2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
The bible is the inspired and inerrant word of God. To explain further, let’s examine the theories about the inspiration of the bible.
THREE THEORIES ABOUT THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE
Throughout the ages, there are three views that hold sway among bible scholars but just one is biblically correct.
1-Orthodoxy: The Bible Is The Word Of God
2-Modernism: The Bible Contains The Word Of God
3-Neoorthodoxy: The Bible Becomes The Word Of God
These three views are critical to our understanding of the inspiration of the bible.
ORTHODOXY: THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD
This is the view that most orthodox scholars and church fathers believed for centuries. It is the view that every true child of God should subscribe to because ALL SCRIPTURE IS GIVEN BY INSPIRATION….not some. One major reason why some do not agree with this view is that they think that since there are things in the bible that cannot be practiced, then saying that the bible in its entirety is the word of God is meaningless. Where they missed it is that they failed to separate the teachings of the bible from the overall content. For instance, there are examples of lies and deceit in the bible, it doesn’t mean the bible is recommending such actions to believers. So what do we mean by saying ALL SCRIPTURES IS GIVEN BY INSPIRATION?
We simply mean that what the bible teaches is inspired and without error; not everything the bible records is prescriptive.
Some even think that everything written in the bible was given by verbal dictation but that’s not totally true. God inspired only the concepts and not the particular literary expression into which each biblical author cast them. God gave the thoughts to the authors who were at liberty to put them into their own terms. That’s why there are literary expressions in the bible.
MODERNISM: THE BIBLE CONTAINS THE WORD OF GOD
This idea is the brain child of German Idealism, bible critics and liberal bible scholars. They believe that certain parts of the Bible are divine and true but other parts are clearly human and in error. They believe that legends, myths and false beliefs about science were incorporated into the Bible. They see bible as a Jewish scrapbook of legends, stories, and poems with no historical value.
They believe that the inspiration of the bible is mixed with erroneous religious lore and scientific belief common to the day of the writers. Can you see that it is a dangerous view? Some believe that the fall of man in the garden of Eden is a myth, Eve didn’t eat any fruit. They say the fruit is symbolic. That’s not true. Some teach that the mark of the beast is not going to be given but rather it is a system of belief.
NEOORTHODOXY: THE BIBLE BECOMES THE WORD OF GOD
This view belief that that the scripture becomes the word of God in or after a personal encounter. This is a dangerous view. What they are saying is that the scriptures was never the word of God and not the word of God but only becomes the word of God when men encounter God through it.
They view the bible as a primitive mythological expression through which God is personally revealed when it is correctly demythologized.
BEWARE
I am seeing a very worrisome trend among believers who when they want to research on a scriptural issue, the first thing they do is to google search. Do you know that heretics like Jehovah witness, Christian Science, Latter day saints, Montanists, etc have blogs on scriptural issues and most children of God hardly discern the errors in their teachings. They teach these myths and fallacies calling it revelation and their members would shout ‘ride on pastor’. It is not everything you read online that is accurate.
It is pertinent that every preacher or teacher of the bible and even children of God that need to know more of God through the word need to go for true and accurate knowledge. The scriptural view that genuine bible scholars subscribe to is orthodox view. It is the safest ground to stand on biblical matters because that is where our faith stands. Islam is doing everything within her power to rubbish the bible by making us feel it has been corrupted during transmission.
Feminist theologians are also doing theirs on the other side by removing every masculine pronoun from the bible and replacing it with ‘person’. They offer full scholarship to people of all nationality to study in their seminaries as I was told. No matter how hard they try, the word of God cannot go into extinction and the truth therein shall be preserved eternally because God’s word is settled in heaven forever.