What does it mean that the Bible is inspired? Is the Bible inerrant? Can a person trust in the Bible and rely on it even though the original autographs are not found? How about the different translations of the Bible?
Maybe these are questions you have asked about the trustworthiness of Scripture. Questions, such as these, arise when dealing with the doctrines of Inspiration and Inerrancy of the Scriptures. It is the goal of this article to answer those questions.
What Does It Mean that the Bible is Inspired?
What does it mean that the Bible is inspired? Inspiration is explained in the Bible itself; rather than being a term created by theologians based on facts within the Bible (like the term “Trinity”). The core passage used to define inspiration is 2 Timothy 3:16.
Paul states clearly that “All Scripture is inspired by God;” and not only that, but it is also profitable.
This passage explains inspiration in three points:
- All of the Scriptures,
- The inspiration of Scripture
- The profitability of Scripture.
All of the Scripture
“All of Scripture” refers to the entire Bible. When the word “Scripture” is used in the New Testament, it always refers to some part of the Bible. It can be a certain Old Testament passage (Luke 4:18–21), a certain New Testament passage (1 Timothy 5:18), or a large part of the New Testament (2 Peter 3:16).
First Timothy 5:18 is significant because it combines an Old Testament and a New Testament reference. Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 25:4 and Luke 10:7. This is important because a passage that was not more than five or six years old at that time is recognized as Scripture along with a canonically recognized Old Testament passage. Even Peter makes the claim that Paul’s writings are Scripture in 2 Peter 3:16.
The Inspiration of Scripture
The word inspired in the Greek (theopneustos) means “God breathed.” This is the means by which all of Scripture, namely the Bible, was brought forth. This passive act was accomplished by the human authors who wrote the text.
Why is inspiration important, then? Because the Bible was not originated by man even though they wrote it.
As 2 Peter 1:21 states: “For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
The Profitability of Scripture
The purpose of inspiration is to be profitable in helping a person live his or her life. This includes teaching, rebuke, and the training of children in righteousness. Second Timothy 3:17 further encapsulates the purpose of Scripture: “so that the man of God may be complete, fitted for every good work.”
Did God Superintend the Biblical Writings?
First Corinthians 2:6–16 demonstrates that God’s words were given to men and understood through the Spirit of God; so, that one can know all that He gave men. These words were not taught by human wisdom, but by the Spirit.
Spiritual thoughts require spiritual words. The natural man is unable to accept and understand them, “but we have the mind of Christ.”
Charles Ryrie defines inspiration as:
“God superintended the human authors of the Bible so that they composed and recorded without error His message to mankind in the words of their original writings.” (Italics added for emphasis)
What do these key words indicate? God’s superintending of the Scriptures encompasses the relationship that God had with each author and includes His direct and indirect interaction with the original writings.
The original writings were composed by each author. This shows that the writers were not dictated by God as stenographers but wrote in their own style and personality.
God’s superintending over these “compositions” allowed for the words to be without error and to portray the meaning which God wanted to be recorded; however, inspiration only pertains to the original writings.
What Does Verbal and Plenary Mean?
In addition to the doctrine of inspiration, the terms, verbal and plenary, have been added in order to specify its meaning. These terms are used to sum up the definition above into two simple and yet complicated words.
The word plenary means that the Spirit’s superintending allowed for the original writings to be errorless when they were written by men who used their own talents and personalities.
They wrote under the guidance and control of the Holy Spirit which allowed for the exact recording of the message that God wanted to give to men.
The term verbal is specified because it is woven in the description of plenary. Inspiration would mean nothing without the words which make up the message that was written.
Therefore, divine revelation is completely connected to the words of the language of Scripture; and its content cannot be expressed without words.
Inerrancy
Considering inspiration, inerrancy pertains only to the original writings; however, this does not mean that the Bibles produced today are false documents and should not be trusted.
The Scriptures themselves emphasize that the words are from God (2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Thessalonians 2:13), they can be trusted (John 17:17), and their meaning and purpose will not be changed, nor will anything be added or taken away (Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; Matthew 5:18; Revelation 22:18–19).
The reason why the doctrine of inerrancy is important is because if there were errors in the original writings, how can a person rely on the truthfulness of the Bible.
Furthermore, if there were errors, how could the understanding of doctrines such as Christology be correct?
This would change the entire outlook of the Christian faith if what it is built on is unknown to be false or deniable. These concerns should lead to the question of how the Bible is constructed if the original writings do not exist. The answer is found through what is known as textual criticism.
Textual Criticism
Without getting into the larger topic of canonicity (i.e. does the Bible contain the inspired books from God and how is that determined), the focus will be on two forms of criticism which help determine the accuracy in the writings that are found in today’s Bible. These methods are known as the higher and lower modes of criticism. Criticism, at least in its grammatical sense, refers to the exercise of judgment; and when applied to the Bible, means the exercise of judgment about the Bible itself.
Higher and Lower Criticism
The higher form of criticism applies to the genuineness of the biblical text. This form of criticism is known as historical. It looks at such matters as the date of the text, its literary style and structure, its historicity and its authorship.
The lower form of criticism is classified as textual criticism and applies to the authenticity of the biblical text.
The difference between higher and lower criticisms is that lower studies the form of the words of a document, whereas higher looks at its value.
It is important to note that the Bible consists of some of the oldest “books” ever written. The Hebrew language and its writings began before Moses’ time when he wrote the Pentateuch around 1400 B.C. This was after the Israelites’ Exodus out of Egypt.
