Bible as the Inspired Word of God

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Bible as the Inspired Word of God

The Bible is the work of various authors, who lived in different

continents and wrote in different eras. Furthermore, much of the text

does not claim to have been 'dictated' by God and is not always God

speaking to people. In parts it consists of people speaking to God, as

in the Psalms, and people speaking to people, as in the New Testament

letters written by Paul. In light of this, some maintain that it is

not possible to treat the Bible as a book of divine oracles, delivered

once by God and recorded by its authors through divine inspiration,

since biblical authors were products of their time and subsequently

their understanding of divine truth was culturally conditioned.

Nevertheless, fundamentalist Christians hold that that the Bible is

the revealed word of God. Indeed, one of Jesus' closest friends,

Peter, wrote, [1]"Above all, you must understand that no prophesy in

Scripture ever came from the prophets themselves or because they

wanted to prophesy. It was the Holy Spirit who moved the prophets to

speak from God."

In 2 Timothy 3:16, the apostle Paul reminded Timothy that "all

scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true

and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives." It seems that

although the writers wrote from their own personal, historical and

cultural context and used his own style, each wrote in accordance with

God's wishes. Yet, it is easy to see how interpretation of the

scriptures may instate doubt in peoples' minds; there appears to be

much contradiction in teaching. For example, whilst in the Old

Testament God sent the Israelites to fight, the New Tes...

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... overcome since interpretation is

undertaken with the help of divine intervention. Furthermore, if the

meaning of passages remains unclear, then it would seem that they are

of little importance or God would have clearly revealed their meaning.

We certainly cannot reject the teaching in 2 Timothy that "all

scripture is the inspired word of God." As for more liberal

approaches, it is necessary to recognise that not scripture should be

viewed literally, but God will guide the believer as to how texts

should be addressed.

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[1] The Bible, 2 Peter 1:20-21

[2]

[3] John Locke, A Second Vindication of Reasonableness of Christianity

(1768).

[4] Author of The Groundwork of Philosophy of Religion.

[5] Author of Theology of Revelation

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