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Commentary on "The Inspiration of the Prophets"
Day 3: Monday, January 26, 2009
The lesson for today presents the Seventh-day Adventist viewpoint that the thoughts of Scripture, not the words, are inspired (“except when the words of God or an angel are quoted, or when God speaks directly through a prophet”). Like the teachings presented yesterday, the Adventist teaching of “thought inspiration” constitutes a devaluing of Scripture and a distraction from the important issues.
Before we study further, let's remind ourselves of God's infinite knowledge and understanding, the sanctity of His words, and our proper response to Him when he speaks.
- He counts the number of the stars;
- He gives names to all of them.
- Great is our Lord and abundant in strength;
- His understanding is infinite. (Psalm 147:4-5)
I encourage you to pause and meditate on verse 5: His understanding is infinite. There is nothing that God does not know, nothing he does not understand. Such a statement implies absolute perfection, to a level that completely defies description and inspires humility and worship. David expresses this humble attitude in Psalm 8:
- When I consider Your heavens, the work of your fingers,
- The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
- What is man that You take thought of him,
- And the son of man that You care for him?
- O LORD, our Lord,
- How majestic is Your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:3-4,9)
God speaks in Isaiah about our proper response to Him and to His word.
- But to this one I will look,
- To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. (Isaiah 66:2b)
When we approach the Bible, the inspired word of God, we must come humbly, and with trembling – especially when we are discussing the validity of His word. God will not tolerate devaluing or tampering with His word. With that it mind, let's discuss the issues at hand.
Today's lesson sets up a false dichotomy between verbal and thought inspiration. The issue is not whether “all the words” are inspired or whether “primarily the thoughts” are inspired. The real issue is whether the Bible is inerrant and whether it is authoritative. Again, we must accept the Bible on its own terms:
- All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
The doctrine of the inerrancy of Scriptures is paramount and foundational to the Christian faith. If there is any belief that the Scriptures have errors of any sort, then we have license to come to Scripture without submitting ourselves to it.
The doctrine of “thought inspiration” subtly introduces the possibility that errors exist in the scriptures. Whether each word is inspired, and whether some words could have been changed, is the wrong question and a dangerous direction of thinking. If “all scripture is inspired by God,” then the whole body of Scripture constitutes God's word to us, and our proper response is not to question it, but to “tremble at His word,” listen to it, and submit ourselves to it.
Summary
- God's understanding is infinite; therefore, our proper attitude to Him and to His words is to listen, tremble, and submit.
- The dichotomy between “verbal inspiration” and “thought inspiration” is false and misleading.
- The important issue is that Scripture is inerrant, since it was inspired by God. God cannot lie, nor can he inspire lies.
- Since Scripture is God's inerrant word, our obligation is to humbly submit to it.
For further reference, I recommend the following books:
- Lindsell, Harold. The Battle For The Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: The Zondervan Corporation, 1976.
- Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction To Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1994.
Copyright 2009 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised January 26, 2009. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com. Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
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