Name
Writing Style Used: MLA
Course and Section Number: THEO 201 D27
Short Essay on Inspiration and Inerrancy
It was a routine morning; I woke up to the buzz of my alarm, had breakfast, and was on my way to the park where I have my daily Bible study. However, on this day, my time at the park did not go according to routine as normal. A jogger that regularly runs through the park suddenly approached me. He told me his name, but the next words that came out of his mouth were: “How do you sit there morning after morning and read that Bible. What drives you to do it, and what do Christians find so authoritative about it?” I didn’t respond right away, but after taking a few seconds, I concluded:
The term ‘authority,’ when applied to the Bible, also has an application to words spoken or written whose accuracy has been established and whose information can consequently be trusted (McDonald). To say the Bible has authority means that these words have the power and right to command. This authority comes from God and we are meant to give our lives over to this supreme authority. Hence, we worship the God of these words, and not the words themselves. John 5:23 states, “He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” This evidences that Jesus and God are equal. Since Jesus and God are one, this means that Jesus has this authority as well. Biblical inspiration is a super-natural influence of the Holy Spirit upon divinely chosen agents in consequence of which their writings became trustworthy and authoritative. In II Timothy 3:16, the scripture is referred to as “God-breathed.” This explains that while man wrote the physical inscription, the words were given to man from God, and are wholly trustworthy and authoritative. Every word of scripture was inspired by God, and was obediently written down by its authors. If the Bible was not inspired by God, then its authority would not exist. Subsequently, a term of relevance is inerrancy. The inerrancy of the Bible reasons that it is free of error at all times and in all places—only original manuscripts are considered completely inerrant. Even more important, inerrancy also points to the conclusion that the Bible is free from falsity and only contains the truth. In that humans have a finite understanding of God’s myriad ways, our limitations prevent us from attaining a full understanding of His word. This is why the Bible is studied—if we could understand the meaning behind every verse of scripture, then there would be no reason to study it. Studying God’s word brings us closer to Him. Several arguments for inerrancy of the Bible exist. The principal arguments for inerrancy are biblical, historical, and epistemological (Feinberg). The Biblical argument for inerrancy deals with the evidence within the Scripture itself. The Bible teaches its own authority and inspiration, parallels can made between prophets and the Bible in that the authors of the Bible and the prophets were both used as agents of divine communication, various texts of Scripture support its inerrancy, and God’s character is constant throughout the Bible. Referring back to the use of the term “God-breathed” in II Timothy 3:16, this reasons that Scripture claims its
