Scripture's divine inspiration implies the doctrine of biblical inerrancy. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy sets forth the doctrine or inerrancy this way:
"Holy Scripture, being God's own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by his Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which
it touches... Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God's acts in creation about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God's saving grace in individual lives."
God's absolutely trustworthy nature and moral integrity (John 17:3; Romans 3:4) and his direct supervision of the original autographs (2 Tim. 3: 16; 2 Peter 1: 19-21) resulted in scriptural text that-when correctly understood and properly interpreted-is free of all error (historically, scientifically, moral
and spiritually).
Theologian John Jefferson Davis notes: "All Scripture is the direct prouct of the omnipotent and omniscient God who is not subject to error.' Jesus Christ himself taught that Scripture came from the mouth of God and is therefore error free (Matt. 5:17-18; John 10:35). As a result, evagelical Protestants view the doctrine of biblical inerrancy as a necessary implication."
The biblical authors (prophets and apostles) were aware that they were speaking and subsequently writing the words of God (see Exod. 34:27; Deut. 18:18; 1 Cor. 2:12-13; 1 Thess. 2:13; 1 Peter 1:11-12). Some of the apostles of Jesus even placed their New Testament writings on par with the Old Testament (see 1 Tim. 5: 18b, which quotes Luke 10:7 and Deut. 25:4 together; 2 Peter 3:16; Rev. 22:18-19), which they recognized as sacred Scripture (Rom. 3:1-2).
The biblical doctrine of inspiration is exemplified by the apostle Paul's statement, "All Scripture is God-breathed" (2 Tim. 3:16). The Greek word
theopneustos, used to describe Scripture, implies that it is the product of the creative breath of God, not unlike how God produced the universe and the first human being.
In addition, the apostle Peter declares that "no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation... but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:20-21). The inspiration of the Bible may therefore be defined as the divine act whereby God superintended human authors to ensure their writings reflected his intended revelation.
God nevertheless produced the authorized text while using the genuine contributions of human authors ( confluent inspiration). They brought their backgrounds, educations, vocabularies, and styles to the writing task but God produced the inspired Scripture through them (see 2 Tim. 3: 16; 2 Peter 1 : 19-21).
Theologian Bruce Milne notes, "The words used were consciously the free composition of the authors and at the same time the very Word of God." This divine inspiration extended not only to the precise wording (verbal inspiration) chosen by the authors but also to the whole Bible itself (plenary inspiration). Theologian Louis Berkhof provides an explanation for how God inspired the biblical authors: "The Holy Spirit illumined their minds, aided their memory, prompted them to write, repressed the influence of sin on their writings, and guided them in the expression of their thoughts even to the choice of their words." The Bible, though written by human beings, is nonetheless the inspired Word of God because of the Holy Spirit's unique power and supervision. The Scriptures must be responsibly and objectively interpreted (e.g. hermeneutics).
article sense of belonging, of.