INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE

 

Definition

  • Inspiration is the supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit, who through different personalities and literary styles of the chosen human authors invested the very words of the original books of Holy Scripture, alone and in their entirety, as the very Word of God without error in all that they teach or imply (including history and science), and the Bible is thereby the infallible rule and final authority for faith and practice of all believers

 Analogy

  • When a progressive/liberal Christian tries to argue that the Bible is not God’s Word because it was transcribed by imperfect man (only imperfection comes from imperfection) the best way to respond is by asking the following question. When Jesus was born, was He perfect? They will not deny His perfection. If Jesus was perfect and He came forth through Mary, then it is possible for something perfect to come from something that is imperfect. We should not be so quick to limit God.

Plenary – Verbal Inspiration

  • There are a few different theories of Inspiration but there is only one that is consistent with the Historical Orthodox Christian faith: Plenary- Verbal Inspiration. All other theories, in some way, shape, or form compromise Scripture and should be avoided.
    • Verbal Inspiration
      • Numerous passages make it evident that the locus of revelation and inspiration is the written Word, the Scriptures (Greek: grapha), not simply the idea or even the writer.
      • When referring to the Old Testament as the authoritative Word of God, the New Testament most often (over ninety times) uses the phrase “it is written” (cf. Matt. 4:4,7,10). Jesus described this written word as that which “comes out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).
    • Plenary Inspiration
      • Biblical inspiration is not only verbal (located in the words), but it is also plenary, meaning that it extends to every part of the words and all they teach or imply

Consequences of Rejecting (or Limiting) Inspiration

  • Scripture is the supreme authority for truth, it is therefore a standard by which we measure all things. It is what we go to when appealing to a higher authority than ourselves because it is God’s Word. When you limit Inspiration, you are making man the authority and not the Bible because than it is man who determines whether or not certain portions are inspired rather than all.
  • Your method of Interpretation (Hermeneutics) is compromised because then you can pick and choose which passages you want to accept as God’s Word and which are not.