Gabriel Lopez Theology 201 B09 201140 Short Essay #1

Short Essay on Bibliology: Inspiration and Inerrancy of the Bible Many dispute the claims that the Bible makes for itself in that is the inspired, inerrant, and authoritive Word of God. In its pages are the revelation of God to man in Jesus Christ for the purpose of salvation (2 Tim 3:15). We know this to be true of God, that in Him and in Him alone we find authority, and that there is no higher authority outside of Him. H D McDonald wrote, Authority of God is, then, the authority of what God is, which is made known in His selfdisclosure, since only in His revelation can God be known. Revelation is therefore the key to Gods authority, so that the two, revelation and authority, may be regarded as two sides of the same reality. In revelation God declares His authority. (McDonald 2001) Now that the question of authority has been answered it is important to understand and essentially clarify the meaning of inspiration. Inspiration is the process by which God chose to reveal Himself, apart from general revelation, through His written Word. By His Word, we mean being Gods own Word written by men and superintended by His Holy Spirit as the divine author, it is whole and was verbally given with the incorporation of the writers personality without any error or fault. In 2 Timothy 3:16 we read that all scripture is God breathed and also in 2 Peter 1:19-20 we read that no prophecy came from the will of man but rather that men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. The Bible itself also testifies that it is the Word of God. Dr Elmer Towns states, Over 3,000 times in the Scripture the authors claim their message is from God. Expressions like thus saith the Lord appears approximately 500 times in the Pentateuch and over 1200 times

in the prophets. (Towns 2008) Now if that evidence alone is not enough we cannot deny the empirical evidence we have concerning the fulfillment of prophecy. Again to quote Towns, he states, The strongest empirical argument that the Bible is the Word of God is based on its demonstrated ability to predict the future. (Towns 2008) In light of the predictions that Scripture has made regarding the predictions concerning the Messiah, His birth, life, death, burial and resurrection, it is hard not to see the Bible as the inspired Word of God. I dont think men of their own accord could have been that accurate apart from divine inspiration. Now there is still a question that must be answered and it is one that proves to be of equal importance of the previous two. If men were the authors, and men are fallible and sinners, how do we know that the Bible is without error? Could the authors who penned the Scriptures have made mistakes? This are valid questions and indeed the authors were fallible themselves being men and were capable of making mistakes. But one must ask the question, If God is perfect and in Himself without error and is indeed who we believe Him to be, then we must conclude that inspiration being wholly and verbally given from God is without error or fault. Because God doesnt make mistakes then we must trust his process of revelation to be without mistakes. Again we will see that scripture itself testifies of its inerrancy. Though it is never explicitly stated, it is directly implied. P D Feinberg states, First, the bible teaches its own inspiration, and this requires inerrancy. The scriptures are the breath of God, which guarantees they are without error. (Feinberg 2001) There is also an interesting parallel to the prophet of God and the Word of God. In Deuteronomy 13:1-5, our heavenly Father has laid out the requirements for the nation of Israel to see whether or not a message was from Him or whether the prophet was a false teacher. The parallels are according to Feinberg, The prophets word was usually oral, although

it might be recorded in a book; the writers of Scripture communicated Gods Word in written form. Both were instruments of divine communication, and in both cases the human element was the essential ingredient. (Feinberg 2001) Now there are objectives to the biblical argument for the inerrancy of scripture. We must also realize that those who oppose any of the four major arguments, whether biblical, Historical, or ontological will always scrutinize any valid, sound argument to the inerrancy of Scripture. The biggest objection to the biblical argument is that nowhere in scripture does the Bible say that it is infallible or inerrant. This statement is always implicitly stated. In the years leading up to the reformation, false teachings and tradition dominated the Church and caused it to fall into a state of apostasy. Many godly men died for the sake of returning the Church back to how our Father intended it to be and to restore the authority back to its rightful place in the Word of God. It seems that our enemy still has his sights set on crippling the Church by allowing the false teachers and those who deny the authority, inspiration, and inerrancy of the Word of God to return authority to the hands of wicked men who call themselves His Church. We should be careful not deny the Word of God its authority over the lives of Christian men and women so that we may be obedient to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Bibliography Feinberg, P D. "Bible, Inerrancy and Infallibility, of." In Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, by Walter A Elwell, 157-159. Grand Rapids: BakerAcademic, 2001. McDonald, H D. "Bible, Authority of." In Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, by Walter A. Elwell, 153-155. Grand rapids: BakerAcademic, 2001. Towns, Elmer L. Theology for Today. Mason: Cengage Learning, 2008.