FBC Durham Bible for Life

SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY: REVELATION AND GOD

Week Three: Biblical Inspiration

Introduction

Third session in a twelve-week study of the doctrines of revelation and God

Last week: God’s general revelation of himself

Today: biblical inspiration

What’s the Big Idea?

God’s special revelation of himself

The Bible is inspired: it is literally God’s words in written form

The Bible is both a divine book and a human book

What Do the Scriptures Say?

God’s spoken words were written down and recorded by men.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua,
that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven” (Exod. 17:14).

Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people
answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses
wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the
mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel (Exod. 24:3–4).

See also Exod. 34:27; Deut. 29:1; 31:24–26; Isa. 30:8; Jer. 36:2–4

Sometimes, God himself wrote down his words.

And the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all
the words that the Lord had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of
the assembly (Deut. 9:10). See also Exod. 24:12; 31:18; 32:15–16; 34:1

Sometimes the words and writings of men are called God’s word.

But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: “Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king
of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people…” (1 Kings
12:22–23).

Bible for Life: The Doctrine of Revelation Page 1

FBC Durham Bible for Life

The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and
Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel (Hos. 1:1). See
also Mic. 1:1; Zeph. 1:1, etc.

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:31).

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard
from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at
work in you believers (1 Thess. 2:13).

The New Testament identifies the words of Old Testament prophets with God’s words. It also
argues that the entire Old Testament is God’s words that he has breathed out into written form.

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall
conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (Matt. 1:22–23; citing Isa. 7:14).

And how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make
you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:15–16).

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division
of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart
(Heb. 4:12).

The New Testament also identifies itself with God’s words.

And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and
see that you also read the letter from Laodicea (Col. 4:16; cf. 1 Thess. 5:27; Luke 4:16).

For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer
deserves his wages” (1 Tim. 5:18; citing both Deut. 25:4 and Luke 10:7).

And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you
according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these
matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable
twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures (2 Pet. 3:15–16).

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon
take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word
of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw (Rev. 1:1 –2).

Jesus himself argues that every word of the Old Testament is inspired, that he came to fulfill the
Old Testament, that God’s words will not pass away without accomplishing their purposes, and
that God’s words should be obeyed.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them
but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will
pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these
commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but
whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:17–19).

Bible for Life: The Doctrine of Revelation Page 2

FBC Durham Bible for Life

What Has the Church Said?

Old Testament considered inspired by New Testament period

First Century: the four Gospels and Paul’s letters considered inspired

Fourth Century: consensus on entire New Testament

Church leaders used three criteria to help them establish a canon (rule) of Scripture:

1) Apostolicity: which books were probably written by apostles or men closely connected
with apostles?

2) Catholicity: which books were widely accepted as Scripture by most Christians in most
places?

3) Orthodoxy: which books seemed to be in continuity with the story told in what was
already agreed to be Scripture, the Old Testament?

Medieval Era: Apocrypha included in printed Bibles

Reformation Era: Protestants reject the Apocrypha, so Roman Catholics declare it to be inspired

Enlightenment: Bible is a human book

Liberal Protestantism: Bible is inspired in some sense, but not God-breathed

Some fundamentalists: Bible was divinely dictated to human authors

Most evangelicals: Holy Spirit inspired men to write the Bible in such a way that it is really the
words of men but also really the words of God

What Should We Believe?

The whole Bible, both Old and New Testament, is inspired by God and is God’s written
revelation of himself and his will to humanity

The Bible is a thoroughly human book

The Bible is a thoroughly divine book

David Dockery:

Scripture cannot rightly be understood unless we take into account that it has a dual-sided authorship.
It is not enough to affirm that the Bible is a human witness to divine revelation because the Bible is
also God’s witness to Himself. An affirmation that Scripture is partly the Word of God and partly the
word of humans is inadequate. What must be affirmed is that the Bible is entirely and completely the
Word of God and the words of the human authors (Acts 4:25).1

Bible for Life: The Doctrine of Revelation Page 3

FBC Durham Bible for Life

There is an analogy between the inspiration of the Bible and two natures of Jesus Christ

Plenary verbal inspiration: every word of every book in both testaments of Scripture is inspired
by God

Both the Baptist Faith and Message (2000):

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is
a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth,
without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It
reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the
world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct,
creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself
the focus of divine revelation.2

Confessional Statement of The Gospel Coalition

God has graciously disclosed his existence and power in the created order, and has supremely
revealed himself to fallen human beings in the person of his Son, the incarnate Word. Moreover, this
God is a speaking God who by his Spirit has graciously disclosed himself in human words: we
believe that God has inspired the words preserved in the Scriptures, the sixty-six books of the Old and
New Testaments, which are both record and means of his saving work in the world. These writings
alone constitute the verbally inspired Word of God, which is utterly authoritative and without error in
the original writings, complete in its revelation of his will for salvation, sufficient for all that God
requires us to believe and do, and final in its authority over every domain of knowledge to which it
speaks. We confess that both our finitude and our sinfulness preclude the possibility of knowing
God’s truth exhaustively, but we affirm that, enlightened by the Spirit of God, we can know God’s
revealed truth truly. The Bible is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it teaches; obeyed, as
God’s command, in all that it requires; and trusted, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises. As God’s
people hear, believe, and do the Word, they are equipped as disciples of Christ and witnesses to the
gospel.3

How Then Should We Live?

Learning and Knowing

Hearing and Doing

Preaching and Teaching

Defending and Guarding

Recommended Resources

Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Zondervan, 1994),

47–89

Bible for Life: The Doctrine of Revelation Page 4

FBC Durham Bible for Life

David S. Dockery, Christian Scripture: An Evangelical Perspective on Inspiration, Authority,

and Interpretation (B&H Academic, 1995)

Herman Ridderbos, “The Inspiration and Authority of Holy Scripture,” available online at
http://www.the-highway.com/scripture_Ridderbos.html

Carl F.H. Henry, “Inspiration of the Bible,” Elwell Dictionary of Theology, available online at
http://mb-soft.com/believe/txw/bibleaut.htm

Benjamin Breckenridge Warfield, “The Inspiration of the Bible,” available online at

http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/warfield/warfield_inspirationbible.html

Andy Davis, “The Origin, Purpose, and Effectiveness of the Scriptures,” (11/22/98), a sermon
from 2 Timothy 3:14–17, available in the Media Library at the FBC Durham website
(http://www.fbcdurham.org)

Coming Next Week …

Michael Dickerson will be teaching on biblical authority

Notes:
1
David S. Dockery, Christian Scripture: An Evangelical Perspective on Inspiration, Authority, and
Interpretation (Baker Academic, 1995), p. 38.
2
The Baptist Faith and Message (2000), Article I: The Scriptures, available online at
http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp.
3
Confessional Statement of The Gospel Coalition, Article II: Revelation, available online at
http://thegospelcoalition.org/about/foundation-documents/confessional/.

Bible for Life: The Doctrine of Revelation Page 5