Christ shall profit you nothing.”  Gal. 5:2.  In the memorable letter of the apostles and elders to the Gentile churches, Acts 15:23-29, they say, “It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.”  “To the Holy Ghost and to us” can mean only, to us under the guidance of the Holy Ghost.  Besides such explicit assertions as the above, there is a tone of authority running through the apostolic writings which can be explained only from their claim to speak with divine authority.  They assert the weightiest truths and make the weightiest revelations concerning the future, as men who know that they have a right to be implicitly believed and obeyed.  What majesty of authority, for example, shines through Paul’s discussion of the doctrine of the resurrection, 1 Cor., ch. 15, where he announces truths that lie wholly beyond the ken of human reason.  “Behold,” says he, “I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,” as one who has perfect assurance that he speaks from God.  The same tone of certainty runs through all the remarks which the apostle John interweaves into his gospel, as well as through his epistles, and through the other apostolic writings.

To sum up in a single sentence what has been said respecting the apostles:  When we consider the strong presumption, arising from the necessity of the case, that they must have been divinely qualified to teach and write without error, the explicit promises of Christ that they should be thus qualified, and their explicit claims under these promises, we have full evidence that they wrote, as well as spoke, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and consequently that their writings are of divine authority.

4.  In the second grade of relationship to Christ stand men who, like Mark and Luke, were not themselves apostles, but were the companions of apostles, and their associates in the work of preaching the gospel.  We are not authorized to place them in the same rank with the apostles.  Yet they had the gift of the Holy Spirit, which was always given in connection with ordination at the hands of the apostles.  If, in addition to this, their connection with some of the apostles was of such an intimate nature that we cannot suppose them to have written without their knowledge and approbation, we have for their writings all the apostolic authority that is needed.  The intimate relation of Luke to the apostle Paul has been already sufficiently shown.  We have good ground for believing that he was with him when he wrote both the gospel and the book of Acts.  The intimate connection of Mark with the apostle Peter is shown by the unanimous testimony of the primitive churches, and is confirmed, moreover, by an examination of the peculiarities of his gospel.  In entire harmony with the position of these two evangelists is the character of their writings.  They never assume the office of independent teachers, but restrict themselves to a careful record of the works and words of Christ and his apostles.