An essential component of the doctrine of Biblical inspiration is referred to as “verbal inspiration”, meaning the Scriptures given by God are projected through man via words, or word by word. Thus, the use of the term “verbal inspiration” is employed. Precisely how God did this with forty-plus individual writers is not clear. Some mistakenly believe God dictated word for word, as an executive dictates a letter through his secretary, referred to as the “verbal dictation” theory.
If this is the methodology employed, then, why utilize multiple writers? One would have been sufficient or at least only one during each segment of time. Yet, we note obvious stylistic differences between the various writers, vocabulary choices, and personality that surfaces in their written expressions. These allow for a divinely ordained human element to be incorporated into the writing. Yet, God so guarded the process that the words from human vocabulary and personality entered into the text without error. Verbal, or word for word, inerrancy is essential to the concept of divine inspiration, because it is of words that sentences and paragraphs are formed, leading to entire books or letters. If the very words are not inspired of God, that which the words convey cannot be inspired of God. Words mean things. They are either divine in their origin and meaning or they are merely human. If human, they bare no more authority than what other humans may write. Only under the direction of God Himself can they be regarded as inspired and, thus, authoritative.
Throughout Scripture, the phrase, “The Word of the Lord came unto me saying…”. It was not one singular word, but the writer was saying, “The message of the Lord came unto me saying…” But of what does a message consist? Words, each individual component being a single word which, when combined with other words in a specific order, constitute a message. If we are going to insist upon the inspiration of the Bible, which is essential to biblical Christianity, we must view the divine Record as verbally inspired of God. Anything less is no inspiration at all, which means no authority at all. A viable Christianity requires a verbally inspired Bible. It is the words, inspired of God, that provides us with a Bible inspired of God. Nothing less will suffice for a Bible to have come from God through man.
CC-02-17
Published by