God’s Inspired Word

I. Why an inspired word?

A. God does reveal Himself through creation but not completely

B. Through inspiration we can know the truth about abstract concepts

C. Jesus said we would know the truth that frees us, John 8:32. We can know the actual truth about Jesus We can know that we have eternal life, 1 John 5:13KNOW it not just believe or hope that it is true

D. We could not know any of these things without divine inspiration

II. Bible claims direct inspiration by God

A. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

B. 2 Peter 1:20-21

C. 1 Corinthians 2:12-13

D. Psalm 119:89

E. 1 Corinthians 11:23

F. 1 Thess 4:15; 2:13

G. Many times: “The Lord said…” or “these are the words of the Lord”

H. Inspiration

I. “Inspiration implies influence from without” –Bert Thompson“…the author has been overshadowed by a power outside of himself” –B.C. Goodpasture

III. How the Bible was inspired

A. Various theories

B. It is “inspirational” The writers were “inspired” of themselves to write their views. The writers “channeled” God—wrote words as dictated by God God inspired the writers to write something but left it up to them.

C. God gave writers the words to write but they used their own style

D. 2 Samuel 23:2 – word on David’s tongue Galatians 3:16 – argument built on the word seed in Genesis 22:18 Matthew 5:17-18 – Jesus respected even the tiniest of markings of the OT as being sacred—every minute precept was significant (A.B. Bruce)

E. What about transcription—not inspired?

F. Through there may be some errors in transmission, there is nothing that would make the Bible unreliable. In fact, historical studies of document transcription shows that Biblical documents are extremely accurate even after thousands of years of copying Roger Dickinson: “The modernistic idea which suggests that the copying process through the ages has destroyed the essence of inspiration is a ‘theological scarecrow to frighten those who are not knowledgeable in the art of transmission of the Bible’.”2 Timothy 3:15 – Scriptures that Timothy had to use could make him wise for salvation although they had been copied for over a thousand years!

IV. If the Bible is not inspired

A. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 – the Bible cannot prepare you any differently than a work of philosophy or some moralist

B. It will not provide truth or any meaningful wisdom that transcends ages

C. However, the Bible has withstood the best arguments of the skeptics since it was written and it is continually proved true and withstands the most intense scrutiny—some critics become converts when they investigate it.

D. Some will never listen to sound arguments and will build straw man arguments of contradictions and error—there will always be people who seek reasons not to believe because they have a closed mind (though many claim to be “freethinkers” and “open minded.”

V. Implications of Biblical inspiration

A. Inspiration means the Bible is authoritative

B. Jesus rebuked Satan with “it is written” Matthew 22:23-33 – Jesus argued about the resurrection for the Old Testament—argument based on verb tense!

C. It is the most important book in existence and we must treat it as such

D. Sometimes people spend lots of money to get original documents of famous writers and study them intently. The Bible reflects the thoughts of God, the greatest mind that can be conceived, and contains all things that pertain to life, for it is from the creator

E. Do we treat it like another work of man or the product of God’s influence?

F. We might argue that the Bible is the inspired word of God that contains all things that pertain to life and godliness but, in action, treat it like one book among many. Daily application: Do we read it every day? Do we make sure we read the daily newspaper or get the news on the Internet but not read the eternal good news daily?

VI. Conclusion: More information on CD-ROMs in the back.

VII. Inspiration