The Inspiration of The Bible Introduction
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The Inspiration of The Bible Introductionđź“·
March 15—May 31, 2024.
Donny Weimar
Instructor
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Introduction
1. It is not the intention of this study to prove the existence of God. That is done under another course study of the Evidence of God.
2. Two underlying assumptions will guide this study.
a. God exists and —
b. God is infinite is in all His attributes.
3. Our task in this course is with affirming and presenting adequate evidence for the view that the Bible is the word of God. God inspires it. As such, it is inerrant, complete, powerful, and authoritative.
a. Inspired—its author is God.
b. Inerrant—the original autographs are free from errors.
c. Complete—the Bible has completely revealed God’s will as it pertains to soul-crafting. There will be no further additions to the Holy Bible.
d. Powerful—It is a living document with the ability to convert and condemn.
e. Authoritative—The Word of God has the final say in all matters pertaining to life and godliness, including the works and worship of the New Testament Church of Christ.
I. The Bible’s Own Claim to The Inspiration of God (Regarding Its Nature)
I. The Bible’s Own Claim to The Inspiration of God (Regarding Its Nature)
1) Amos—as a Description of the Standard Set By the LORD. (The Old Testament Example)
a) Background: Amos was a prophet of Judah of the Southern Kingdom, but was God sends him to take God’’ message to Israel (the Northern Kingdom).
b) Despite all God’s pleadings, the Jews continue to grow “worse and worse.” God has always had a clearly revealed “divine standard” for human beings:
i) He had a standard for the Gentiles (in patriarchy);
ii) He had a standard for the Jews (in Judaism);
iii) And now—in the time of New Testament Christianity for all humankind, He now has the divine standard which we call “The New Testament of Our Lord and Savior,” Jesus Christ, to which all human beings are accountable.
c) By the time of the work of Amos recorded in Chapter 7, hope was gone. Israel’’ destruction was determined. God had sent Elijah, and Elisha, and Jonah—but to no avail. God sent Amos and Hosea, but they were unsuccessful in reaching Israel.
d) In Chapter 7:7—9, we have the story of the plumb-line.
Amos 7:7–9 NKJV
7 Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. 8 And the Lord says to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I say, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord says: “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore. 9 The high places of Isaac shall be desolate, And the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste. I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam.”
i.) Mini exegesis of the text.
(a) A plumb line serves as a level.
(b) The construction workers used a plumb line to construct the wall, ensuring that it was level.
(c) The Lord is now finding it leaning—it is about to fall over.
(d) The wall and the plumb line are metaphorical for a corrupt society being measured by God’’ justice
(e) The wage of sin is death, separation of God. He will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam.
ii.) Lessons:
(1) God always has had and now has for His people a divine standard.
(2) It is possible for people to depart from the divine standard, and this to their own hurt.
(3) When men ignore, disregard, despise, or turn away from the divine standard, it displeases God.
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II. Modern Day Attacks on The Bible
II. Modern Day Attacks on The Bible
The Five Most Common Objections Christians Hear Over the Years.
The Five Most Common Objections Christians Hear Over the Years.
1) The Bible is full of contradictions and discrepancies.
1) The Bible is full of contradictions and discrepancies.
a. Matthew places the Sermon on the Mount, on a mountain (Matthew 5:1). While Luke places the sermon on a “level place” (Luke 6:17)
b. Were humans created last (Genesis 1:1—2:4a) or first (Genesis 2:4b—25?
c. These are just samples that skeptics like to bring up.
d. It seems probable that Jesus was standing on a plateau and the Genesis account of man’s creation does not contradict because chapter one is a general statement and chapter two goes into detail.
2) The Bible is full of violence, genocide, prejudice, and injustice, often commanded by God—and Christians have used it to justify more violence and oppression.
2) The Bible is full of violence, genocide, prejudice, and injustice, often commanded by God—and Christians have used it to justify more violence and oppression.
a. The flood story (Genesis 6—9)
b. The killing of the Egyptian soldiers at the Red Sea (Exodus 14—15)
c. The Conquest (Joshua 1—12).
d. *It is difficult for us to get our 21st minds around this. These are stories of justice. Bad people receiving the judgment they deserve.
