Ramifications of the Inspiration of Scripture – Part 3
We have been looking at some ramifications of the doctrine of inspiration. So far we have looked at four ramifications:
- Inspiration includes both the authors and what they wrote.
- God is the Ultimate Author, but He speaks through men.
- The Bible is written in real human language, following human standards of communication, literary conventions, and genres (law, history, poetry, proverb, etc).
- Human authors of Scripture exhibit variation in style, vocabulary, genre, and literary competence.
Today I will give two more ramifications.
5. God did not “dictate” Scripture – He spoke through real people He had prepared for the task.
Some people falsely accuse those who have a historic understanding of inspiration of believing that the writers went into some sort of trance and became little more than machines who recorded as God dictated. But this exhibits a lack of understanding at best or a willful misrepresentation at worst. All of the points already discussed show that God is speaking THROUGH humans. Furthermore, points 3 and 4 indicate that the language of revelation is normal everyday language, and one can observe clear differences in vocabulary, style, and even literary competence between the various human authors. A quick look at the writings of Zechariah and Haggai, who wrote to the same people at the same period in Israel’s history will show how different two authors of Scripture can be in how they communicated God’s Word.
This does not mean, however, that the author wrote his own (fallible) thoughts about God. God gave them His revelation, and because He had superintended their lives and preparation, He did it in such a way that when they wrote in their own words, it perfectly expressed what God wanted to reveal to us. Once again, God spoke through men.
6. Human authors of Scripture often did research and used other sources.
We know that Luke did this, for he tells us he had done careful research before writing:
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. Luke 1:1–4
Luke is clear that he did extensive, careful research before compiling his account of the life and teachings of Jesus. The same thing is also apparent in the book of Acts. Furthermore, the Old Testament History books often refer to other historical works that can be consulted, and it appears that these other writings were used in the writings of these inspired historical accounts (see 1 Kings 14:19; 1 Kings 14:29; 2 Chronicles 16:11).
It should also be noted how this point fits well with point 5 above – God did not “dictate” the Scripture. The authors even did research prior to writing. But notice that this does not mean that their sources were infallible or inspired – only that their research was guided by the Spirit in such a way that what they selected was the absolute truth, and how they recorded it was guided by the Spirit so that it is the very Word of God.
Next week we will look at two final ramifications of the inspiration of Scripture.
In Christ,
Bret