...What is Inspiration? Inspiration is define in the book as supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit upon the Scripture writers. The dictionary has inspiration defined as the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something; the quality of being inspired; a person or thing that inspires; a sudden brilliant, creative or timely idea and lastly the divine influence believed to have led to the writing of the Bible. The word inspiration is derived from the word inspire which in Greek is theopneustos meaning God-breathed. We have Scripture because God spoke the words. The Holy Spirit moved the writers to record the word of God. Inspiration is receiving the word of God. In a supernatural way the Holy Spirit used man to write the words of God. The Bible was the result of these writings. It is a product of the inspiration given to the writers. God inspired the writers leading them speak and write his words. The Bible is error free as the words are God infallible. It is Gods way of communicating his will for his people. The Bible is the authoritative word of God. Erickson states that there are five types of theories of inspiration. Intuition theory in which the writers possessed a high degree of insight. They were great religious and philosophical geniuses that had great insight on the moral of man. Illumination theory states the Holy Spirit influence the writers of the Scripture. With the help of the Holy Spirit the people will understand the word of God. Dynamic theory...
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...Inerrancy and Inspiration Morgan Sikes Liberty University THEO 201-B18 Inerrancy and Inspiration Although, contrary to some who believe otherwise, the Bible is an all-authoritative book. As Christians we believe, that scripture is God breathed and because it is from God, it is accurate and authoritative. The Bible is directly from God, written through his disciples. Since the authority belongs to God, our command as Christ followers is to follow Jesus’ example of how he lived in the Bible. According to the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, “Authority is the right and power to command, enforce laws, exact obedience, determine or judge.” In respect to the Bible, this means that because it is authoritative, we must follow the laws given by its word. This empowerment belongs to God, and to God alone. Matthew 21:23-24 states, that Jesus’ authority came from God his Father, the one who sent him to Earth. The Bible’s authority, comes from God, but was not written by God, or Jesus themselves. The people chosen to write the books of the Bible were chosen specifically by God, and were inspired through the work of the Holy Spirit. Along with authority and inspiration, comes the discussion of inerrancy. Inerrancy is the view that the entire Bible is completely accurate and true. There are four arguments for inerrancy, including The Biblical Argument. This argument states that if God has authority over the Bible, then it has to be inerrant because God is truth. The Bible is...
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...Short Essay on Inspiration and Inerrancy of the Bible Living in a Fallen world, people tend to search for answers to life’s questions in places they should not be looking. This causes them to belittle the actual source of answers God has provided for us, the Bible. I find it hard to explain God’s authority to an unbelieving individual talk less of the Bible’s authority. If a person doesn’t believe the bible, it can be a task to convince them that it has any authority. It is easy to explain the authority of the government or police, because these are authorities they are subject to and they can see, but when to comes to the authority of God and the bible, it is a different perspective. God has given us the Bible as a gift of love for us His children to follow until He comes back. It is the divine truth to all of humanity. The Bible is God’s revelation in written form to man. That is where the authority of the Bible comes from, the divine revelation of God Himself. Biblical inspiration is the doctrine in Christian theology concerned with the divine origin of the bible and what it teaches. Compared to the modern definition of inspiration, which is the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something especially to do something creative, biblical inspiration is God breathed, divine influence of the Holy spirit. God revealed Himself to selected people whom he had inspired to write the books of the Bible. In 2 Peter 1:21 the bible says for prophecy never had it’s origin...
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...(Elwell pg. 153) Revelation is therefore the key to God’s authority, because in order to have authority we need revelation concerning the source of authority. In revelation God declares His authority. Inspiration is the process by which God chose to reveal Himself, apart from general revelation, through His written Word. By His Word, we mean being God’s own Word written by men and superintended by His Holy Spirit as the divine author. The written word of God is whole and was verbally given with the incorporation of the writer’s personality without any error or fault. In 2 Timothy 3:16 (KJV) we read that “all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness.” Also in 2 Peter 1:19-20 (KJV) we read that no prophecy came from the will of man but rather that men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. In light of the prophecies and predictions that Scripture has made regarding the predictions concerning the Messiah, His birth, life, death, burial and resurrection, it is hard not to see the Bible as the inspired Word of God. I do not think men of their own accord could have been that accurate apart from divine inspiration. Now there is still a question pertaining to inerrancy that must be answered and it is one that proves to be of equal importance. If men were the authors, and men are fallible and sinners, how do we know that the Bible is without error? Could the authors...
