Biblical Inspiration
Biblical Inspiration refers to a doctrine in Christian Theology that makes a claim that the editors and the authors of the Christian bible were influenced or led by God in writing the scriptures such that these writings may be taken to be the word of God Himself. The bible contains a lot of passages and verses in which the writers claim that they were divinely inspired by God when writing their messages (Vanhoozer, 34). For instance, one of the most common phrases in the bible is “Thus says the Lord” which seems to indicate that the authors of the bible were essentially writing what God had said. Further proof of inspiration can be found in the Book of Peter, the Second Epistle where a claim is made that “no prophesy or scripture was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”. However, several about views about God’s inspiration of the bible authors exist. The Neo-orthodox view suggests that the bible is essentially witness to God’s word. Being a witness, the bible is not an actual word of God but is rather a mediator of God’s word. The view further suggests that because some of the writers of the bible were sinful and finite, they were prone to various errors in their publications. The Dictation View which is very prevalent across many Christian circles claims that God dictated what he wanted the authors of the bible to write. Therefore, all the writer of a particular scripture did was to note down what he or she was instructed by God and the final product is therefore the actual Word of God. The other view is the Limited Inspiration View which states that although the bible is inspired, it however has limitations to particular aspects. It affirms that God indeed guided the writers. However, he gave them some freedom to express self thoughts regarding the experiences they had gone through or their history. The final view of thought is the Plenary Verbal Inspiration which states that God inspired the complete scripture, that is each and every text contained in the scripture, include both doctrinal and historical details. The phrase “verbal” in this context affirms the notion that the inspiration transcended to the very words used by the authors. However, in spite of these different views, one thing is clear, the texts of the bible were in one way or another inspired by God, either directly or indirectly (Vanhoozer, 34).
Bible inerrancy
Bible inerrancy is another doctrine in Christian theology that claims that the Bible is devoid of any error, that it is in its original form and that is does not essentially affirm anything that is not factual. Bible inerrancy is of the view that the bible is in its original autographs and manuscripts and that it is correctly interpreted. All its affirmations in relation to concepts such as doctrines and ethics as well as others such as physical, social or the life sciences are accurate. Recently, the conservative evangelical stance on the bible’s virtue of inerrancy was thoroughly articulated in the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. This statement claims that strict biblical inerrancy is only applicable to the original manuscripts of the bible. Since most of these manuscripts do not exist currently, the existing ones cannot be considered to be fully inerrant. However, the same statement suggests that the manuscripts in existence today are faithful or realistic copies of the original (Feinberg, 23). Although many Christians have faith in the current scriptures that are based on the original autograph’s inerrancy, a possibility of varying interpretations exist. However, this should not be viewed as contradiction or an argument against the inerrancy doctrine. A biblical interpretation that appears to contradict the original intended or clear meaning of the inerrant text does not imply the new text is erroneous. It is very likely that it is the interpretation and not the text that is at fault.
Biblical Infallibility
Biblical infallibility is another Christian theology doctrine that is often confused with inerrancy. The doctrine of infallibility is the belief that the contents of the Bible in regards to matters of Christian practice and faith are wholly true and useful and cannot be refuted in any way. The implication of this is that Christians can rely and trust the bible wholly and entirely. Thus the Bible can be taken to be a safe source of dependability and honesty (McElveen 18). Through biblical infallibility, it is claimed that the bible does not deceive or make any intention to deceive. It cannot thus fail any reader. This definition of infallibility does not however imply or promote inerrancy. However, when used as a salvation guide or as a guide to a life of Christian faith, the Bible will ultimately not fail anyone.
Biblical perspicuity
Biblical perspicuity is a Christian doctrine less common that the three other ones that asserts its clarity in its delivery of the central message. The meaning of perspicuity is that the bible is lucid, clear and plain. It implies that the meaning of the bible is not in any way clouded or deliberately concealed (Feinberg, 24). However, the meaning behind the scripture’s text is distinct and any common or ordinary believer can discern this meaning and understand its message. This doctrine was mainly advanced by the Protestant Reformers who were opposing the Roman Catholic’s notion that Bible was obscure and significantly difficult to understand. The Roman Catholics maintained that the an ordinary believer did not have the ability to interpret the holy scriptures and that such matters should be left to senior members of the Church such as pope. On the other hand, the Protestants claimed that the Bible was comprehendible to any literate reader. Because the bible is a revelation of God, it must therefore be clear and perspicuous. However, this does not obliterate the actuality that a diligent study of the bible is required for one to handle all its revelations accurately. It does not also mean that all Scripture parts are equally clear.
Relationship between inspiration inerrancy
The relationship between the two is very conspicuous. The doctrine of biblical inspiration supports that of inerrancy. Christians believe that God is perfect. They also believe that the holy scriptures are divinely directed or “God-breathed”. As such, they are divinely meant to satisfy the will of God. Inspiration is defined as the belief that the texts of God were inspired by God or that the authors of the text received inspiration from God in writing the texts. On the other hand, inerrancy was defined as the belief that the Bible is devoid of any error that it is in its original form and that is does not essentially affirm anything that is not factual. As such, it would definitely make sense that Bible is inerrant in its original form as it is the result of God’s will and God is perfect. In this sense, inspiration and inerrancy are bound (Vanhoozer, 51).
