3: 8. "The wind bloweth where it listeth." Without
pronouncing dogmatically, it must be said that the translation of
Bengel and some others--"_The Spirit breatheth where he wills, and thou
hearest his voice_"--has reasons in its favor which are well-nigh
irresistible; _e.g._, If _to pneuma_ here is the _wind_, it has one
meaning in the first part of the sentence and another meaning in the
second; and that meaning too, one which it bears in no other instance
of the more than two hundred and seventy uses of the word in the New
Testament. It is not the word used in Acts 2: 2, as might be expected
if it signified wind. Then it seems unnatural to ascribe volition to
the wind, _thelei_. On the contrary, if the words apply to the Spirit,
the saying is in entire harmony with other Scriptures, which affirm the
sovereignty of the Holy Ghost in regeneration (John 1: 13) and in the
control and direction of those who are the subjects of the new birth (2
Cor. 12: 4-11).

[2] The proof that the inspiration of the apostles and scribes of the
New Testament was not transmitted to successors is thus stated by
Neander: "A phenomenon singular in its kind is the striking difference
between the writings of the apostles and those of the apostolic
fathers, so nearly their contemporaries. In other instances
transitions are wont to be gradual, but in this instance we observe a
sudden change. There is no gentle gradation here, but all at once an
abrupt transition from one style of language to another--a phenomenon
which should lead us to acknowledge the fact of a special agency of the
Divine Spirit in the souls of the apostles and of a new creative
element in the first period."--_Church History_, II., 405.

[3] There are the strongest reasons for rejecting the rendering of this
passage as given in the Revised Version: "_Every Scripture inspired of
God is also profitable_", etc. The reader will find the objections to
this rendering powerfully and conclusively set forth in Tregelles on
Daniel. Note, p. 267.

[4] Lee on the "Inspiration of the Holy Scripture," pp. 32, 33.

[5] See Lange's "Commentary" _in loco_.

[6] I am satisfied only with the style of Scripture. My own style and
the style of all other men cannot satisfy me. If I read only three or
four verses I am sure of their divinity on account of their
inimitableness. _It is the style of the heavenly court.--Oetinger_.

[7] Rothe, "Dogmatics," p. 238.

[8] For example, Shak