The apostle Paul after his supernatural experience on the road to Damascus was certain the Word of God he received was inspired, incorruptible, indestructible and indispensable. Some scholars ask if our Christianity is Paulean – a sort of religion created by Paul. I think no because recorded elsewhere is a prophetic word in which Jesus says he will choose Paul and put him through a rigorous life experience as a form of punishment for his persecution of converts who believed that Jesus was indeed the Messiah all Judaism had been awaiting.
Paul was a genius. He began his “career” as a student on his way to becoming a Rabbi. His Rabbi-teacher said of him something like this: My main problem with this young man is he reads quickly and remembers everything. I am constantly in search of more manuscripts for him.
This is evident in Paul’s writings. He understood and recalled scriptures and then received inspiration to write more from the Living Word of God whom (as you should know) was Jesus the Christ walking amongst men and women here on earth.
I am confident what Paul wrote is the authoritative word God wanted for us to receive. I may debate that some apocryphal books should have been included, but we have to accept that what we have is enough to understand The Gospel and God’s intentions for our lives.
Paul wrote: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Since “all Scripture is inspired by God,” then no scripture is uninspired. It is God-breathed, breathed into by God, or inspired. Let’s remember, this word “scripture” must have been referring to Old Testament writings because Paul could not have known that a “New Testament” would be printed in the 1600’s!
The Rabbis taught that the Spirit of God rested on and in the teachings of Moses (the law) and the prophets and spoke using these writings so that the authority/authorship of their words came from the mouth of God. These men spoke and wrote with inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The New Testament church was in full agreement with this view of inspiration.
Literally, the apostle Paul says, “All Scripture, or every Scripture, is God-breathed.” It is God inspired. The Bible is the authoritative Word of God because it is divinely authorized. God inspired it. The whole Old Testament is divinely inspired. Extensions of the same claim to the New Testament is not expressly stated, however it is more than merely implied. The New Testament is equally authoritative to the Old Testament. The apostles expressly declared their inspired proclamation to be the Word of God (1 Cor. 4:1; 2 Cor. 5:20; 1 Thess. 2:13).
When you accept the plenary, or full, inspiration of the Scripture God’s superintendence of the whole implies inerrancy of the content. It logically follows that after Jesus came to us and sent out apostles to preach and suffer as they did – which no one would do unless he had received the leading of the Holy Spirit at the first Pentecost – then it must be that what is between the covers of our Bible is what God wanted there.
The inerrancy of the Scriptures is consistent with what the Bible says about itself. The whole Bible is “the seat of authority.” The historical evangelical position is the divine inspiration, complete trustworthiness, and full authority of the Bible. Scripture is authoritative and fully trustworthy because it is inspired by God.
The divine authority of the Scriptures rests eventually and solely on it’s being God-breathed. The Scriptures are God-breathed in all its parts.
Modern people attempt to prove the Bible is wrong and often wind up (if they do honest research) being converted. They prove to themselves the Bible is right. This website contains several articles from the sciences which support that what hints are so cryptically dropped into Bible verses are actually true. With absolute certainty we have satisfactory proof from many scientific disciplines that the Universe was created and is constantly maintained, and that the activities of humankind are overseen by a vast intelligence we call by a title “God” (with a capital G) or The Lord. Poetically we may use other terms, commonly “Yah” from YAWH (Hebrew has no written vowel sounds). The best pronunciation I have learned is from Rabbis in Jerusalem who say Ya ho VAH (accent at the end syllable.) But we are reticent to pronounce the name because it is too Holy to cross our lips, so you will hear Jews saying “Ha Shem” which means “the unpronounceable name.”
It is not that the Bible is wrong. The issue is, our interpretation and understanding of what is written is wrong! The Bible does not need correction. WE need correction. It is never our place to edit the true meaning of scripture. We can change from Olde English to modern English to be more understandable, but must be careful to avoid changing meanings of words, which may lead to misunderstandings of sentences, paragraphs, even entire doctrine! If someone says, “God is a female” it changes everything. If another claims YAWH is God and Jesus is ANOTHER God the religion becomes Poly-Theism. Suddenly we are worshipping two Gods. That is not what was intended and indeed Jesus on several occasions said he spoke what God told him to speak and that God was the only one who is Good and the only authority.
Most Christian teachers believe in biblical inerrancy and infallibility. With confidence they confess faith in the divine origin of the Bible, saying “It is completely truthful and trustworthy.”
The New Testament is no less authoritative because it is the fulfillment of the Old and as we read and compare it fits together as perfectly as machined puzzle pieces. Jesus, the apostles, the early church, all clearly agreed that the Old Testament scriptures were/are absolutely trustworthy. They are authoritative because they are God’s fully inspired Word. The authority of the Bible is divine authority. God is the author. All no man to tell a church body that he rejects a portion of the Bible and let no Pastor debate with him(!) because; That debate logically devolves into everyone tearing out of the Bible the pages with which they disagree until there is nothing left but confetti lying about and the theological study is a ruin.
In our modern, “progressive”, better called “permissive” or Godlessly Immoral times, too many would be quite happy to destroy the entire doctrine and replace it with something else from a dark Principality. Don’t let it happen in your church! (and…. I think I have that statement from divine inspiration.)
The doctrine of plenary, verbal inspiration stresses that the Holy Spirit acted in relationship with the biblical writers so as to render them infallible revealers of God’s truth. We can therefore have complete confidence in God’s infallible Word. The New English Bible says, “It was not through any human whim that men prophesied of old; men they were, but, impelled by the Holy Spirit they spoke the words of God.”
Why the importance of the doctrine of inerrancy in a day when most people detest moral authority? This great doctrine of Christianity avoids instability in expounding authoritative doctrine and morals. It must to maintain the cohesiveness of Western Civilization.
If what we say is wrong, I say it is better to err on the side of the conservative civility that has worked for centuries, rather than to replace it with a modern Atheist experiment.
In our day it is in vogue to “honor the authority of Jesus Christ” rather than the authority of Scripture. This is to contradict Jesus’ teaching, since Jesus held the highest possible view of Scripture. It is illogical to choose from the teaching of Jesus during His earthly ministry only those elements that serve one’s own presuppositions. To do so would be to reject the full trustworthiness of Scriptures. How would you know the Jesus you worship is the same as the one the Scriptures declares to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world? Without His resurrection we are still in our sins.
Without Biblical authority our courts are broken, our governments are corrupted, our schools are teaching something revolutionary and revolting, and our future is destined for the trash bin of history!
Remove the doctrine of full divine inspiration and inerrancy of the Scriptures in whole and in part and you effectively remove any reason why a person’s life ought to be transformed by Jesus the Christ. You might then live any life-style you so desire. The great tragedy in our day is, that is what many people are doing and where many communities and countries are going!
You cannot tell the difference between the Christian and non-Christian in today’s society. The only cure to our societal ills is a return to study of The Holy Bible! It is orderly and proper for the body of believers to encourage their Pastors to do and preach this. If we will return to God, seek his face, and study and follow His Word and His Ways, He promises to heal our land. It’s time to quite the Secular Humanistic debates and return to the authority of God’s Holy Writ!
Inspirational Notes From: www.abideinchrist.com
HOME
712 total views, 3 views today
