ACTS, EPISTLES, AND REVELATION 311
The theory of Verbal
Plenary Inspiration
maintains that every word
of the Bible has been
directly “God-breathed”
and preserved by God
(2 Timothy 3:16).Neo-orthodoxy teaches
that the Bible was
written by fallible humans
and only becomes the word
of God when He reveals
Himself through it.The theory of Limited
Inspiration argues God
guided the authors of the
Bible but did not preserve
them from making errors.God’s role in producing the scriptures
is interpreted in three major ways.England has two
books; the Bible and
Shakespeare. England
made Shakespeare, but
the Bible made England.
Victor Hugobeen given by God; describing
visions; explaining and applying
already-written scripture; and even
conducting investigations before
making a written account of the
findings (Luke 1:3). For the most
part, the Bible describes no fixed
process by which the authors were
“moved by God,” but Peter teaches
that the writing process was
superintended by God, so what
they wrote was God’s word.Divine authority
The belief that the scriptures were
God’s own words carried several
significant implications in the
minds of biblical figures. One
was the total trust of, and belief
in, scripture. The truthfulness of
God’s word therefore became
a proverb: “Every word of God
is flawless” (Proverbs 30:5).
Divine authorship implies divine
authority. To disregard the message
of the prophets was to disbelieve
or disobey God. Even the writings
of the Apostles were to be treated
as God’s commandments. When
tempted by Satan, Jesus quoted
scripture to rebut him. Jesus also
appealed to scripture to answerthe challenges of the religious
leaders of His day. This pattern
of appeal to, and explanation of,
Old Testament scripture was
followed by the authors of the
New Testament. Old Testament
quotations or allusions are present
in 26 of the 27 books of the New
Testament—absent only in the
Book of Philemon—making up
about a third of its content.
For Paul, the divine authorship
of the Bible is closely linked to its
transformative power. The Apostle
reminds Timothy that the “God-
breathed” nature of the Bible makes
it a fit instrument for addressing
issues of faith and behavior,
writing that the scriptures “make
you wise for salvation through
faith” (2 Timothy 3:15). Paul teaches
that the faith that unites people to
Christ comes by hearing the word
of God. Delivering “what the Lord
says,” the prophet Isaiah wrote,
“My word that goes out from my
mouth, will not return to me empty,
but will ... achieve the purpose
for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).
The concept of the divinity
of scripture has also influenced
which writings are included in theBible by different Christian groups.
Jews believed that divine prophecy,
the basis for the scriptures, had
ceased by 400 bce, and Jesus
Himself only acknowledged “the
Law and the Prophets” of the
Hebrew Old Testament as Israel’s
scripture. In spite of this, some
Christians, such as those in the
Eastern Orthodox Church, accept
the so-called “apocryphal books,”
written centuries later—including
Ecclesiasticus (also known as
Sirach), 1 and 2 Maccabees, and
Judith—as scripture. ■US_308-311_The_Bible_as_Gods_word.indd 311 24/10/2017 15:36