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...Inspiration and Inerrancy (Turabian-Bibliography) Terrell Harrison Student # 23479051 Theology 201 William D. Aleshire Liberty University Online, February 24th,2014 Contents Introduction 1 How does the World see the Word 2 Five Questions kinds of Research Questions 2-5 a. The authority of the Bible and where it came from? b. Inspiration and Biblical Support. c. The validity of the Arguments of Inerrancy with Biblical Support. d. The relationship between inspiration and inerrancy. e. Living as what I proclaim to be. Conclusion Introduction Millions of people in the world today are looking for something. Some have an idea where to find it, yet others question the very validity of God’s word. During my walk with Christ this question has been asked more than once and sometimes not nearly enough.”What does it mean to say that the Bible has “Authority, and how do we know for sure where the Authority of the Bible came?” The interesting thing is when you do explain the truth of God’s word to today’s society; society is still inept to believe Hollywood before it understands the authority of God’s word. Let’s consider the Atheist beliefs. Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Most inclusively, atheism is the absence of belief that any deities exist. Atheism is...
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...authority of the Bible comes from within itself. It is the word of God. God is both true and truthful (1 Thess. 1:9; Rom. 15:8). Inspiration in the Biblical sense means that each word comes from God’s mouth. As in, 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed…”, meaning God has spoken the words to the writers of the Bible. Scriptures that backs up my statements are: 1 Peter 1: 20,21 and Job 32:8 and Romans 3:2 are just a few that I came across. I firmly and whole heartedly believe that the Bible is perfect, meaning without error. I think that the more educated a person is regarding the Bible the more they may question that the Bible has errors or contradicts itself. I mean just look at the list of the arguments of the “problems” in Scripture, Biblical Argument, Historical Argument, Epistemological Argument and The Slippery Slope Argument. So many times when people are disputing the Word of God they quickly come to Matthew 5:17-20 and John 10:34-35. Almost every time they are taking the scripture right out of context. When in scripture there seems to be an area that allows two different intrepretations the latter should be taken. I say that the Bible has no errors in it because I have faith. When you have faith you believe in the unseen. I did not see these men write the words down. The relationship between inspiration and inerrancy goes back to what I said before, that since the Bible is inspired of God and God is perfect there is no error in it. Since I have...
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...Bibliology: Inspiration and Inerrancy of the Bible Dana Peebles THEO 201: THEOLOGY SURVEY 1 Writing Style: APA Professor Gaston July 5, 2014 Well, hello there. I am so glad you asked me why in the world I would be studying the Bible, and how can I possibly consider it to be authoritative. I must say, that when I first started reading it I found that I had more questions than answers and really wasn’t sure of its authenticity myself. However, what I found was that within the pages of the Bible, came forth the very answers I was looking for. For so long, I found scripture confusing and contradictive. But then, I read that “God is not the author of confusion, but a God of peace.” (1 Corinthians 14:33) With that being said, I would love to discuss further with you what it is that I understand the Bible to be. The Bible is an extraordinary book, and it makes some pretty impressive statements. It records details of creation, life, moral laws of God, the history of man’s rebellion against God, and the proclamation of God’s redemption for those who trust and believe in Him. Also, the Bible is God’s revelation to us. If we are feeling lost, it gives us hope for how we should live, why we exist, what happens when we die, and what our meaning and purpose is in life. When you think of the word “authoritative,” it can have several different meanings. The most common one I believe is the fact that we are not in control, and that means we are usually submissive to people...
