Bible Interpretation, Student Workbook, SW05

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B I B L E I N T E R P R E T A T I O N

2. Because the Scriptures are inspired by God, we further assert that the Scriptures alone are the final and absolute authority for all things to the Church, in what we believe and what we practice (the doctrine of infallibility ).

II. Theories of Inspiration: How Exactly Did the Holy Spirit Lead the Human Authors?

These theories seek to answer the question as to just how the Lord, the Spirit, actually inspired the authors so that the product they came up with could be called “inspired by God.”

The structure of argument in this section is adapted from H. Wayne House, “Theories of Inspiration.” Charts of Christian Theology . Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992.

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A. Mechanical or Dictation Theory: passive human authorship

1. The human author was a passive instrument in God’s hands.

2. The author wrote down each word as God spoke it (verbatim reporting, like a secretary).

3. This dictation protects the Scriptures from error.

4. Reactions to the Mechanical or Dictation Theory

a. Books of the Bible reveal too much diversity in styles of writing, language, and expression for this to be true.

b. Why didn’t God merely give us the book whole, then?