The Inspiration of Scripture

Man on the Island

What does the man on the Island need?

• To repent of his sins.• To hear the gospel.• To believe in Jesus Christ as his Savior.

• Ultimately, he needs a man with a Bible to show up.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 

13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

What is the Bible?

“The Bible is a collection of writings that Christians consider uniquely inspired and authoritative. While it is one unified book, the Bible is also a compilation of sixty-six smaller books, or literary works. These works produced by men of various historical time periods, backgrounds, personalities, and cultures, claim the Holy Spirit as the ultimate authority and safeguard behind their writing.”

Rob Plummer

What makes up the Bible?

• Old Testament• New Testament

• What about the Apocrypha?

Old Testament• 39 books? Or 36?• Language:– Hebrew– Greek Septuagint

• Threefold Division– Law– Prophets–Writings

New Testament• 27 books• Originally written on scrolls or

codices of papyrus• Order of the New Testament

Modern Bible• Based off of Greek and Hebrew

Manuscripts– Some as old as 2nd or 3rd century

• 66 books recognized officially since their writing.–What about the Council of Nicaea?

Didn’t they decide which books were in and which books were out?

Theories of Inspiration• Naturalistic Theory• Dynamical Theory• The “Pep Talk” Theory• Mechanical Theory a.k.a. Dictation

Theory• Verbal Plenary Inspiration

Features of Verbal Plenary Theory

• God’s Inspiration• Man’s Personality• Genre– Narrative, History, Poetry, Prophecy,

Epistles, etc.

What is Inspiration?• Basic definition:“Inspiration is the result of the divine

power working on, in, or through the prophets, apostles, and writers which enabled them to deliver or to record in a trustworthy manner the truth received in revelation.” J. McKee Adams

• Better definition:“The Biblical books are called inspired as the Divinely

determined products of inspired men: the Biblical writers are called inspired as breathed into by the Holy Spirit, so that the product of their activities transcends human powers and becomes Divinely Authoritative. Inspiration is... usually defined as the supernatural influence exerted on sacred writers by the Spirit of God, by virtue of which their writings are given Divine trustworthiness.”

B.B. Warfield

Features of an Inspired Text• Authority• Sufficiency

The Autographs• Inspiration is only applied to the

inspired autographs.• Autograph = the original manuscript

What do we do about the autographs?

• Deuteronomy 17:18-21• 18 “And when he sits on the throne of his

kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them,

20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.

• Luke 4:16-21And he came to Nazareth, where he had been

brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,because he has anointed meto proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,to set at liberty those who are oppressed,to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to

the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

• Matthew 23:17-19• “...which is greater, the gold or the

temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?”

What Does the Bible Say About Itself?

• 2 Peter 1:20-21• ...no prophecy of Scripture comes from

someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

• Luke 24:44• Then he said to them, “These are

my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

• John 16:13• When the Spirit of truth comes, he

will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

The Content of Revelation• 1 Cor. 2:12-13•12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

Content Continued• 1 Peter 1:24-25• ...For “All flesh is like grass and all its glory

like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Content Continued• Hebrews 1:1• Long ago, at many times and in many

ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Church History and Inspiration

You may ask, “Isn’t this a new view? Are you sure Protestants didn’t just

make this up?”

Irenaeus (130-200)• Scripture is inspired.• Scripture is sufficient.• Scripture is authoritative

Basil the Great (330-379)• “Therefore, let God-inspired Scripture

decide between us; and on whichever side be found doctrines in harmony with the word of God, in favor of that side will be cast the vote of truth.” Here Basil supports the inspiration and perspicuity of Scripture, and goes on to define it as sufficient and authoritative.

• Basil cont’d:• “To delete anything that is written

down or to interpolate anything not written amounts to open defection from the faith and makes the offender liable to a charge of contempt.”

Augustine• “Let us not hear, “This I say, this you

say, but thus says the Lord.” Surely it is the books of the Lord on whose authority we both agree and which we both believe. There let us seek the church; there let us discuss our case.”

• “I do not want the church proved by human documents but by divine oracles.”

Baptist Faith and Message 2000

“The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man.”

• 1 Cor 15:3-4• For I delivered to you as of first importance

what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

• Ultimately, inspiration is about a ‘received word’: a special revelation.

The Received Word

Next Week

Inerrancy