the sins of the whole world (1 John ii. 2) and offers salvation to all who truly turn to Him (Matt. xi. 28; John vi. 37).

With regard to the Prophets and the Apostles we Christians hold that they were men specially commissioned by God Most High to be preachers and teachers of mankind. Their commission was not to rule, but to warn men to turn from their sins and serve God. The Prophets and the Apostles were not sinless, since only one sinless Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, has ever lived on earth. Regarding His sinlessness we have the testimony of Prophets (Isa. liii. 9; cf. John viii. 46), His own disciples (1 Pet. ii. 22; 1 John iii. 5; Heb. iv. 15), and even of those who put Him to death (Luke xxiii. 4, 14, 47). The Qur'an attributes sin¹ to other prophets, but none to Jesus. With this Muslim Traditions (احاديث) agree.² But in delivering their Divinely given message both Prophets and Apostles were preserved by God's Holy Spirit from teaching any error or omitting any doctrine necessary for salvation (Matt. x. 20; Mark xiii. 11; John xiv. 26; 2 Tim. iii. 16; 2 Pet. i. 21). We Christians believe that Inspiration ((إلهام) was bestowed on the writers of the books of the Bible, but we do not believe that the Torah and the Injil were composed in heaven, ages before the creation of the world, and afterwards dictated word by word to the Prophets and the Apostles, and written down by them or at their command. God did not in such a manner use merely the hands and the tongues of these inspired men; besides this He employed the training and the wisdom which He had given them, their experience, their learning, their minds, hearts, and spirits as well as their bodies, in communicating through them His teaching to mankind. Hence

in Holy Scripture a human element is found as well as a Divine element.

There are in the Bible some doctrines which are above our finite human comprehension. Some people therefore fancy that these are contrary to reason. In reality, however, this is not so. As our reason is God's gift, His True Revelation cannot be contrary to it. But as our Reason has its limits, it is unreasonable to expect that it should be able fully to comprehend the infinite Nature (ذات) of God Most High. If the Bible, or any other book which professes to come from God, gave us such an account of Him as to make everyone able to understand in its entirety the Divine Mode of Being as therein stated, that fact would at once prove the falsity of that book's claim to be from the Infinite God. It will be well to remember this when in the next chapter we consider what has been revealed to us regarding the Divine Nature and Attributes.