The Inspiration of Scripture

We are currently undertaking an exercise at the Dove Church to revisit the Constitution and Statement of Faith, important documents that have been in place for many years, largely ignored. It’s important that we know who we are, why we are here and what we believe, and that we can communicate these things with precision and clarity. These documents should help us to do this. 

For the most part, the changes I suggested to the Statement of Faith were approved, but a couple of points were raised. The first, which I’ll discuss here in some detail, is about the authority of Scripture.
The original Statement was:

We believe in…

1. The full and verbal inspiration of all the Old Testament and New Testament Scriptures, as originally given, and of these alone; their being in themselves the Word of God, without error, and wholly reliable in both fact and doctrine; their final authority and perpetual sufficiency in all matters of faith and practice.

This is quite wordy. Also, there are a couple of phrases that I wasn’t sure about. The proposed revision is this:

We believe in…

The divine inspiration and supreme authority of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, which are the written Word of God – fully trustworthy for faith and conduct.

The obvious difference is that the new statement is much shorter. 

What are we saying here?

• The writings in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible are inspired by God. This follows 2 Timothy 3: 16, which says:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

• These Scriptures hold supreme authority. In other words, there are no other writings of equivalent or greater authority.

• These Scriptures comprise everything we can rely on for what we believe and how we conduct ourselves as followers of Christ.

The verse in Timothy, in its context, only refers to the Old Testament, which is what the Apostle Paul had available to him, but we extend this to include the New Testament too.

This statement expresses our belief that the Bible is the Word of God; that he speaks through it; that everything we can know from or about God is contained in its pages. 

Why would we remove the phrase ‘as originally given’?

This is a fair question.

When we compare translations of the Bible, they seem to contradict each other, so how can they be a 'supreme authority'?

The thought was that modern translations – indeed any translations – of the Scriptures inevitably introduce an element of interpretation. And it’s not just that translators ‘get it wrong’. Things that were written in Hebrew three thousand years ago cannot be rendered into English without some degree of compromise.

So, at what point does the text of the Bible become ‘inspired’? When exactly does God breathe into it?

• Are modern translations and paraphrases inspired?

• Is the selection of books we call the Canon of Scripture inspired?

Where, if anywhere, do we draw the line?

The qualification ‘as originally given’, seems reasonable. We can imagine the Apostle Paul or the Prophet Jeremiah writing a manuscript with the Holy Spirit gently breathing the words into them. We can doubtless agree that their words were directly inspired.

But those ‘original’ texts are inaccessible to us. The closest we could reasonably get would be to study the Hebrew and Greek texts that are available – but even these are edited and mediated to some degree. In any case, most people don’t have the time, the ability or even the inclination to devote several years to learning Greek and Hebrew (though one might think that if a person thought that the Scriptures were only inspired in their ‘original’ form, that they would make it their priority to uncover that exact treasure, were it possible).

In fact, almost everyone reads the Bible in translation.

Nevertheless, if I am holding a Bible in my hands, I have a book that I believe will show me everything that can be known of God. I believe this – I have to believe it – otherwise I have no realistic hope of Spiritual enlightenment – even though I know that the translation I use is not, in itself, above question.

I believe that God will speak to me through it, anyway.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

(John 14: 26)

Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will bring to my remembrance what He has said. He will teach me all things. So, while I believe that the Holy Spirit breathed the Word of God into the original writers of the Scriptures, I also believe that he does the same for me – and for each of us – as we read these words by faith, thousands of years later, in a different language and in a different context.

And because the Bible, my Bible, here and now, is the inspired Word of God to me, I can seek the face of Jesus in it, because He is in Himself the Word of God. He is the One who was there, breathing into the hearts and minds of the Bible writers; He is here, breathing into me now. 

Are you saying that the Bible contains errors?

This is not a helpful question because it implies that we could recognise an ‘error’ if we saw one. Outside of the Holy Spirit, I have no confidence in that.

If we try to read the Bible without the help of the Holy Spirit, we will misconstrue it. Only if the Holy Spirit directs us will we be able to read it correctly. There are no errors in Him.

Finally:

Do you know who taught the eagles to find their prey? Well, that same God teaches His hungry children to find their Father in His Word.

(William Tyndale)

The problem of saying that the Scriptures are divinely inspired only ‘as originally given’ is that this makes the Bible inaccessible. It becomes an unobtainable and unknowable artefact, or perhaps the preserve of a certain clique of priestly or scholarly individuals to whom are vouchsafed the mysteries of holy writ.

When in the 1530s Tyndale produced a Bible in English (and not just in English, but in the English of ordinary folk, unlike the Authorised Version, which followed it), his intention was to make the Word of God available to everyone on the grounds that it could and would transform the lives of those who read it.

It still does this, not because any particular translation is word-perfect, but because it is a vehicle for the Holy Spirit, bringing the Word of God to life in the reader; ‘bringing to remembrance’ the words of Jesus, as it were. So:

I believe in…

The divine inspiration and supreme authority of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, which are the written Word of God – fully trustworthy for faith and conduct.