Inspiration of the Bible

Is the Bible Infallible, Inerrant, and Verbally Inspired?

Did the Bible writers claim to be inspired and guided directly by God? Do the Scriptures claim Divine inspiration? Do they claim to be the infallible, inerrant, verbal revelation of God's will? Did God guide inspired men in the very words they wrote? Could the Scriptures contain errors or mistakes in history, science, or doctrine? Is the Bible a true and accurate revelation of the will of God for man? This is a study of the nature and extent of Bible inspiration: the claims of Scripture contrasted to the views of modernism and liberalism.

Introduction:

Some people teach that the Bible writers never claimed to be inspired or directly guided by God. They say that neither the writers nor God viewed Scripture as a revelation of the mind of God which we should follow as a pattern for our lives. As such, they deny the infallible, inerrant, verbal inspiration of Scripture.

Other people say the Bible is inspired in that the writers did put down some of God's ideas, but maybe men still put some of their own uninspired ideas in it. For example, maybe God just taught the men right ideas, but left them to express those ideas as they see best.

Others say the Bible writers speak the truth in matters of religious faith and morals, but when they speak about history or science they are writing as humans and may be wrong. Therefore, we cannot accept the Bible accounts of miracles and the lives of Bible characters as necessarily valid.

The results of these views of inspiration are that maybe there is some error in the words written by "inspired" men: maybe we can, even should, reject parts of it as not being true. Such views are called "modernism" or "liberalism." Yet those who hold these views may still claim to be Christians who believe in God, Christ, and the Bible.

This study deals with the basic question: In what sense, or to what extent, is the Bible inspired? 1) Did the Bible writers really claim inspiration? Did they say that what they wrote was God's will? 2) Did God actually guide the words the men chose in expressing the teachings (verbal inspiration)? 3) Could it be that some words in the writings of these men were true and accurate, but some may have been mistaken in some way? Or is the Bible an infallible and inerrant revelation?

Notice the subject as outlined for us in Revelation 19:9 - "These are true words of God."