Read Micah 2:6-11, The Bible is God’s Word (1)

Micah speaks of the word of God as being good to him who walks uprightly (2:7).  He contrasts it with the words of the lying prophets (2:11), whose words do not provide rest to the people of Israel but rather will lead to their destruction (2:10).  It is not an insignificant subject for us to consider: is what I am counting on reliable?  Is what I am hearing from the pulpit or reading at the coffee shop or picking up from my friends or trusted counsellors, is it trustworthy?  Can I rest in it?  We live in a society that often ridicules or marginalizes the Bible.  Is that wise?

Over the next few days we are going to continue thinking, as we have in several recent posts, about the Bible, it’s authority and its connection with truth.  We can do no better than to let the Bible speak for itself.  We are beginning with the Bible’s claim to be inspired, to be the word of God.

1.     The definition of inspiration.

Let us begin with the typical statement that has long been the record found in many doctrinal statements of evangelical churches.  I must say that I find it difficult that many churches have minimized these kinds of statements and that many Christian organizations make it very difficult to find such statements.  For some it may be that they don’t want the unbelieving world to be turned off to the organization or church by putting these statements out as the face of the organization.  But the problem is that for thoughtful Christians seeking to do due diligence before aligning themselves with worthwhile ministries find it hard to know what they need to know.

Nevertheless, here is a standard statement concerning inspiration of Scripture:

We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as verbally inspired of God and inerrant in the original writings, and that they are of supreme and final authority in faith and life.

In addition, here is such statement from a theologian, Lewis Sperry Chafer:

The truth doctrine of inspiration contends that God so directed the human authors that, without destroying their own individuality, literary style, or personal interest, His complete and connected thought toward man was recorded.

Is this what the Bible says about itself?

a.     Inspiration is an act of God.  2 Tim. 3:16 says this.  All Scripture is literally God-breathed.  2 Peter 1:21 has the same idea.  What God did was He moved or carried along those He used to record the text of the Bible.  Thus we disagree with the idea that Paul was inspired as, say, Shakespeare might have been.  The human authors of Scripture were moved by God Himself so that what they wrote was, in fact, the word of God.  Paul actually said this in 1 Thess. 2:13: you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it, not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.