Walter Enwall Authority

It is apparent that no person or persons could have orchestrated the harmony found in scripture. Being written by as many as 40 authors over a span of 1600 years, one would expect to find some inconsistencies. However, history, archaeology, and others confirm the inerrancy of the Bible.

Under the doctrine of biblical inerrancy, in what sense is the Bible authoritative? This is a question that has plagued the minds of many as a major element of historic Christian belief about Scripture as well as been a controversial topic of academic discussions. One of the major areas of conflict in the theological arena has been biblical authority as noted in

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.

The term scribe gave them authority over the information because it was they who passed it down in the first place. The authority is not ownership because passing down certain information is not claimed it as one's own. it wasn't until "The age of Hellenism brought with it the concept of authorship." The authority of a text came to be associated with its author. Jewish tradition wanted to find authors for its books, however there was little evidence about who wrote the Bible. " The earliest Jewish text that identifies its author is the Wisdom of Ben-Sira, dating from the early second century B.C.E. In some places, the bible indirectly would contradict later ascription of authorship." (From How the Bible Became a Book) it also states that Moses could have been an author and many other possible theories of who is the

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.

Erickson states, "The inerrancy of Scripture is the doctrine that the Bible is fully truthful in all its teachings and if God has special revelation of himself and inspired servants of his to record it, we will want assurance that the Bible is indeed a dependable source of that

Furthermore, your statement that Christ came to this earth with the full understanding of the context of the scripture is profound. I agree with that statement completely. Also, how you defined inerrancy to be not merely about contextual facts but rather, that we believe the scripture is true through Faith. However, I feel the historical argument has some merit, because, it reflects that tradition within the church is evidence that the Bible is accurate. An example is how the church was extraordinary cautious about transcribing and copying the Bible. If just one word was off they would toss the entire copy and burn it. That is one of the reasons why I feel that the historical argument has some validity as a strong argument concerning biblical inerrancy. Thanks again for the insightful

personally. Between these two standards, he can navigate life, and is free from blame, because

Belief that the Bible is “inspired” (in that word’s original meaning) by God is only held by simpletons. This directly contradicts 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Scripture, the saving revelation of God in Jesus Christ, addresses us with full divine authority in its total extent and in all its parts, and therefore the CRC speaks of the Bible as the inspired and infallible Word of God.

The Bible is not inerrant. Within Scripture, a variety of authors have promoted their own concepts of God. God is described differently throughout the Bible. One of the generally accepted features of God is that he is not fickle. He is the same God from yesterday, the same God today and the same God tomorrow. Therefore, if the Bible is inerrant, then the descriptions of God given by each author would also be consistent throughout the Bible, from the beginning to the end. In fact, the bible is replete with examples of God's contradictory behavior. In the Gospels, Jesus often refers to God as Abba, which is probably closest to the English word "papa" meaning “father”. Jesus emphasizes God's love for every single person, his willingness to help, support and encourage each individual believer and his concern for equality and justice. Jesus also urged individuals to develop a close, intimate, loving relationship with God through private prayer. However, in sharp contrast to this loving God, in Revelation, God is described as a vengeful deity who inflicts massive worldwide death, destruction, and torture on men, women, boys, girls, infants and newborns. Martin Luther felt that Revelation should be removed from the Bible for this reason (Robinson). However, having these descriptions in the Book of Revelations, in which God is described inconsistently, therefore helps to reveal a truth and an error in how Scripture was

The Bible is not a book of religions or rituals. Rather, the Bible is a library of 66 books—39 of which are known as the Old Testament and 27 books referred to as the New Testament—that reveals God’s divine plan of redemption, reconciliation, salvation, restoration and renewal of the whole world. The Bible can be read as a great literature, or as a history of Israel, or as a source of theological information. Though it is all of these things, none of them does full justice to Scripture as being authoritative. God has all authority, and we accept the Bible as the primary authority by which God communicates to us what He wants us to believe and to do. N.T. Wright’s book theorizes that Scripture is authoritative in that “the authority of

Why is the bible infallible? The main reason that I believe the bible is infallible, although it was written by man and man do make mistakes is because the people who wrote the bible were all moved by the Holy Spirit. They spoke from God. (2 Peter 1:21) Also, most of the stories, written in the bible all start out with the expression, “And God spoke to him..” (Jonah 1:1)(Micah 1:1) Should we take the bible literally? I believe that we should take the bible literally. I also believe that there is a lot of figures of speech in the bible as well. For example, God tell us that if we are to call on Him, then we are guaranteed everlasting life. (Romans 1:16). That verse is to be taken literal. Another example is in when God

The bible was written as an account of what many viewed that God had accomplished so his actions and words could be passed on for generations. Some believe it is a literary account and some believe it is a historical account. The word of God in the bible comes in many forms and is left up to interpretation by the reader. Some believe that the word of God should be the only word and should be strictly followed. Some believe that the words are meant as a guideline to help us through life. Whatever your belief is you can always seem to find the meaning behind your belief through the word of God in the Bible.

Authority in a general sense means the power to decide or to command, to impose one’s will to others. As far as the Bible is concerned, it is also authoritative in almost the same way. The authority of God can be seen in two angles; first, God has the authority over everything, he does whatever He wants. In Psalms 135:6, it says; “Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.” As it can be seen, everything that is written in the bible has accomplished or is being accomplished. What God says with is mouth His hands accomplish them. Second, the authority of his word is infallible; it cannot be broken. His words will stay forever. In John 10:35 (KJV), the last sentence says, “…and the scripture cannot be broken.”