hades. Hades is the temporary
prison-house of the disembodied souls of the unbelieving dead.
Hell is the eternal torture-house of the unbelieving dead
after resurrection. Hades will have eventually served its
purpose and will be done away. Hell is never to be done
away. The correct translation shows conclusively that
this is another point where God's Word is perfect. The
supposed contradiction turns out to be a
mistranslation. The defect
proves to be but a human finger mark on the
impeccable word of God. No matter how patent a seeming
contradiction may be, the puzzled student of the Bible
may confidently apply the Agreement Principle by faith,
being assured that when all the facts are known the
integrity and perfection of the Bible will be fully vindicated.
The Agreement Principle
Illustrated by Bible ‘Testimony on Topics of Human
Disagreement
There are certain Bible
subjects which have, for many years, been the centers for
theological wars. Because men have so completely
failed to agree on’ these themes they are
particularly valuable to use as demonstrations of the Agreement
Principle. The Bible testimony on these subjects, as
well as every other subject, is invariably harmonious and
complete. In such instances, the
hopeless confusion and
disagreement of men becomes the dark background which causes
the Divine perfection and agreement of the Scripture
to stand forth with special beauty and radiance. The truth about the scattering
of Israel and her future restoration to great glory and
the headship of the nations is utterly unknown to some, and
positively rejected by many. Writers on Bible themes
are utterly at variance with one another on this
important Bible subject. What is the teaching of God's Word on
the dispersion and restoration of Israel? Is it an
harmonious line of teaching throughout the Bible or is it,
like the maudlin guesses of men, self-contradictory? Let the
Bible speak for itself in answering this inquiry. Moses
wrote in Deut. 30:1-3:
“And it shall come to pass, when
all these things are come upon thee, the blessing
and the curse, which IT have set before thee, and
thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither
the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return
unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey His voice
according to ail that I command this day, thou and thy
children, with all thine heart, and with all thy
soul; that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity,
and have compassion upon thee, and will return and
gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy
God hath scattered thee.” Notice the
expressions employed by the Holy
Spirit in this passage. They
fall into groups of two, and
each group. carries the same
message:
Vs. 1—The Curse.
The Blessing.
Vs. 2—The Lord hath driven thee
* * *.
Thou * * * shalt return:
Vs. 3—God hath scattered thee.
God will turn thy captivity and
have compasion * * * and will return and
gather thee from all the nations. The explicitness of God’s Book is
the comfort of God's people. The Agreement Principle
begins to show up with astonishing clarity. The
dispersion and restoration of Israel are plainly and
repeatedly declared in this
portion from Deuteronomy. Do other
Scriptures on this subject continue this remarkable
agreement?
Isaiah 11:12 says:
“And He shall set up an ensign
for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts
of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.”
Ezekiel 36:19 and 24 says:
“And I scattered them among the
heathens, and they were dispersed through the
countries * * *, For I will take you from among the
heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and
will bring you into your ‘own land.”
Psalms 147:2 says:
“The Lord doth build up
Jerusalem; He gathereth together the outcasts of
Israel.”
Jeremiah 23:3 says:
“And I will gather the remnant
of my flock out of all countries whither I have
driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and
they shall be fruitful and increase.”
Amos 9214-15 says:
“And I will bring again the
captivity of my people of Israel, and they
shall build
the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall
plant vineyards, and ‘drink the wine thereof; they shall
also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will
plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be
pulled up out of their land which I have given them,
saith the Lord thy God.”
Romans 11:25-26 says:
“For I would not, brethren, that
ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye
should be wise in your own, conceits; that blindness in part
is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the
Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved; as it
is written, ‘There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer,
and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” Agreement! ‘There is naught but
agreement. Moses and Isaiah, Ezekiel and the
Psalmist, Jeremiah and Amos,
yes, and even Paul, join in one
united testimony of God’s judgment and God's blessing of
future restoration on Israel. The separation of many
centuries does not interfere with Biblical agreement for
there is one Mind Who is the source of all Scripture.
Vast differences of training in the lives of the writers do
not hinder agreement because “all Scripture is given by
inspiration of God.” ‘The very subject upon which human minds
fumble and fall and become enmeshed in controversy
is the theme upon which God delights to exhibit the
matchless beauty and doctrinal perfection of His inspired Word.
From Genesis to Revelation the Agreement Principle
is active in the Bible. Here is a powerful key which
when placed in the hands of faith, will unlock to
the willing soul the richest treasures of God's unmeasured
grace and deliver intact every promise and precept of the
Book of books.
Copyright 1923, Clifton L.
Fowler |
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