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...Short Essay on Inerrancy and Inspiration Millions of people worldwide read the Bible and use it for our worship of the Lord, instructions on how to live a moral life, and for guidance. Most people are naturally curious about why the Bible was written and who it was written by. People wonder if we can trust the words of the Bible since God didn’t actually put pen to paper and write the book. The Bible was written by authors who were inspired to write by God. One question that a lot of people ask is how do we know the Bible whether or not the Bible is true and from God. What does it mean to say that the Bible has authority, and from where does the authority of the Bible come from? To put it simply if the Bible is the word of God, then the Bible must be true. So the Bible has authority in all cases because it is the word of God. “For in him all authority is finally located. And he is his own authority for there is nothing outside him on which his authority is founded. Thus, in making his promise to Abraham, he pledged his own name since he had no greater by whom to swear” (Heb. 6:13). There are many different authors and books in the Bible. From the Old Testament to the New Testament there are different stories, lessons, and writing styles that make up the 66 books of the Bible. Sometimes the question of why these books were written may be asked. It is believed that the authors of the Bible were inspired by God to write their testimonies. Biblical inspiration is the belief that...
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...Anthony Henderson Turabian Theo-201 D16 Essay on Bibliology: Inspiration and Inerrancy of the Bible I n today’s society many people question the authority and inerrancy of the Bible. They want concrete proof of the inerrancy of the Bible and they question the inspiration and ability of the writers. When we say the Bible has authority, we must also show where the authority comes from. “Authority is the right and power to command, enforce laws, exact obedience, determine or judge”. Many people do not understand how much authority a book written thousands of years ago actually commands. The authority comes from God because the Bible is the Word of God. “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” We know God is truth and the Bible is His word. This knowledge leads us to conclude that the Bible is authoritative and true. The Bible is the inspired Word of God given to the writers of the scripture. “The content of the Bible teaches that it was given by the process of inspiration of God so that the words were God’s Word and that they are accurate and reliable, hence they are authoritative”. We read in the Bible how the prophets did not use their words, but were moved by the Spirit to speak God’s Words. We also see that the Spirit led them to write what God wanted to be written. The Bible is inspired, or “God-breathed”. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”. The question...
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...Short Essay on Inerrancy and Inspiration In 2nd Timothy 3:16 it says “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (KJV). It says all scripture is given by inspiration of GOD. According to the Biblical Argument we should believe in inerrancy because the Bible teaches it own inerrancy. We should accept the Bible’s claim about itself. So the Bible’s authority comes from the inspiration of GOD, because God is the author of the Bible. Biblical Authority must begin with God himself. For in him all authority is located. God is his own authority, for there is nothing outside of Him on which his authority was founded. So the Bible is GOD’s word and if there was nothing before GOD to base the Bible on then GOD is his own authority as well as His word. When it comes to the Bible inspiration is the guidance or influence of the Holy Spirit on human writers of Scripture so that GOD controlled them in such a way that what they wrote was exactly what GOD wanted to say without error. Whatever GOD wanted to say in the scripture, His Holy Spirit inspired the writer of the scripture to write exactly what GOD wanted, how GOD wanted it, and the way GOD wanted it written without error or human flaw. Isaiah 55:8 says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” This is why the Bible is without error. If we say that there is not inerrancy of the Bible,...
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...Desiree Savath APA THEO 201-B32 Inerrancy through Inspiration That is a very good question, because in society today there are many people questioning inerrancy and authority of the Bible. They want proof that the Bible is inerrant and wonder about the Writer’s inspiration. By saying that the Bible has authority, one needs to show and prove from where it comes. First, “Authority is the right and power to command, enforce laws, exact obedience, determined or judge.”(Elwell, Walter A., 2001, p. 153.) Many people may not understand how important authority is for a book that had been written centuries ago. This authority comes through God because He says it is so. “…Thus saith the Lord,” (Isaiah 44:6, KJV) has been written throughout the Old Testament to show His authority and truthfulness. This was also proven in the New Testament of God’s word. “…thy word is truth.” (John 17:17b, KJV). One must know that God is Truth and the Holy Bible is His Word. This sort of knowledge will lead one to arrive at the fact that the Bible is true and authoritative. The Bible is God’s inspired Word given to the scripture’s writers. “The content of the Bible teaches that it was given by the process of inspiration of God so that the words were God’s word and that they are accurate and reliable, hence they are authoritative.” (Towns, Elmer L., 2008, p. 66). We read that in the Bible the prophets were “carried along” by the Holy Spirit to speak the Words of God rather than their own. (2 Peter...
