Theo 201 Short Essay

THEO201_B21 LUO

Short Essay # 1

Bibliology: Inspiration and Inerrancy of the Bible

There have been many times in my life when I have been sitting on a bench or a chair in a public area while I have been reading my bible. Usually after a few hours of reading, someone who has noticed me would ask a question or two, but never has someone asked why I would study the bible and how I or anyone could possibly consider it to be authoritative. If someone were to ask me that question, I would love to converse and answer that person in the following manner.

When it is said that the Bible has authority, we wonder who did give this collection of books authority. The answer to this question is that we believe as Christians that God is the one whom gives these books authority, as we read in the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology “An approach to the subject of biblical authority must first begin with God himself. For in him all authority is finally located. (Elwell)”

As the conversation continues with the jogger, he moves the conversation from authority, to inspiration of the Bible, and what Biblical support we can find to support it. According to Towns “Inspiration is the guidance or influence of the Holy Spirit on the human writers of Scripture so that God controlled them in such a way that what they wrote was exactly what God wanted them to write without error. (Towns)” We find this line of thought in scripture in 2 Timothy 3:16 where it says “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness (HCSB.)”

From inspiration the jogger wants to question about inerrancy and asks what my definition of inerrancy is. If it could be summarized, inerrancy is knowing that the God who inspired the human writers to pen the words, it can be assumed and ascertained that God did this inspiration without error. This corresponds with 2 Peter 1:21 where we read “because no prophecy ever came by the will...