The relationship between inerrancy and inspiration can be considered to be symbiotic. If it is indeed true that God inspired the Holy Scripture, then the words that he specifically chose to be written in this revelation have to be inerrant. This is just because the bible relates to Christian faith and practice but also because the Scripture contained no error or mistakes in aspects such as grammar, sociology, mathematics, geometry, geography and geology. If a particular part of the scripture appears to be not inerrant, then the entire bible may be questioned whether it was really “breathed” or inspired by God.
Therefore, in assuming the view of absolute inspiration and inerrancy, it means individual accepts in its entirety as Apostle Peter states that the bible is Christ’s revelation and it has therefore “granted us to everything pertaining to life and godliness”. The inspiration and inerrancy of the bible is also further proof or verification of Apostle Paul’s assertion in the book of Timothy that that the Scripture’s purpose is “profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness, that is holy living, conformity to God’s will and in thought, purpose and action”. Since the Bible is inspired by God and due to the fact that He is perfect, it will always tend to point us towards a life that glorifies God.
Relationship between inspiration and infallibility
When theology experts talk of the scripture as being “infallible”, the meaning is that the scripture is basically incapable of committing errors mistakes. From this meaning, it is possible to establish the relationship between biblical inspiration and infallibility.
As already seen earlier, the Holy Scriptures were inspired and in some way authored by the almighty God and due to the fact he is perfect, he is incapable of committing any errors or mistakes. Other characteristics of God that come into play to further ascertain his infallibility include the fact that He is the truth that he cannot be surrounded by sin and he is incapable of lying. So we have God who is infallible delivering an infallibly written revelation to man (McElveen, 41). This can further be verified by the fact that during his earthy ministry, Jesus regarded the Scripture very highly as verified by the statement “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”. This statement can be found in the book of Matthew chapter 4.
Relationship between inspiration and perspicuity
The doctrine of perspicuity or clarity is the belief that the meaning of the scripture’s texts is comprehendible to any literate reader. God essentially uses this text to communicate his will. The belief is that ordinary people no matter where they are or the time period they are in will understand the central message of the bible even if they experience some little difficulty here and there. Since the bible is inspired by God, it is His wish that all people understand his message clearly. Being God inspired, it is only fitting that the terms in the bible be one’s that are understandable or perspicuous to every literal person who makes an effort to read it (Pearson,86).
Difference between inerrancy and infallibility
The doctrines of inerrancy and infallibility are often confused in many Christian circles. However, the definition between the two differs widely. Infallibility is sometimes used to refer to the ability of an individual to learn things with relative certainty. This is in fact one of the reasons why some scholars generally prefer infallibility. This is because in infallibility, the Scripture can never teach one wrong. Inerrancy basically means devoid of error and has been used to describe something that is flawless. Infallibility can be seen to be a stronger phrase than inerrancy. When something is inerrant, it means that that there aren’t any errors, while when something is described as inerrant, the meaning is that there can be no errors in it. In real sense, infallibility tends to deal more the personal experiential knowledge of God that one has while inerrancy is essentially more concerned with scripture details (Feinberg, 47).
Canonicity
Canonicity generally refers to the standard that all biblical books have meet for them to be recognized as scripture. The word canon is itself a Greek word that is translated to mean a ‘measuring rod”. Therefore, canon is used to refer to those books in the bible that were inspired by God. However, seeing that there are many books that were inscribed both during the Old Testament and the New Testament periods, it is only probable that a question of which books are actually canonical, that is, which books are God inspired and which should therefore be officially recognized as the Almighty’s authoritative revelation arises. The conservative Christians together with the Jews recognize the 39 books belonging to the Old Testament as inspired. On the other hand, evangelical Christians recognize the 27 books of the New Testament as inspired. Therefore, the canonicity of a particular book is a declaration that the book meets as certain standard. In many cases, the standard is the inspiration of God in the book. The scripture is supposed to be an inspiration from God because it is through it that he passes his will and his personality (Feinberg, 56). The fact that God would indeed create as well as preserve the Canon of Scripture without any deletion or addition is a very plausible and credible thing. If individuals believe that the Almighty God exists, then it is also plausible that inspiration and revelation would occur. In addition, it would also be probable that this Almighty God would out of his deep love for humans as well as for his own designs and purposes reveal himself to humans. What better way to do this than through a God inspired book that is the Holy Scriptures? By inspiring a particular book, it means that the book meets a standard established by God Himself (Vanhoozer, 70). A book not inspired by God cannot ultimately be taken to represent his word or his will and does not therefore belong to the canon. In light of the above discussion, it can be fairly concluded that inspiration results in canonization. When the book is inspired by God, it is part of the canon.
Works Cited
Vanhoozer, Kevin J, and Martin Warner. Transcending Boundaries in Philosophy and Theology: Reason, Meaning and Experience. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2007. Internet resource.
McElveen, Floyd C. God's Word, Final, Infallible and Forever: Compelling Evidence for the Bible's Inspiration and Preservation. Place of publication not identified: publisher not identified, 1985. Print.
Feinberg, Paul, ed. "Inerrancy and Infallibility of Bible." In Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. 2nd ed, edited by Walter A. Elwell, 156-59. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001.
Pearson, Charles W. "Open Inspiration Versus a Closed Canon and Infallible Bible." (2010): Print.
