Lesson #11

Course in Biblical Doctrine
Lesson #11

The Inspiration of the Word of God

• We have already seen that God had a general plan for man’s history through time. That plan is revealed in the Word of God from beginning to end.
• The Bible, God’s love letter, was written by about 40 different authors and covers about 1,600 years from 1500 BC to 100 AD.
• The Old Testament was written in Hebrew except for the books of Ezra and Daniel which were written in Aramaic.
• The New Testament was written in Greek.
• The Protestant Bible contains 66 books while the Catholic Bible has 73 books, and the Jewish Scripture has 39 books.
• The New Testament often quotes the Old Testament.
• Every book of the Old Testament is quoted in the New Testament except for the books of: Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Song of Solomon
• There are 400 years of silence between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
• What does it mean when we say that the Bible is inspired by God?
• Read 2Tim 3:16
• Read 2Pet 1:20-21
• The word “inspire” means = to breathe into; to communicate divine instruction.
• In other words, the Word of God is God breathed.
• Read Job 33:4
• Read Job 32:8
• The book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible.
• This definition reminds us of the Holy Spirit that breathes life into man.
• Does this definition of “inspire” mean that God gave the human writers a general idea of what to write? No, it is more specific than that.
• The scriptures have two authors:
• =1= The Holy Spirit initiates, prompts, and enlightens and guides the human author to write the words that God breathes.
• =2= The human author uses his personality and gifts to write or speak the words that convey God’s message.
• Revelation from God to the prophets was mostly verbal. They heard God speak and wrote what God said.
• Revelation to the prophets also often had a visionary aspect. In other words they saw things occur.
• A good example is John that wrote the book of Revelation.
• Read Rev 1:12
• What the word inspiration does not mean:
• Inspiration does not mean mechanical dictation or automatic writing with the suspension of the human mind.
• Inspiration does not obliterate the personality, style, outlook, and cultural conditioning of the writer.
• Inspiration does not mean that any corruptions which intrude in the text in the course of time are also inspired. From this point come the arguments and discussions over which document in Greek and Hebrew is the original, or which document is the closest to the original.
• Biblical inspiration should not be equated with the inspiration of great literature or works of art. The inspiration of great literature refers to literary quality, while Biblical inspiration refers to its very character as divine revelation in writing.
• Because the writing of the prophets is what God specifically said to the prophet, it should be valued as authentic, important, and relevant to man. It was inspired in its original language of Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic.
• According to 2Tim 3:16 scripture is empowered by the Holy Spirit for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
• When new versions of the Bible are published, they move away from the initial inspiration of God.
• They change meanings of key words.
• They change the structure of the sentence and alter the emphasis God intended.
• They delete words and at times whole verses.
• They change doctrine by altering even so much as one word.
• Some Examples:
• THE REVISED STANDARD VERSION

of ISA 7:14

• “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him “Immanuel”.”
• This version changes the word “virgin” to young woman and, therefore, changes the doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
• NEW AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION

of EPH 3:9

• “…God who created all things.”
• This verse deletes the role of Jesus Christ in the process of the creation of the universe.
• THE NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION

