John Murray was a professor at Westminster. His collected writings (4 volumes published by Banner of Truth) are among my favorite all time books – –
The second quote below describes a goal that we all should pursue.
“Since we no longer have prophets, since we do not have our Lord with us as he was with the disciples, and since we do not have new organs of revelation as in apostolic times, Scripture in its total extent, according to the conception entertained by our Lord and his apostles, is the only revelation of the mind and will of God available to us. This is what the finality of Scripture means for us; it is the only extant revelatory Word of God (Murray, Collected Writings, Banner of Truth, Vol. 1, 19).”
“But what I am going to stress is the necessity for diligent and persevering searching of the Scriptures; study whereby we shall turn and turn again the pages of Scripture; the study of prolonged thought and meditation by which our hearts and minds may become soaked with the truth of the Bible and by which the deepest springs of thought, feeling and action may be stirred and directed; the study by which the Word of God will grip us, bind us, hold us, pull us, drive us, raise up from the dunghill, bring us down from our high conceits and make us its bondservants in all of thought, life and conduct (Murray, Collected Writing, Banner of Truth, Vol. 1, 3).”
Lloyd-Jones (your previous post) would not have agreed with Murray that “we no longer have prophets”, nor that “we do not have our Lord with us” implies that he does not guide us directly. I am currently reading The Anointing by RT Kendall, who was Lloyd-Jones’ successor at Westminster Chapel, London. Here is how he starts his introduction:
There are two men who have had a considerable influence on me since I have been at Westminster Chapel: Dr D Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Dr Paul Cain.
It may seem strange to mention these two men in the same sentence since they were in some ways poles apart theologically – and have come from opposite ends of the Church – but they have had one thing in common: an openness to the immediate and direct witness of the Holy Spirit.
Paul Cain is of course famous, or infamous, for being a modern-day prophet.
Good point.
But, I am not sure that Lloyd-Jones and Murray were that far apart in their views . . . bottom line is I don’t know. But, certainly they were both highly committed to being Word centered.
Peter, thanks so much for taking the time to comment. You have such good insights. I am thankful for them. Proverbs 27:17.