Even though there are no manuscripts that exist prior to the Babylonian Captivity (586 B.C.), there was an influx of copies dating from the Talmudic era (c. 300 B.C.– A.D) which appeared.
The New Testament alone has some 25,000 early manuscripts in existence. Almost 6,000 of them (many being fragments) are Greek texts and the others are early translations of the Greek. This dating and gathering is an example of the higher criticism, whereas, comparing each of those manuscripts for their reliability and continuity with each other would be the lower criticism.
What Types of Translations Are There?
It is already difficult in determining the authenticity and reliability of the biblical texts as seen above; however, more issues arise when it comes to the accuracy of translating the text from the original language. The English language is the most widely translated version of the Bible and is often scrutinized amongst Biblical scholars.
The debate is on how literal the text is translated and its accuracy. Each version claims certain attributes and specifications which influenced its translation.
These include translation methods rendering a word-for-word or thought-for-thought translations of the text.
Different Methods of Translation
One could assume that a word-for-word translation would be the best approach; however, there are many variables to consider with this option. The goal of translating is to articulate the original language’s meaning as closely as possible with the new language. When it comes to the English language and Greek, they are from the same language family; so, it is easier to derive a word-for-word translation because of grammar and syntax.
A couple translations of the Bible which strive for word-for-word accuracy are the New American Standard Bible (NASB) and the English Standard Bible (ESV).
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However, with a language such as Japanese, or the Lamogai language of Papa New Guinea as Dave Brunn talks about, the culture and language structure is so completely differently that it is impossible to translate word-for-word and even the same thought-for-thought using the original example.
The inability to translate the Bible with a similar literation does not mean that one cannot trust in any other translation of the Bible that is not the original languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. It does mean that the Bible must give more importance to the meaning that God wanted to have in His message to the world.
God’s Design for Translation
If God created all the language families in the world at the Tower of Babel, then all the languages in the world must be able to know and understand His revelation. That means all currently known 6,909 living languages must be able know the meaning of the message which God gave to mankind.
Every language must then be able to use their own words, idioms, figures of speech, and cultural distinctions in order to relate and receive the exact meaning which God gave in the three original languages.
As a final note, even the Scriptures support the idea of translating the words of God. Nehemiah 8:8 says that “They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading” (NASB).
Concluding Thoughts
The inspiration and inerrancy of the Scriptures is vital to the Christian faith. If God never inspired and made known His revelation, how would humans ever find Him and come to trust in His words (1 Corinthians 2:6–16)? If we cannot trust the authority of the Scriptures, then the Biblical worldview falls apart.
Fortunately, the Lord is near and always at work. He helped guide the translation of His words by faithful men and women so that every tongue and nation can hear the Gospel message (Psalm 145:18; Revelation 7:9). You can trust in their translation of the Bible because of the painstaking and faithful work done to preserve the meaning of God’s word.
The most important message in the Bible is the story of Jesus Christ. If you want to know more about God’s plan of salvation and purpose of giving us his word, check out this article: The Ultimate Guide to Salvation in Jesus Christ.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is inspiration?
Inerrancy is the doctrine that there is no error in the Bible’s original manuscripts.
What is inerrancy?
Inerrancy is the doctrine that the Bible is without error in its original manuscripts.
What are the arguments for inspiration?
There are many arguments for inspiration, including:
- The Bible’s internal testimony: The Bible itself claims to be inspired by God.
- The Bible’s external testimony: The Bible has been affirmed by the church throughout history.
- The Bible’s literary excellence: The Bible is a literary masterpiece, which is difficult to explain if it were not inspired by God.
- The Bible’s historical accuracy: The Bible is remarkably accurate in its historical accounts, which is difficult to explain if it were not inspired by God.
What are the arguments against inspiration?
There are also some arguments against inspiration, including:
- The Bible contains historical and scientific inaccuracies.
- The Bible contains contradictions.
- The Bible was written by humans, who are fallible.
What is the relationship between inspiration and inerrancy?
Inspiration and inerrancy are often linked together, but they are not the same thing. Inspiration is the process by which God communicated his truth to the human authors of the Bible, while inerrancy is the doctrine that the Bible is without error in its original documents.
What are the different views on inspiration?
There are many different views on inspiration, including:
- Dictation: The Bible was dictated by God to the human authors.
- Illumination: The human authors were inspired by God to write the Bible, but they were still free to use their own language and style.
- Preservation: The Bible was preserved by God from error.
What are the different views on inerrancy?
There are also many different views on inerrancy, including:
- Literal inerrancy: The Bible is literally true in every detail.
- Historical inerrancy: The Bible is historically accurate in its accounts of events.
- Doctrinal inerrancy: The Bible is without error in its teaching about God and salvation.
What are the implications of inspiration and inerrancy?
The implications of inspiration and inerrancy are far-reaching. If the Bible is inspired by God and without error, then it is a reliable source of truth about Him and his plan for humanity. This means that we can put our trust in the Bible to teach us about God, his character, and his will for our lives.
What are the challenges to inspiration and inerrancy?
There are many challenges to inspiration and inerrancy that people argue about, including:
- The Bible contains historical and scientific inaccuracies.
- The Bible contains contradictions.
- The Bible was written by humans, who are fallible.
How can we respond to the challenges to inspiration and inerrancy?
There are numerous ways that we can respond to the challenges to inspiration and inerrancy, including:
- Carefully study the Bible and its historical and cultural context.
- Compare different translations of the Bible.
- Consult with experts in biblical studies.
- Pray for guidance from God.
For Further Study
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Institute for Christian Research “The Manuscripts.” https://www.icr.org/bible-manuscripts/.