IT IS AVAILABLE TO ALL:
Do you read the Bible on a regular basis? Some people do not own a Bible; this is evidence that they possess little or no knowledge of God, the right path to pursue in lifestyle, or in other areas of existence. It is such a shame to know nothing of God and His way of righteousness since the Bible is available to anyone today. You see; the Bible is available to read and examine at any library or any religious establishment. There is no reason for anyone to be ignorant of the Bible’s teaching on any subject.
IS IT IMPORTANT?
The Bible and knowledge about its contents is important to everyone for a number of reasons, let me list a few:
The Bible claims for itself that it is authored by GOD:
2 Timothy 3:15-16, “15 And that from a babe thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 Every scripture inspired of God (is) also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness.” ASV
NOTE:
Definition of inspiration — INSPIRATION. The doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture is of immense importance. This is at once apparent when one considers that all Christian doctrine are developed from the Bible and rest upon it for authority. L.Boettner is correct when he calls the biblical teaching of inspiration “the mother and guardian of all the others” (Studies in Theology {1947}, p. 48). An unsound view of inspiration of Scripture is bound to countenance unsound views, produce distorted teachings or serious gaps in essential doctrinal systematization, or offer a temptation to too easy subscription to plausible but unsound scientific or philosophic theorizing.
The Scriptural Definition of Inspiration. In defining divine inspiration in the distinctive sense in which it is employed in Holy Scriptures, the difference in meaning of this expression from revelation and illumination must be carefully comprehended.
Revelation. Revelation, which may be oral or written, may be defined, as an operation of God communicating to man truth that otherwise man could not know. Since man was created in God’s image and endowed with capacity to know God, it is rational to expect that God would communicate Himself and His mind to man.
Inspiration. “A supernatural influence exerted on the sacred writers by the Spirit of God, by virtue of which their writings are given Divine trustworthiness”) B. B. Warfield, “Inspiration,” Int. Std. Bible Ency., p. 1473).
In defining scriptural inspiration three factors must be kept in mind:
FIRST, the primary efficient Cause, the Holy Spirit, who acts upon man.
SECOND, the subject of inspiration, man, the agent upon whom the Holy Spirit acts directly;
THIRD, the result of inspiration, a written revelation, given once for all time (i.e. Jude 3 – glc), thoroughly accredited and tested by miracle and fulfilled prophecy (cf. J.E. Stein Mueller, Companion to Scripture Studies {1941}, 1:5, 14).
Illumination, Illumination is a ministry of the Holy Spirit that enables all who are in right relation wit
God to understand the objective written revelation. Thus, revelation and recording, and illumination, understanding or comprehending the written objective revelation.
In other words,
*Revelation comprehends God’s giving truth.
**Inspiration embraces man under divine control accurately receiving the truth thus given.
***Illumination deals with man’s understanding the God-given, inspired revelation (1 Cor 2:13).
Revelation as it concerns Holy Scripture had a specific time period involving the inspiration of certain sovereignty chosen individuals as the recipients of the Revelation. It is plain that all of these divine operations have ceased.
THE SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION.
The Fact of inspiration Stated.
2 Timothy 3:16-17, “16 Every scripture inspired of God (is) also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness.
17 That the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.” ASV
Five great truths are herein taught:
FIRST, the plenary inspiration of the Bible, “all”;
SECOND, The plenary inspiration specifically of the O.T., plainly implying the entire N.T. as well, that is, “all Scripture”;
THIRD, the divine authorship of Scripture-“inspired by God” (“God breathed”);
FOURTH, the supreme value of all Scripture to the spiritual life, “profitable fir teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness”;
FIFTH, the holy purpose of Scripture, “that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
The Fact of Inspiration Implied.