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...Warren Brooks Writing Style Used: MLA Course and Section Number: THEO 201 D27 Short Essay on Inspiration and Inerrancy It was a routine morning; I woke up to the buzz of my alarm, had breakfast, and was on my way to the park where I have my daily Bible study. However, on this day, my time at the park did not go according to routine as normal. A jogger that regularly runs through the park suddenly approached me. He told me his name, but the next words that came out of his mouth were: “How do you sit there morning after morning and read that Bible. What drives you to do it, and what do Christians find so authoritative about it?” I didn’t respond right away, but after taking a few seconds, I concluded: The term ‘authority,’ when applied to the Bible, also has an application to words spoken or written whose accuracy has been established and whose information can consequently be trusted (McDonald). To say the Bible has authority means that these words have the power and right to command. This authority comes from God and we are meant to give our lives over to this supreme authority. Hence, we worship the God of these words, and not the words themselves. John 5:23 states, “He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” This evidences that Jesus and God are equal. Since Jesus and God are one, this means that Jesus has this authority as well. Biblical inspiration is a super-natural influence of the Holy Spirit upon divinely chosen agents in consequence of...
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...1 Kristine Williams THEO201_D01_201240 Short Essay 1 Authority, Inspiration, and Inerrancy The word of God has been a book that has touched the lives of many, whether leading to professions of belief or unfortunate rejections of faith. In all of its glory, the Bible has complete authority, inspiration, and inerrancy from God because it is God. These three attributes go hand in hand to the overall divine nature of the scriptures while having their own impact in the argument of Christianity. Since “authority is the right and power to command, enforce laws, exact obedience, determine or judge,”[1] to say that the Bible has its own authority is a simple, but faith-demanding concept. The Bible is authoritative in that its information can be trusted and is completely valid. This is mainly due to the fact that the author sends that authority. The Lord and creator of the universe gives His word evidence simply because He is truth and portrays accuracy. As God’s word the Bible reveals God’s authority. In reference to the Bible, inspiration simply means that God is the author of all scripture. I believe this way because in His authority He says: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”[2] I am fully confident that every word in the Bible comes divinely from the creator of the universe, not only because that is what His word says, but because it gives explanation...
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...Jae Lee MLA Theo 201-D21 Short Essay on Inerrancy and Inspiration. While sitting on a bench in a nearby park I was reading the Bible, when a jogger had stopped in the middle of his jog and asked me why am I reading the Bible and do I really think that the words of God has authority. So I answered his first question by telling him that I am a student in a Christian College and that I found my love for God. The second question that he had, I answered him with a question saying whoever might you believe in or what you believe in does it have authority? With that reply I went on briefly and told him that Jesus in my father and he is my savior. He is the one I believe in and the one that sets plans for all of us. Inspiration can be also defined as Approach, influence, a way to help one rise and other things. the purpose of the Bible Inspiration is that it helps one understand or even let one rise from their problems because the father Jesus Christ is there to protect and provide for them. Every writer from the past and every reader till this day have an inspirational story to tell. We all are inspired by God’s word. Through-out the whole Bible there are inspiring passages and verses. But the Bible as a Whole in the biggest inspiration that one needs. “All scripture is God-breath and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.” The bible is given by the Inspiration of God. The Scripture is words we need to hear so that we can overcome things in life...
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...Short Essay on Inspiration and Inerrancy of the Bible The statement, “the Bible is the inspired inerrant Word of God”, is weighty and carries with it many ramifications. There have been numerous debates about the validity of this statement, all of which have produced many sides to this argument. As a Christian, it is essential to research and study for oneself in order to come to an educated conclusion that the Bible is, in fact, the inspired inerrant word of God. Everything starts with questioning the authority of the Bible. If the Bible has no authority over life, if it is nothing but empty words, how then can one rationally use it to be the foundational instruction in one’s life? Does it have authority and from where did this authority come from? “An approach to the subject of biblical authority must begin with God himself. For in him all authority is finally located…there is nothing outside him on which his authority is founded”. One of the strongest arguments from those with an opposing view on the authority of the Bible will “regard the bible as a fallible collection of religious writings…” However, “Revelation is therefore the key to God’s authority, so that the two, revelation and authority may be regarded as two sides of the same reality. In revelation God declares his authority”. “Over 3,000 times in Scripture the authors claim their message is from God”. “The phrase ‘Thus saith the LORD’” appears 1,700 times in Scripture. While these claims cannot...
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