Picturing Theology, Revised Edition

Picturing Theology, Revised Edition | 59

Theories of Inspiration Rev. Terry G. Cornett

Theory of Inspiration

Explanation

Possible Objection(s)

The human author is a passive instrument in God’s hands. The author simply writes down each word as God speaks it. This direct dictation is what protects the text from human error.

The Books of Scripture show diverse writing styles, vocabularies, and manners of expression which vary with each human author. This theory doesn’t seem to explain why God would use human authors rather than giving us a direct written word from himself. The Bible indicates that Scripture came from God, through human authors (2 Peter 1:20-21). The Scriptures indicate that the human authors expressed the very words of God (“Thus saith the Lord” passages; Romans 3:2). The biblical authors never indicate that some of Scripture is more inspired or treat only one kind of biblical material as inspired in their use of it. Jesus speaks about the entire scriptural revelation up to his day as an unchanging word from God (Matthew 5:17-18; John 3:34-35). It seems unlikely that the human elements which are finite and culture bound could be described as the unchanging words of God.

Mechanical or Dictation

Gifted people with exceptional spiritual insight were chosen by God to write the Bible The Holy Spirit heightened the normal capacities of human authors so that they had special insight into spiritual truth. Certain parts of the Bible are more inspired than others. Sometimes this position is used to argue that portions dealing with key doctrines or ethical truths are inspired while portions dealing with history, economics, culture, etc. are less inspired or not inspired. Both divine and human elements are present in the production of Scripture. The entire text of Scripture, including the words, are a product of the mind of God expressed in human terms and conditions, through human authors that he foreknew (Jeremiah 1:5) and chose for the task.

Intuition or Natural

Illumination

Degrees of Inspiration

Verbal Plenary