Inspiration and Inerrancy of the Bible
Inspiration and Inerrancy of the Bible
The Bible is a collection of books, inspired by God, to be used as God’s revelation of Himself to us. It is God’s doorway to declare his authority over his people. Authority of the Bible is established and/or comes from its own claims. The Old Testament uses the phrase “This is what the Lord says” enough times to give any reader the understanding that it is the word of God. Because the Bible is viewed as God’s Word it is the final word concerning all issues it speaks.
Inspiration is the supernatural guidance of biblical writers by the Holy Spirit. There are different theories as to how God inspired the Bible. Verbal and Plenary inspiration are two theories held by many. These are similar in the belief that they believe the Holy Spirit’s influence was so intense that each word ended up being the exact word God wanted used. Verbal inspiration is more text oriented than author oriented while Plenary holds more to author oriented rather than text oriented. I hold to the belief once taught to me by Dr. Orr that “God is God, and therefore can do anything God wants; God inspired the Bible in his own way; thus the Bible turned out exactly as God intended it”. With this belief I do not try to prove how the Bible was inspired but rather stress the Biblical support of the theories. 2 Timothy 3:16 is one of the verses most used when proving inspiration in that it tells us that all scripture is from God. In 1 Corinthians 2:9-13 we are given Paul’s view to the process of inspiration. In this verse Paul explains that the spirit revealed the things God wanted them to know so that they may understand and write what was freely given to them.
As Christians we view the Bible as inerrant. Inerrancy is the belief that what God inspired in the Bible is without error. In Numbers 23:19 we are taught that God cannot lie, if this is so and the Bible was inspired by God then we are indirectly given support to and definition of inerrancy. There are
The Bible is a collection of books, inspired by God, to be used as God’s revelation of Himself to us. It is God’s doorway to declare his authority over his people. Authority of the Bible is established and/or comes from its own claims. The Old Testament uses the phrase “This is what the Lord says” enough times to give any reader the understanding that it is the word of God. Because the Bible is viewed as God’s Word it is the final word concerning all issues it speaks.
Inspiration is the supernatural guidance of biblical writers by the Holy Spirit. There are different theories as to how God inspired the Bible. Verbal and Plenary inspiration are two theories held by many. These are similar in the belief that they believe the Holy Spirit’s influence was so intense that each word ended up being the exact word God wanted used. Verbal inspiration is more text oriented than author oriented while Plenary holds more to author oriented rather than text oriented. I hold to the belief once taught to me by Dr. Orr that “God is God, and therefore can do anything God wants; God inspired the Bible in his own way; thus the Bible turned out exactly as God intended it”. With this belief I do not try to prove how the Bible was inspired but rather stress the Biblical support of the theories. 2 Timothy 3:16 is one of the verses most used when proving inspiration in that it tells us that all scripture is from God. In 1 Corinthians 2:9-13 we are given Paul’s view to the process of inspiration. In this verse Paul explains that the spirit revealed the things God wanted them to know so that they may understand and write what was freely given to them.
As Christians we view the Bible as inerrant. Inerrancy is the belief that what God inspired in the Bible is without error. In Numbers 23:19 we are taught that God cannot lie, if this is so and the Bible was inspired by God then we are indirectly given support to and definition of inerrancy. There are