Definitions

Webster offers the following definitions…

Inspired – “outstanding or brilliant in a way or to a degree suggestive of divine inspiration”

Inspiration – “a divine influence or action on a person believed to qualify him or her to receive and communicate sacred revelation”

Divine – “of, relating to, or proceeding directly from God, or a god”

Inerrant – “free from error”

Infallable – “incapable of error”

A Biblical Christian view of the Bible

The Bible, in its original autographs, is the inspired (details here), inerrant (here) and infallable (here), Word of God, written by God and penned by man. Incorporated within that statement is the presuposition that God was also in control of what books would, and would not be included in the final Protestant (here) canon. Finally, what we hold today is 99+% of the original autographs as God has kept His hand on His work.

Inspired

I received a response from a reader stating that he believed the Bible was “inspired” by God but not “inerrant”, prompting this brief post.

The obvious question from a Biblical Christian perspective would be, what is the difference, if any, between inspired and inerrant (or infallable)?

If inspired is “suggestive” of divine origin (i.e. God)… then how suggestive is it? For the believer and, as referenced in the Book itself, very suggestive.

2 Peter 1:21 – For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Timothy 3:16 – All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

So, if the Bible is inspired by God, does that make the original autographs inerrant?

Inerrant

If one believes God is omnipotent (all powerful), omnicient (all knowing), and supreme then we would have to accept that He has both the power, knowledge and authority to decide if His instruction manual for our earthly lives wil be written with errors, or without errors.

All Powerful – Luke 1:37 – For nothing will be impossible with God.”

All Knowing – 1 John 3:20b – God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

Supreme – Revelation 1:8 – “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

There are admittedly many areas in Scripture where mankind is confused by what has been written, places where God seems to be contradictory, making many reject His authorship. However, I would offer the point that our inability to understand the picture painted by the Creator of the universe is more an issue with our capabilities rather than His inadequacies.

Isaiah 55:9 – For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Further, there is a core set of Biblical principles (details here) that are clear to anyone reading His work with an open mind and heart.

If one accepts that God has the power, authority, and ability to provide man with a divine handbook for life, logically He would not riddle it with errors, nor would He allow mankind to muck it up by adding material to the canon which He wanted left out.

Conclusion

Perhaps the difference between Biblical inspiration and inerrancy is a matter of degree, from a human perspective. However, from God’s perspective, to be generated by “divine inspiration” would naturally result in an innerrant work of our Father.