of JOH 3:15

• “…that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
• This verse deletes the opposite alternative that the man who does not believe will perish.
• This verse also casts doubt on knowing for sure that a person has eternal life with the change of one word, “may”.
• How do we know for sure that the Bible is authored by God?
• =1= Jesus confirmed it. (Mat 5:17-19)
• =2= Paul confirmed it. (1Cor 2:9-13)
• =3= Fulfilled prophecy confirms it.
• =4= Consistency of doctrine through time, despite the diversity of authors, confirms it.
• The Canon of Scripture
• It is assumed that because God inspired the scriptures, He also guarded those writings of the authors of His inspired Word so that those books would continue to exist intact through time.
• Read Psa 12:6-7
• God’s preservation of His inspired Word
• God preserved His inspired words in Hebrew and Aramaic (Old Testament) and in Greek (New Testament).
• This statement refers to the original manuscripts on which the King James Bible is based. These manuscripts were preserved by the early church through use and circulation within the churches.
• Those Greek manuscripts that taught a different gospel (by the Gnostics) were excluded by the early apostolic churches.
• Those excluded documents come primarily from Egypt having been preserved in a library in Alexandria.
• The Holy Spirit accomplished this preservation of scripture in two ways:
• =1= He impressed the Jewish scribes to write the scriptures exactly as they were first written.
• =2= He impressed the subsequent church councils to decide which books were authentic and true and which books were not inspired by God.
• This process of canonization occurred over time.
• The word “canon” means = a measuring instrument or a rule of action and has come to mean a rule or divine standard.
• Through the years of human history, the books of the Bible that were considered “authentic” and inspired by God have changed.
• For example, at the time of Jesus’ ministry on earth, the books of the Bible that were considered “authentic” were Genesis to 2Chronicles.
• Read Mat 23:35
• Jesus mentioned two events: one in the book of Genesis and the other in the book of 2Chronicles.
• Therefore these books were considered the standard or “canon” of scripture.
• However, Jesus quoted from other books outside of this accepted “canon” of the Old Testament.
• Therefore, later in time the canon of Old Testament was determined to include Genesis to Malachi for the Old Testament.
• Some Bibles include the Apocryphal books used in Catholicism. These books are not inspired by God and not included in the canon of the Old Testament.
• The books not included in the 66 books of the Bible are called, Apocryphal Books”.
• Some of the Apocryphal books are included in the Catholic Bible. They were included over time in order to gain a foundation for some of the religious practices not found in the 66 books of canonized scripture.
• The Catholic Bible was firmly established with the apocryphal books at the Council of Trent in 1546 AD.
• Another meaning of the word “cannon” means = generally authorized, recognized, and accepted.
• When church councils met to decide the authenticity of a book of the Bible, they considered the volume of use of that book in churches.
• In other words, did a majority of churches at that time use this book considering it as being inspired?
• The general rules used by church councils to determine the canon of scripture.
• How did the Protestant Bible arrive at 66 books and the Catholic Bible at 73 books?
• This is what we call “canonicity” and comes from the word “canon”.
• Today “canonicity” means a closed collection of writings inspired by the Holy Spirit to be a standard of authority and held as a rule for our faith and our walk with God.
• How were the books of the Bible chosen to be part of the canon and when?
• Believers of the time accepted these books, quoted from them passed them around for reading, and used them in worship services.
• Periodically church councils decided certain books were acceptable after the fact, and therefore, they placed their seal of acceptability on them.

• A considerable part of the Old Testament was gathered by Ezra and Nehemiah.
• The New Testament, as we know it, was fixed in 367 AD and again in 397 AD.
• The Old Testament was re-affirmed in the 16th century.

• The Criteria of Canonicity
• Why were some books left out of the Bible and others included?
• They either passed or failed the tests of canonicity.
• Why did some books not pass the rule of canonicity?
• There are a variety of reasons, of which the most common reasons were:
• =1= The book contains a large amount of duplicated material (Esdras1)
• =2= The book contains historical errors (Judith)
• =3= The book contains fragmentary parts and / or obvious insertions (Addition to Esther)
• =4= The authorship is clouded with obvious plagiarism (Letter to Barnabas)
• =5= The book contains ideas borrowed from other religions of the time (Tobit).
• In other words, it incorporated pagan practices and mixed them with Judaism or Christianity.
• The inclusion of these practices caused theologians to view them as polluted.
• =6= The book contains ideas contrary to what is normally accepted Jewish and Christian doctrine or tradition, such as the Trinity, the coming Messiah, the virgin birth, judgment, the millennium, moral ethics, etc.
• =7= The book contains the addition of facts after the event (hindsight interpolation).
• For example: Inserting the name, Jesus, for the word Messiah in a supposedly Old Testament book.
• The baby, Jesus, was not given the name of Jesus until his birth in the New Testament.
• =8= The book contains material that is too dependent on other literature of that time.
• =9= A variety of versions exists that are not consistent one with the other.
• =10= Popularity for the book died out and was neglected early in church history.
• =11= The book contains a rambling, repetitious style.
• =12= The language of the original manuscript is not in Hebrew nor in Aramaic for the Old Testament time period.
• =13= The book added nothing new to what was already written and accepted.