3) The Bible’s descriptions of nature and natural history are hopelessly at odds with science.
3) The Bible’s descriptions of nature and natural history are hopelessly at odds with science.
a. When you have correct hermeneutics of the Bible and of science, you have truth that does not conflict with the other.
b. Science and the Bible only clash when you have a misinterpretation of one or both fields.
4) Ancient and primitive people wrote the Bible, and it has no value to modern people anymore.
4) Ancient and primitive people wrote the Bible, and it has no value to modern people anymore.
a. Ancient people wrote the Bible. The earliest writings come from the second half of the second millennium BC.
b. Ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek are the languages in which the Bible is written.
c. It is inherent in the inspiration’s value of the Word of God that it is consistent with the unchanging nature of God. It legislates God’s values of morality. Thus, it had, has, and will always have value to people. God is good; God is powerful; God is everywhere. That message does not alter. It contains the mission of God, to save people from their violations of the law of morality, which He set forth.
5) Christians cannot even agree on what it is saying, so who cares if it is true or not?
5) Christians cannot even agree on what it is saying, so who cares if it is true or not?
a. Christians disagree on a substantial number of things, that is true.
b. But God’s Word is the constant. It measures all beliefs and views according to the True Standard it sets forth.
c. God’s word is truth, regardless of whether Christian interpret it correctly and disagree on their interpretations.
d. The problem of disagreements between Christians is not God’s fault. We must interpret what He has communicated correctly.
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III. The Argument for The Inspiration of The Bible as the Very Word of God
III. The Argument for The Inspiration of The Bible as the Very Word of God
1. We must present and defend the word of God, which contains God’s way of making men righteous.
a. Philippians 1:7 “7 just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace.”
b. Philippians 1:17 “17 but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.”
c. 1 Peter 3:15 “15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;”
d. Jude 3 “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”
2. We presuppose a person is a rational being with the ability to reason properly. This means that he can come to a knowledge of reality. A knowledge of things as they are. To say, I know, is to say that I and others as well have come to intellectual cognizance and certitude regarding a situation.
a. In this case, that certitude is being claimed for the origin and nature of the Bible.
b. Not that a Christian knows everything about the Bible.
c. The term “Bible” is being used to mean the Christian Bible, both Old and New Testaments, in its original form.
3. The Say the Bible is “Verbally Inspired,” is to say that inspiration extends to every word of the Bible;
4. Which leads us to say that the Bible is “Plenary Inspired,” as opposed to being partially inspired.
5. To say that the Bible is verbally and plenarily inspired rules out any notion that God merely gave insights and concepts to the writers.
6. Verbal inspiration extends to the words as God’s penmen expressed them.
7. Therefore, to say the Bible is plenary and verbally inspired is to say that the biblical words themselves (in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek) are to be understood to be given from God.
8. The God of the universe who gave us the Word also gave us the words. Inspiration does not limit itself to the writer’s thinking but to all the Scripture.
a. 2 Timothy 3:16 “16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,”
2 Peter 1:21 (NKJV)
for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit
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9. This was the understanding of the biblical writers themselves
2 Thessalonians 2:13 “13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,”
Exodus 24:4 “4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.”
10. The prophets spoke the words of YHWH when they delivered their messages to God’s people.
Hosea 1:1 “1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.”
Amos 1:3 “3 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they have threshed Gilead with implements of iron.”
Micah 1:1 “1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.”
11. God did not give biblical writers merely the thoughts or the broad concepts and then allowed them to fill in the details. Rather, He gave them the details as well.
12. For someone to say that the Bible is partly God’s Word and partly the word of men—well, that seems rude to the Holy Author. As such, the Bible either is the Word of God or else it is not.
Conclusion
Conclusion
1. Our task in this course is with affirming and presenting adequate evidence for the view that the Bible is the word of God. God inspires it. As such, it is inerrant, complete, powerful, and authoritative.
2. The skeptics militantly reject it and present their best arguments that we, too, should shun God’s specially revealed Truth.
3. In today’s class, we have found the Bible’s own claim to have Divine origin. God inspired it. The Holy God used chosen individuals to present His Divine will for men and women to have faithful obedience to the law of morality. To the law of faith, or as we shall know it, as the New Testament of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.