Biblical Inspiration Howard Marshall

As our sixth president of The United States, John Quincy Adams once said, “So great is my veneration for the bible, that the earlier my children begin to read it the more confident will be my hopes that they will prove useful citizens to their country and respectable members of society.”
 A significant amount of people around the globe read portions of this book every day. Year after year a world's best seller, millions of copies printed and sold. The most discussed history book, the book of morality, the word of god, The Bible has transformed the world, for it has created guidelines for one to live by, influenced the government and laws , and has liberated many from oppression by its clear teachings.

The authors set the groundwork in the first two chapters for the reader to have comprehension and understanding for the rest of the book. Therefore, the basis of the book is helping the reader to interpret and study the Bible. Fee and Stuart thoroughly discuss the process of interpretation. They stress the importance of correctly understanding what the reader is saying. Fee and Stuart stress that correct interpretation “brings relief to the mind as well as a prick or prod to the heart”

Throughout time biblical scriptures have been interpreted differently by different religions, scholar’s, and languages. Many theologians have provided different interpretations based off their mentors and time they lived. Using works from the Sacra Pagina Series, Norton Bible scriptures, and excerpts from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and teaching of John Calvin this essay will show the vast differences of interpretations in just one biblical scripture let alone throughout the entire bible and its many interpretations.

Throughout the course of the semester, we have constantly talked about and expressed the idea of reading the Bible in a historical context. Picking out the pieces that coincide with evidence that has been found with archeological findings, the accuracy of dates, and important people. The critical study of the Bible is to look at the book as a piece of historical text. The use of our “historical lens” allows us to pick out to various pieces that appear to be factual. Using this analysis of looking at the Bible through our “historical glasses”, we can understand the true meaning of the Bible in its original historical setting.

John Marshall was the fourth Supreme Court Justice of the United States. Born in 1755 and assuming his position in 1801, Marshall made more than 1,000 cases during his 34-year tenure. Marshall’s ideas about balance of power between states and the federal government, the power of the Supreme Court, and the power of the Constitution, have influenced history significantly and still reflect American law today (A&E Television Networks).

As we move further into the research of this paper, defining some terms under the viewpoints of the selected authors is necessary. Millard Erickson defines inspiration as “that supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit upon the Scripture writers which rendered their writings an accurate record of the revelation or which resulted in what they wrote actually being the Word of God.” While inspiration primarily concerns the quality of the finished product rather than the process of that period of time in which the entirety of the Scriptures came into being, the divine-human authorship raises the tension as to how those Scriptures came into being. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy states: “We affirm that inspiration, strictly speaking applies only to the autographic text of Scripture.” The leads to the question “What constitutes an autograph or the autographs?” In general, scholars use the term autographs to refer to the first or original copies of the biblical documents which is the material the author actually wrote himself. One customary definition of the term “autographa” in a theological discussion refers to the unchanging form of text whereby the original document is identical to the final canonical form of a given OT biblical book. Since canon involves the list of all books that belong in a bible or those reckoned as Holy Scriptures which

Seized by Truth: Reading the Bible as Scripture is written by Joel Green, a New Testament scholar, and Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Prof. Green, has participated and contributed greatly on a wide range of topics related to both New Testament scholarship and theology.

If the burden of authorship were laid on man, it would like the foresight of God for the future. Because God divinely authored the Bible, he can also use it to speak to us today despite the difference in culture from the date of its authorship to now. That does not mean that we can just find any meaning we want and assume that God planted it there, it is still our responsibility to ensure that we are using proper study habits to decipher the word. One of the biggest issues I see today is that we have a habit of taking scripture out of context reading only the portion of the verse that supports our thoughts or not taking into consideration the context of who the scripture was directed towards or the culture of that time. During the reading in this week’s session, there were two things that stood out to me. McGrath notes in the Christian Theology Reader that under Hodge’s view “Biblical Authority is specifically linked with the correct Biblical interpretation” (McGrath, 2011, p. 111) and that the Bible is “absolutely infallible when interpreted in the same sense intended, and hence are clothed with absolute divine authority” (McGrath, 2011, p.

Permission has been graciously granted for me to re-publish this article on my website and to generate as a PDF file by the family of Irving L. Jensen. This article appeared as an appendix in “Independent Bible Study” by Irving L. Jensen, Chicago: Moody Press, pp. 173-178, 1963.

Most Christians would assert that the Bible has importance for their faith and understanding in how to live out their beliefs. However, there is great diversity in how exactly this takes shape. At issue is one’s perspective on how to read the Bible and the authority that is granted to Scripture. Differing viewpoints can be placed along a continuum ranging from conservative to liberal perspectives on the role of Scripture. Sparks (n.d.) highlights the hallmarks of different traditions based on a number of factors such as how the Bible is read, views of inerrancy, and the authority of tradition. Both Protestant Fundamentalists and Conservative Evangelicals hold to biblical inerrancy as a hallmark of their faith. However, the two diverge regarding

Evangelical Christians believe inspiration of scripture comes from God. Scripture declares that, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be (2 Timothy 3:16-17). In addition, inerrancy declares that scripture remains truthful incessantly. Book of John states “If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). Furthermore, the bible maintains authority because it’s from God. Scripture claims” Because the Bible is what it is, it can do what it does (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Additionally, inspiration comes from God, which makes the scripture truth, whiling obtain authority.

Oswalt builds upon his previous chapters, that some modern scholars can’t get or have no contextual understanding when reading the Bible as a literature. In this chapter the intent is to go into a deeper discussion emphasizing more into the similarities that in essence superficial facts, but with the purpose of highlighting the differences that are essential facts. While many will disagree with the concept that the Bible is different from mythology, this analysis will influence the worldview of the Bible.

Blomberg, Craig L. The New American Commentary: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture: Matthew. Tennessee: Broadman Press, 1992.

The bible is a unique book that describes God, His will, power, and qualities. It divided into two main parts which we call the Old and New Testaments. Even though they both reveal true knowledge about God and have much in common, there are plentiful differences between them like who are God’s people, the laws, and the sacrifices.

In doing so, we can discover that final authority is not in and of scripture itself but of the Triune God who is the Author of scripture. The second obstacle to consider is that many have dismissed scripture as a book of Israelitic & Christian stories. Wright contends that these stories are told to inform us of “internal dynamics” of the past so as to engage us in the present for transformation into Christ-likeness. (p.25). Thirdly, Wright asserts that the question of scripture’s authority should not be viewed as a list of rules where God condescends to man. Rather, scripture should be received as God’s purpose to save and renew the entire world by authorizing the church—God’s agent in the world—with His mission through the work of the Holy Spirit. Thus, it is imperative that biblical scholars “see the role of scripture not simply as being [informative about or revelatory of God’s truth] but as a means of God’s action in and through us.” (p.28)