In our article "The Holy Bible: How It's God's Word," we looked at the internal and external evidences that support the claim that the Bible is the Word of God. But how is it that God accomplished bringing His written Word to us through sinful men? The truth of how the Scriptures came to be written is an essential doctrine that every Christian should know and be able to explain to others—after all, we base our whole lives by the Bible. This doctrine is called the Doctrine of Inspiration; and here I present summaries of the various theories of inspiration, while affirming the correct, orthodox view: The Verbal Plenary Theory of Inspiration.
Where To Find The Answers
Because we as Christians hold the Bible to be God's Word (and have established that in "The Holy Bible: How It's God's Word"), it is not necessary to look outside of the Bible to find out how God brought us His written Word. The Bible tells us how He did it; and the Bible alone is where we need to find the answer to the question of how God brought us the Scriptures. Looking elsewhere for the answer to this question would be useless, and possibly dangerous to one's spiritual health. Therefore, we will focus on the biblical data concerning this very important issue when comparing the various theories of inspiration.
Through His Spirit
There are two key verses that tell us how the God of the universe, Yahweh, had His Word (the Bible) transmitted to us through men; two texts that deal with what is known as the inspiration of the Bible. The first verse is 2 Peter 1:20-21, which says: "...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." Peter was, of course, speaking of the Old Testament, but we shall see below that even the New Testament was written in this manner.
The second verse that supports the inspiration of the Bible from God to men is 2 Timothy 3:16, which says: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." Here Paul asserts that all Scripture–meaning the entire Bible–is God-breathed (i.e., breathed out as when speaking; exhaled/expired).
But why is the New Testament also considered to be the Word of God, inspired by His Holy Spirit in the same way that the Old Testament was? Well, although when Paul and Peter said that the Old Testament was inspired by God's Holy Spirit, they (and the Church) considered each others' writings as Scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16). Also, Jesus told the apostles in John 14:25-26 that the Holy Spirit was going to remind them of His words—for them to write down for us. So, the New Testament is also the Word of God.
Theories Of Inspiration
The Verbal Plenary Theory
The orthodox (and correct) view of the inspiration of the Bible is called the Verbal Plenary Theory. This view explains that the Spirit of God guided men in the choice of the words used in the original writings; and that the entire Bible is inspired in this way. According to the verses cited above, this theory is what the Bible teaches about its inspiration. This inspiration refers to the original manuscripts, which scholars agree that they have been able to reconstruct to no less than 98% accuracy. Stay tuned for an article explaining how this task is accomplished, called textual criticism.
Although there is a human element in the writings–such as the writers' personal characteristics, writing style, vocabulary, expressed feelings, opinions, prayers, and even fears–inspiration contends that God still directed the authors so that all the words that were used were equally inspired of God, and were the ones God intended for us to have in order to know Him and His plan of salvation.
The Mechanical or Dictation Theory
Another popular theory, the Mechanical or Dictation Theory, holds that God directly dictated the entire Bible...word-for-word. In other words, the men who wrote the manuscripts merely acted as transcribers or stenographers for God; they had no choice but to write out exactly what God dictated to them, without any other influences—including their own experiences, writing styles, etc. But this theory poses some problems...
Although there are indeed parts of the Bible that were dictated (such as the Ten Commandments), those instances are always explicitly mentioned as so. The rest of the Bible, however, clearly shows that it has at least some human elements (stated in the Verbal Plenary Theory above). If the Bible were completely dictated, it would probably sound the same in terms of style and vocabulary. Also, the experiences of the writers (such as heartfelt prayers and fears) would lose their meanings. Think about it.
The Concept Theory
The third theory of inspiration is known as the Concept Theory. This view holds that God, instead of inspiring the words of the Bible, only inspired the concepts He wanted us to understand. For example, as a biblical writer, perhaps Paul, when he wrote the "Love" chapter in 1st Corinthians 13, was only given the concept of love by God—and not the specific words of "Love is patient, love is kind, etc." But again, this theory has certain problems...
Under this theory, the human authors may have only partially understood the concepts that God was revealing to them; consequently, they could have made mistakes along the way, leaving us all in a predicament. This theory weakens the authority of the Scriptures. It must be maintained that every word of God is inspired, and not just vague and incomplete concepts.
The Partial Inspiration Theory
The fourth theory of inspiration is called the Partial Inspiration Theory. This view holds that only certain parts of the Bible (i.e., the portions dealing with divine truth) are inspired, while other parts (such as historical, geographical, or scientific statements) are not inspired. Others even believe that there are different levels of inspiration among various Scriptures; in other words, some parts are more inspired than others. But, of course, there are problems with this view...
The problem with this view is that it makes the reader the ultimate judge as to which parts of the Bible are inspired or not. Therefore, if someone does not like a certain part of the Bible, he or she could essentially say, "well, I believe that this part is inspired, but not that part." With this view, who's to say who's right?
The Neo-Orthodox Theory
The fifth theory of inspiration is known as the Neo-Orthodox Theory, but there's nothing orthodox about it. This view holds that there are errors in the Bible! It affirms that the entire Bible cannot be taken as literally true. It also says that God simply uses Scripture to communicate truth to us; again, making the Bible merely a channel of divine revelation, as opposed to an explicit and supernatural revelation from God Himself.
The problem with this view is that it makes the Bible true only as it is comprehended; truth is realized by the individual reader. One is left to blindly "find out" what is literally true in the Bible—a task that would indeed be arbitrary. Another problem, again, is the fact that this view makes the reader the ultimate judge of what is true in the Bible. We must, however, take the whole Bible to be true in what it affirms.
The Naturalistic Theory
The last theory of inspiration we will look at here is called the Naturalistic Theory of Inspiration. This view is the most extreme of the biblical inspiration views. It holds that the Bible is just like any other work of literature; just like any other book in the world. Although God may have given divine insight to some of its authors, it remains a work of humanity.
There are many problems with this view, but one of the issues is that it leaves all of the amazing factually accurate details found in the Bible unexplained—from the archaeological details to the spiritual ones. Remember, the Bible was written by men who were oftentimes eyewitnesses of amazing, supernatural, and awesome events that God did throughout human history—actual events that happened.
Closing Thoughts
The Bible remains the most sold book in the world today. Its ability to transform lives is due to the fact that it is the Word of God, and every word is important. God used men, yes, to have His words written down, but not without guiding them and inspiring them through His Holy Spirit. When you read the Bible, know and internalize that you are, in fact, reading the very Words of God to you...to all of mankind.
It is important to have this biblical foundation for the Word of God because your view of Scripture will determine how you view and follow God and His teachings—even Jesus' teachings. Remember, Jesus held the Scriptures in very high regard, and He never once undermined its authority in the lives of believers. Many times people tend to take Jesus' words as more important than the rest of Scripture, but the doctrine of inspiration affirms that the entire Bible is important and indeed the Word of the Living God.
May you be blessed by God's Word of Truth: The Bible. Now go on and read it, and be transformed by God.
* Most of the information presented in this article was taken from Lewis Sperry Chaffer's book "Major Bible Themes."
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