The sacred authors were prophets and apostles of God’s Word in the highest sense of the term. Scripture is filled with such expressions as “Now the Word of the Lord came … saying” (1 Kings 16:1); “Thus the Lord said to me … (Jeremiah 13:1); “The word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel” (Ezek 1:3). The apostle Paul and others claimed to speak by direct revelation)Eph 3:1-10; etc.). Prophets spoke of future events (such as Moses’ foretelling the coming of the great Prophet, Christ- Deut 18:15-18) and have had their predictions verified during succeeding centuries. David (Psalm 22 and Isaiah (Isaiah 53 minutely prophesied the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ. Daniel previewed the rise of Persia, Greece, and Rome (Daniel 2:37-40; 7:4-7). Some prophets, such as Moses, Elijah, and Elisha, had their messages authenticated by miracles. Others had an irresistible compulsion to speak, such as Jeremiah (Jeremiah 20:9). They were often commanded to write their utterances or wrote under divine leading (Exodus 24:4; Deut 27:8; Isaiah 30:8; Jeremiah 30:2; Luke 1:1-3; etc.).
Nature of inspiration.
2 Peter 1:20-21, “20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation. 21 For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.” ASV
This pivotal passage deals with the question of how Scripture was inspired.
FIRST, it declares how it did not originate-it is not “a matter of one’s interpretation.” It is not the result of human research nor the product of the writer’s own thought. It did not come into being by the will of man.
Man did not purpose to write it, decide its subject matter, or outline its arrangement.
SECOND, this passage tells how the Scriptures did originate. “Men,” that is, certain divinely selected men, “spoke from God,” the source. These inspired men were borne, or carried along, by the Holy Spirit, the message being His, not theirs. Accordingly, if it can be demonstrated that we have the words they spoke and wrote transmitted substantially in identical form with the original documents, and the science of textual criticism enables this to be done, then a charge of error is a charge against God, where the supposed “error” may be due to textual corruption in the long course of transmission. Where the text has unquestionably suffered in transmission, the laborers of devoted scholars are directed to its restoration. This is done through ancient versions, textual variants, and other linguistic and historical evidence continuously being made available by Archaeology and various other phases of sound Biblical research.
Other Scriptural Proofs of the Inspiration of the Scriptures, God spoke through O.T. prophets (Heb 1:1-2) The O.T. Scriptures are inviolable (i.e. secure from violation) John 10:34-36). The indefectibility (i.e. not subject to failure or decay) and certain of promise and prophecy are clearly seen in the oft-recurring expression “:that what was spoken … might be fulfilled” (Matt 1:22; 2:15, 23; 8:17; 12:17; etc) and in such Scripture as 24:35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” Jesus quoted the O.T. as authoritative (4:4, t, 10). The Holy Spirit in the prophets equipped them for their ministry (1 Peter 1:10-11), and the Spirit of God spoke through David (2 Sam 23:1-2) and other prophets. Besides the Scriptural proofs, unbroken Jewish and Christian traditions attests the inspiration of Scripture.
The True Biblical Doctrine of Inspiration.
Scripture nowhere fully explains the precise modus operandi (i.e. a method of procedure) of inspiration, yet it is possible to formulate a doctrine that is in agreement with all plain and sufficient Scriptural revelation vouchsafed to us. This doctrine, almost universally rejected today based on alleged philosophic, scientific, historical, archaeological, and linguistic difficulties involved, is called verbal, plenary inspiration. It is sometimes called the dynamic view. This view holds that the superintendence of the Holy Spirit rendered the writers of Scripture infallible in their communications of truth and inerrant in their literary productions. Yet, it leaves room for the fullest play of the personality, style, and background of the individual authors. By verbal inspiration is signified that in the original writings the Holy Spirit led in the choice of each word used (CF. 1 Cor 2:13; John 10:34-36). Compare Gal 3:16, where the problem turns upon the singular or plural of a word.
By plenary inspiration is meant that the accuracy that verbal inspiration insures is extended to every portion of the sacred revelation, so that it is as a whole and in all its constituent parts infallible as to truth and final as to divine authority. This is the traditional teaching of the church and is that doctrine set forth by Christ and the apostles. This teaching preserves the duel authorship of Scripture (The divine and the human) in perfect balance, ascribing to each the consideration that is accorded in the Bible.
Results if Inspiration. The Bible having been brought into existence by the supernatural action of the Holy Spirit upon the sacred writers, the question is what is the result of this divine process in the product itself.
