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INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE
 

Introduction

  1. Is the Bible infallible, inerrant, inspired?

  2. How was the mind and thought of God recorded, written and preserved?

  3. How can I know that the Bible is inspired of God?

  4. Are there different theories about how the the Bible was written down?

  5. People use the word “inspired” to mean different things.

The Words are from God – Originating with God

Revelation 19:9- These are the the true sayings (words) OF GOD

  1. Old Testament writers claimed this

    1. Isaiah 1:2

    2. Jeremiah 10:1-2

    3. Ezekiel 1:3

    4. Hosea 1:1-2

    5. Micah 1:1

    6. Zechariah 1:1

    7. Exodus 4:22 “Thus says the Lord” - 413 in KJV; 418 in NASB

    8. Genesis 1:3 “And God said” - 46 times in OT

    9. 2 Samuel 23:2

    10. 1 Kings 22:24

    11. 2 Chronicles 20:14-15

  2. New Testament writers claimed this

    1. 1 Corinthians 14:37

    2. Ephesians 3:3-5

    3. 1 Thessalonians 4:15

    4. 1 Timothy 4:1

    5. John 14:26

  3. Inspired men claimed what others wrote is from God

    1. Matthew 1:22

    2. Matthew 2:15

    3. Acts 1:16

    4. Acts 28:25

    5. Hebrews 1:1-2

    6. Matthew 15:4

    7. Matthew 22:29-32

    8. Luke 10:16

    9. John 16:13

  4. Writers denied they wrote from human wisdom

    1. Jeremiah 14:14

    2. Ezekiel 3:26-27

    3. 1 Corinthians 2:4-5

    4. Matthew 10:19-20

    5. Galatians 1:8-12

    6. 2 Peter 1:20-21

    7. Revelation 22:18-19

  5. Writers claimed inspiration for everything in Scripture

    1. Exodus 24:3,4,7,8 – All that was written was God's will and was to be kept

    2. Deuteronomy 17:18-20 – Joshua was to keep all that was written

    3. Matthew 4:4 – Every word is from the mouth of God

    4. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 – All scripture is inspired

  6. Special study from 2 Peter

    1. 2 Peter 1:20-21

    2. 2 Peter 3:15-16

THESE ARE THE WORDS OF GOD – GOD GAVE THE WORDS

Revelation 19:9 These are the true SAYINGS (WORDS) of God

  1. Anything less than accepting EVERY word results in a “pick and choose” option

  2. Exodus 24:3,4,8

  3. Deuteronomy 18:18-22

  4. 2 Samuel 23:2

  5. Isaiah 51:16

  6. Isaiah 59:21

  7. Jeremiah 1:4-9

  8. Jeremiah 30:4-9

  9. Jeremiah 36:1-4

  10. Ezekiel 3:4

  11. Zechariah 7:12

  12. Matthew 10:19-20

  13. 1 Corinthians 2:4

  14. 1 Corinthians 2:10-13

THESE ARE TRUE WORDS – NO ERRORS IN SCRIPTURE

Revelation 19:9 These are the TRUE sayings of God

  1. God does not make errors.

  2. Deuteronomy 18:18-22 Say something not from God = false prophet

  3. Psalm 19:7-9 – perfect, right, true

  4. Psalm 33:4 right and faithfully done

  5. Psalm 119:128,142,160 all God's precepts are right

  6. John 17:17 truth

  7. Romans 3:4 let God be true, every man a liar

  8. Titus 1:2-3 God cannot lie

  9. Hebrews 6:18

  10. Revelation 21:5 words written are true and faithful

OJECTIONS TO INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE

  1. Inspiration violates free will

    1. God as the ability to work through people without violating their free will

    2. Proverbs 21:1

  2. What about contradictions in the Bible?

    1. There are many “alleged” contradictions

    2. They have been dealt with over and over

  3. Manuscript evidence does not support inerrancy of the originals

    1. Simple decision

      1. Original manuscripts are from God – error free

      2. OR they are not from God – are a fraud

    2. The more we discover earlier manuscripts, we see how well preserved the text was kept

  4. Inspiration applies to scripture, not people

    1. God can work through things, events, and people

    2. God can use people to follow His direction

THEORIES OF INSPIRATION

  1. Define the word

    1. Greek – God breathed

    2. English – to breathe in

  2. Theories that I reject

    1. Naturalistic

      1. To naturally get an idea and write it down

      2. Like any author, poet or artist might me “inspired” to work

      3. Problem – this eliminates God's involvement

    2. Mechanical

      1. Man was like a dictation machine

      2. Problems

        1. Paul's logic, vocabulary, style, long sentences, big words

        2. Peter's short sentences, simple vocabulary, small words

        3. Paul 5.2 letters per word; Peter 4.1 letters per word

        4. Luke use of medical terms

        5. Matthew (Jewish measurements, time, coins), Mark (Roman), Luke (Greek)

    3. Dynamic (nomatical)

      1. The idea came from God, the words came from the human writer

      2. Problems

        1. 1 Peter 1:10-12 prophets searched their own writings

        2. Inspiration does not include understanding or acceptance

          1. Peter on Pentecost – Cornelus – Galatians 2

        3. Galatians 3:16

        4. Hebrews 7:12-14

    4. Encounter

      1. The inspiration is in the reader as the words inspire them to believe or obey

      2. Problem – This takes God out of the picture

      3. Problem – It allows anyone to twist and pervert the text to say what they want it to say

        1. Genesis 24:64 – lighted off the camel – Rebekah smoked

        2. Matthew 24:17 – top not (knot) come down

VERBAL / PLENARY INSPIRATION

  1. Definition – God guided man in the thought to be expressed and chose from that man's vocabulary, style, and logic, the words to express that idea

  2. Matthew 10:19-20 – how (words) or what (ideas)

  3. Luke 12:11 – how or what

  4. Luke 21:14-15 – mouth (words) and wisdom (ideas)

  5. Jeremiah 36:6 – written from my mouth

  6. 1 Corinthians 2:9-13

    1. Not naturally known or understood – 9

    2. God revealed them – 10

    3. We have received – 12

      1. Not spirit of the world

      2. Spirit of God

    4. Not in words of man's wisdom – 13

    5. But in words which the Holy Spirit teaches – 13

    6. “Comparing spiritual things with spiritual words” - ASV

  7. 1 Timothy 4:1 – Spirit speaks expressly

CONSEQUENCES OF DENYING VERBAL INSPIRATION

Some say the words of the Bible are not all God's words, but some are of human origin.

There are consequences of such a view.

  1. We are left without any reliable source of authority in religion

    1. Matthew 22:32 – rely on the tense of a verb

    2. Galatians 3:16 – argues on the singular or plural

    3. If the words of the Bible are not ALL from God – we will never know which words are from God and which ones are not from God

  2. We begin a course of continual rejection of Bible teaching

    1. If you reject any one point – we then make room to reject others

    2. Reject creation or flood – miracles of Jesus – Jesus' resurrection

  3. We deny the claims of the Bible writers, implying they are liars, false teachers

    1. They claimed their message was from God – Was this a lie?

    2. They claimed others writings were from God – Were they lying?

  4. We deny that Jesus is God's Son and make Jesus a false teacher

    1. The Bible is the only way to know anything about Jesus

    2. Jesus made claims – reject the record of those claims – rejects Jesus

  5. We bring the curse of God on ourselves

    1. Galatians 1:8-9 – We must not preach a different gospel

    2. 1 Thessalonians 4:8 – To reject what inspired men said is to reject God

Conclusion

  1. There is no middle ground.

  2. Accept inspiration or reject it completely

 

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