Special Study on the Inspiration of Scripture

Goal: That our confidence in our Bible as the very Word of God may be strengthened, and that, as a result, we may approach the Bible with increased trust and a readiness to obey.

What do we mean when we say the Bible is the inspired Word of God? (2 Timothy 3:16a)

“God-breathed”= God is the source of all Scripture

To what extent is Scripture inspired/God-breathed?

Verbal: not only the ideas, thoughts, and intents of the original authors, but their very words (Galatians 3:16)

Plenary: all texts of Scripture are equally inspired

Not necessarily equally important!

1 Chron. 12:23-37 vs. Romans 3:21-26

Implications of Scripture being God-breathed

Inerrant

“Without error”

If the source of something is the perfect God, then the product is necessarily perfect

**The Bible, in its original autographs, is truthful in all it affirms to the degree of precision intended by the original author.**

“Original autographs”

This definition of inerrancy only applies to the original writings of the original authors.

The scribes, copyists, translators, etc were not inspired!

Concursive operation: the Holy Spirit didn’t dictate to the original authors the words He wanted written down, but worked through their personalities, skills, education, etc

Dynamic operation and mechanical dictation are wrong views of inspiration

“The degree of precision intended”

Not everything in the Bible is to be taken literally!

The authors often use phenomenal language, which is words used to describe something from the perspective of the observer rather than a scientific analysis.

Matthew 5:45b

“The Bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way the heavens go.” -Galileo Galilei (quoting a cardinal?)

The Scriptures were never intended to be a treatise on astrophysics!

Infallible

“Incapable of error”

Fully trustworthy and reliable for all time

Authoritative

If the Bible is God’s word to humanity, that leaves us with only one reaction to it: “Yes, Lord!”

The church does not grant the Bible its authority.

Being God’s word gives the Bible intrinsic authority, whether it is obeyed by humanity (including the church!) or not.

Applicable

Because the Bible is the word of the eternal God who is outside time, it shares an eternally relevant message.

The Bible will only become dated at the eschaton (when Christ fulfills all that is promised in the book of Revelation)

As of right now, the Bible still shares the story of a righteous, but loving God who took it upon Himself to save humanity from the consequences of their sin against Him! This good news is still mighty to save sinners by grace through faith in the person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Internal evidence for the inspiration of the Bible

Jesus’ view of the Old Testament

Spoke of it as historically true

Matthew 12:39-42: Jonah and the Queen of Sheba

Luke 4:25-27: Elijah and Elisha

John 3:14: the bronze serpent in Moses’ time

Quoted or alluded to prophecies, showing that He understood the prophets as speaking God’s words

Luke 24:25-27

Matthew 24:15

Spoke of Scripture as absolutely trustworthy and authoritative

John 10:35

The Apostles’ view of the Old Testament

1 Peter 1:19-21

2 Timothy 3:15-17

Romans 3:1-2

The Apostles’ view of the New Testament

2 Peter 3:15-16

Galatians 1:11-12

2 Thess. 2:15

External corroboration of the Bible’s inerrancy

Textual criticism

~5,800 extant manuscripts of the Greek New Testament in which there are no serious differences

There are variations, but none that affect the core message of the gospel or the fundamentals of Christian teaching

Almost all discrepancies can be easily attributed to copyist errors

Archaeological findings

The more archaeologists find from the time periods recorded in the Bible, the more the Bible is shown to be accurate history.

The Tele Dan Stele: first extra-biblical reference to “the House of David”

The Mesha Stele: records Moab’s King Mesha’s conflict with the Israelites

The Pilate Stone: stone inscribed with “Pontius Pilate” found at Caesarea Maritima

Sodom and Gomorrha: evidence found that Sodom and Gomorrha were burned while Zoar was not

The internal witness of the Holy Spirit to the Scriptures’ truth and authority

John 10:27

Subjective, so can be trusted only with corroborating external evidence

Mormonism also teaches the internal testimony, but has almost NO external corroboration.

The Canon of Scripture: Which books are actually God’s Word?

Canon means standard or rule by which all others are measured

Evidence for the canonical books:

Josephus ~ 95 AD: The Jews have “only 22 books”

How did he come up with 22 instead of our 39?

1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra & Nehemiah, Judges & Ruth, Jeremiah & Lamentations, 12 minor prophets were consolidated and considered 7 books instead of 24

The canonical books are quoted and attested to by several sources:

Dead Sea Scrolls

The Bible itself

Philo of Alexandria

Irenaeus

John -> Polycarp -> Irenaeus

Origen

There are early lists of which books should be accepted as authoritative

Muratorian fragment: Late 2nd century, lists 22 out of 27 NT books

Origen’s Homiliae on Josuam: 250 AD

Athanasius’ Festal Letter: 367 AD

What determined a book’s acceptance as authoritative by the early church?

Apostolicity: written by or in conjunction with one of Christ’s apostles

Interesting to read how even the 2nd generation of church bishops (i.e. Clement) refused to place themselves on par with the apostles!

The Apostles’ letters were accepted by the early church as authoritative as soon as they were spoken or written!

This also implies a closed canon (no more authoritative books will ever be written)

Even prophesy is to be judged (1 Corinthians 14:29), whereas Scripture should be approached as absolutely authoritative.

Universal use: recognized by the majority of churches as authoritative

Why do some Bibles have extra OT books?

Council of Trent (1545-1563) was convened by the Roman Catholic Church as a response to the Protestant Reformation.

Sola Scriptura was one of the cries of the Reformation and the RCC tried to combat this by adding the Apocrypha to uphold some of its false teaching (i.e. purgatory).

It anathematized anyone who did not receive the apocryphal books.

This is the only actual case of a church “making” certain texts authoritative! (3.c.ii/iii)

These books were not recognized as Scripture by the church throughout her history.

Doesn’t mean they are bad, just that they are not inspired by God

When quoted, should be treated just like quotes by people

In conclusion, our Bible is the result of God’s love and care for His people. He spoke, His prophets and apostles wrote the words as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, and those words have been preserved by God’s power until this day!

“The Word of God is like a lion. You don’t have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself.” -Charles Spurgeon