The Absolute Inerrancy of the Autograph. Absolute freedom from error must be attributed to the original copies of the inspired writings. It is unthinkable that inaccuracy and mistakes can coexist with inspiration. Can God who is Supreme Truth speak that which is untrue?
The claim of verbal, plenary inspiration for the original writings, however, does not extend to the multitudinous transcriptions and various translations, both ancient and modern. Inerrancy applies to transcriptions such as the Masoretic-Hebrew text, the Greek N.T. text, and the translations such as the Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, Luther’s Bible, and various English versions only insofar as autographic manuscripts.
Since none of the original manuscripts is in existence, critics commonly reject the inerrancy of the autograph, as “an assumption for which there is no warrant in sound reason” (G. Maines, Divine Inspiration, P. 109). But the fact and the truth rest not upon “reason” but upon the clear revelation of the Scriptures themselves) (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21).
Providential Preservation of Scripture with Regard to Its Substance. The Holy Spirit, it is reasonable to conclude, also had a definite ministry in preserving the inspired Scriptures through millennia of transmission. Possible errors that have crept in because of copyists’ slips, glosses, etc, are the domain of lower criticism and here the Christian scholar may find a worthy task for his labors. The high development of N.T. textual criticism as the result of many manuscripts finds has given us the transmitted text in a high degree of purity. Lack of manuscript evidence in the O.T. field has seriously curtailed textual criticism and hence there are many more irresolvable textual difficulties in the O.T. than in the N.T. Recent phenomenal manuscript finds such as the Dead Sea Scrolls (notably the Isaiah Manuscript) are tending to alleviate this condition regarding the O.T. text.
Scriptural Inerrancy Embraces Scientific Features. In this realm, although serious problems exist, there are no proved facts of science that necessitate abandonment of the scriptural doctrine of inspiration. Many scientific theorizing would seem to suggest this; but when the Bible is correctly placed in the pre-scientific era in which it had its birth, its alleged scientific inaccuracies are much less formidable than the liberal or neo-orthodox interpreter would have us believe.
Scriptural Inerrancy Embraces Historical and Literary Features. In no field has the Bible been more seriously challenged than in the historical. While it is true that many serious historical problems remain, such as the existence of the Philistines in patriarchal times, the date of the Exodus, and the identity of Darius the Mede in the Book of Daniel, archaeology has made colossal contributions toward resolving many of these problems. The exist of Sargon II, the Hittites and the Horites (the Hurrians), the religion of the Canaanites, the historicity of the patriarchs and many other serious problems has been cleared up.
Although there is almost universal rejection of a thoroughly sound teaching of biblical inspiration in our day, the conservative scholar with an abundance of this new apologetic material at his disposal may well hesitate before abandoning this solid foundation of true biblical exposition and theological systematization.
NOTE:
Inspiration guarantees the reliability of the Bible as a Divine document, a document that man today may fully accept as truth
BIBLOGRAPHY: available on request – glclair@aol.com
SUMMATION AND RECOMMENDATION
Garreth L. Clair
Since the Bible is inspired, its contents will reveal to man the way man ought to live in this world, how to survive physical death and where he will reside after that.
The Bible claims for itself that it is complete, that it does not need updating, ever.
2 Timothy 3:15-17, “15 And that from a babe thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 Every scripture inspired of God (is) also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness. 17 That the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.” ASV
GET A GOOD TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE
There are many translations of the Bible that one may purchase in book stores today, many of the Bibles translations today are misleading, many are not translations at all but are paraphrase editions or one man commentaries rather that accurate translations. Some of the most accurate and reliable translations available today are the K.J.V. – the N.K.J.V. – The A.S.V. (1901 – May be purchased from Star Bible and book publishers) – the N.A.S.V.
These translations are very good and I do recommend them for use by serious Bible study. Greek and Hebrew scholars generally consider these translations the very best. My personal pick is the A.S.V. (1901). Once you have acquired a good translation of the Bible, study it with the intention of conforming your life to its precepts. You will find that your life will be better generally because your faith and relationship to God is according to “truth.”