Verbal Plenary Inspiration

Dennis McCallum and Gary DeLashmutt

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

Matthew 5:18*; John 10:35; John 5:39-47**; Mark 12:36; Matthew 19:4-5; Matthew 22:29-32; Matthew 12:39,40; Luke 17:26-32; Luke 24:44

His Own Words

Matthew 24:35*; Matthew 7:24-37; John 3:5 "truly I say", etc.

The Apostles Writings

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

The Human Authors Corroborate Christ's Position

The Old Testament

Joshua 1:8; 22:5; 2 Samuel 23:2; Hebrews 9:3,30; Nehemiah 10:29

The New Testament

1 Corinthians 14:37*; 2 Peter 3:2; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Revelation 1:3; Revelation 22:18,19; 1 Timothy 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 2:13,15; 2 Peter 3:15,16; Galatians 1:11-12; John 21:24; 2 Timothy 3:16.

Communicating a Defense of Biblical Authority

Several approaches 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