Verbal Plenary Inspiration

Definition

Inspiration - "theopneustos" - God so moved the authors of Scripture that the resulting product was the Word of God written, totally without error in the autographs, in every area including theology, history, geography, and science.

Reasons for Accepting This View

An Inductive case for verbal inspiration:

• Demonstrate the relative historical reliability of the gospel records.
  • Bibliographical test - Are there enough copies to reconstruct the originals?
  • Internal test - Does the author disqualify himself by contradictions or known factual errors?
  • External test - Do other historical materials confirm or deny the author's testimony?
• Note the claims of Christ to Deity recorded in the gospels.
• Verify the claims deductively by eliminating unsatisfactory explanations (not covered here).
• Therefore, since Christ is God, His teaching on bibliology is authoritative.

Christ's teaching on bibliology

The Old Testament

• Mt. 5:18*; Jn. 10:35; Jn. 5:39-47**; Mk. 12:36; Mt. 19:4-5; Mt. 22:29-32; Mt. 12:39,40; Lk. 17:26-32; Lk. 24:44

His own words:

• Mt. 24:35*; Mt. 7:24-37; Jn. 3:5 "truly I say", etc.

The Apostles writings:

• Jesus pre-authenticated the apostles' writings: Jn. 14:26*; Jn. 15:26,27; Jn. 16:13,14

The Human Authors Corroborate Christ's Position

The Old Testament:

• Josh. 1:8; 22:5; II Sam. 23:2; Heb. 9:3,30; Neh. 10:29

The New Testament:

• I Cor. 14:37*; II Pet. 3:2; II Pet. 1:16-21; Rev. 1:3; Rev. 22:18,19; I Tim. 5:18; I Thess. 2:13,15; II Pet. 3:15,16; Gal. 1:11-12; Jn. 21:24; II Tim. 3:16 4.

Communicating a defense of Biblical authority

Several approached are effective if applied correctly, and in our view, carry more weight with non Christians than the inductive argument above.

• fulfilled prophecy
• Christ's teaching on bibliology where appropriate
• presuppositional proof

We at "Perilous Times" believe in the verbal inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. This means that the divine inspiration of the Scriptures extends to the very words of the original Biblical text, not merely to the thoughts and concepts of the Biblical writers.

We at "Perilous Times" also believe in the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures.  This means that all Scripture from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21 is God-breathed and equally-inspired, though it admittedly may not all seem equally inspiring to the reader.

Inspiration extends to the words, not merely to the thoughts and concepts. Thus, we speak of the plenary and verbal inspiration of the Scriptures; plenary, because the inspiration is entire and without restriction, that is, it includes all and every Scripture (II Tim. 3:16); verbal, because it includes every word (I Cor. 2:13).”

Are the Modern Translations viable
in light of available ancient texts?

How does the King James Version Compare,
Is it the Most Reliable?

The Holy Bible: The Infallible Inspired "Word of God"

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