The Infallible Word of God (Part 1)

This doctrine of infallibility is basic and essential to everything that we believe. If one denies the infallibility of the Word of God, every other essential doctrine of historic Christianity will in time be undermined and rejected. If the Bible is rejected as the infallible Word of God, no system of belief based upon the Bible can be valid. Our faith begins with a basic commitment to and acceptance of the Bible is the infallible Word of God.

The word Bible comes through the French language to us by way of Latin and Greek. It originally was a word used to describe the container of precious writings. Eventually it came to refer to the sacred writings of those who call themselves Christians. We divide it into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The word testament simply means covenant or contract.

The earliest Bible did not have chapters and verses. It may surprise some to realize that the chapter divisions and verse divisions are not inspired as the rest the Bible is. There are times when a chapter ends and there is a very clear continuation of thought in the first verses of the next chapter. The divisions are not always consistent with the thought of the passage.

In the year 1227, Stephen Langton, a professor at the University of Paris who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury, divided the Bible into chapters. Until then, it was like a great scroll with endless numbers of lines and paragraphs. This made it very difficult to find specific passages. Finally in 1555 the verses were put in by a man named Robert Stephenus, who was a printer in the city of Paris. Christian and Jewish scholars alike have accepted joyfully the chapter and verse divisions because of the ease that it allows us to have in approaching the study of the Word of God.

Eight important truths about the Bible:

1. The Bible is the revealed Word of God

That simply means that it is the product of divine revelation. If God does not reveal himself to us, we can never know him. The Bible is his self-disclosure. Through it God has revealed his own being. The Bible is the divine revelation of God to us. "Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow” (1 Pet. 1:10-11).

God revealed to man of olden times what was going to happen through Jesus Christ. They could not have known it except through the revelation of God. Peter continued, "To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into” (1 Pet 1:12).

2. The Bible is the inspired Word

When we talk about the inspiration of the Scriptures, we are not talking about someone like Milton being inspired to write Paradise Lost or Paradise Regained. We are not talking about the same level of inspiration. This is the divine inspiration of God. The Bible claims that it is "God breathed." It means more than just that God prompted the man to express things a certain way.

In the book of Genesis we read that God fashioned a man from the dust of the ground. After he had fashioned this man, he breathed into that man a living soul. It was the breath of God in a clay vessel that allowed that vessel to, living soul. The Word of God has the same origin. God breathed into the Word of God, and it became the living Word, just as man became a living soul. The Bible is God- breathed.

"And that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:15-16). This is the only time that the Greek word for inspiration is used. The writing is inspired, not the writer. The Scripture is given by inspiration of God, but the Scripture is a result of the breathing of God into the human vessel that recorded it. God was moving in holy man to record words that are divinely authoritative for our faith and practice.

As Christians, it is when we look at the Word of God that we learn what we're able to do, how we are to live, what we are to say, and how we are to act, we discover that by looking at the Word of God that was breathed out by God for us. “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (1 Cor. 2:13). The Bible is the spiritual product of God the Holy Spirit. What the Bible teaches us without error, I will touch on this in more detail in a moment.

a.       Inspiration refers to the verbal inspiration. There are people who tell us today, "The thoughts are inspired, but not the words." How does one think without words? A thought is words that are unspoken. There is no way to accept that the Bible has certain great thoughts and principles that are inspired without also accepting that the words used to express them are inspired. We would be foolish indeed to make the Bible the basis for our study, our preaching, and our worship if the words are not inspired. The Bible claims for itself verbal inspiration. The Old Testament uses such phrases as "God said," "God spake," or "the word of the Lord came saying." Jesus himself referred to this in Matthew 5:18: "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." Verse 17 makes clear that the law refers to the entire Old Testament Scriptures. It is all true. It is all valid. Not even a dot or period is out of place. That is verbal inspiration. Every word, every grammatical phrasing is involved in inspiration.

b.       The inspiration is plenary or complete. That simply means that there is not any part of Scripture that is without full doctrinal authority. The sixty-six books of the Bible are all fully and completely the Word of God. "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail" (Luke 16:17). Again, this is a reference to the Old Testament Scriptures in its totality. "Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me" (Luke 24:44). The revelation of God in the Word of God is totally, fully, and completely authoritative. It is fully inspired.

c.        The inspiration is varied. By that I mean that there's a great deal of difference in the complexity of the language that is used. There is difference in styles in a variety of expressions, but the Bible is inspired by God. God had each one of these holy men say exactly what God wanted him to say, yet he used their own styles and personalities. The writers all used their personalities and their unique style of writing. Just read the book of Hebrews and then read First John.

3. The Bible is the preserved Word

This is important because when we talk about inspiration, obviously the thing that is inspired is the original manuscripts. In our contemporary translations we have access to much later manuscripts than did those who translated the King James Version in the latter part of the 16th century and the early part of the 17th century. We now go back much closer to the time when the Bible was written. The miraculous thing is that the more we discover of ancient manuscripts, the more we discover that what we have is right. As far as the great eternal truths of the Bible are concerned, we have not discovered conflicts that alter the basic beliefs that we have. The Bible is the preserved Word. The same God who inspired it and revealed it has protected its transcription down to us.

4. The Bible is the imparted Word

It is one thing for the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the Word of God, but it is another thing for us to appropriate the truth of it. The Bible is the imparted Word for those who walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives spiritual understanding to those who belong to him. "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now…All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you" (John 16:12, 15). The Holy Spirit will reveal to us that which we need to know. In 1 Cor. 12:11-14 we have the reminder that people who are not saved cannot appropriate the Word of God because they do not have a spiritual disposition that allows God's Spirit freedom to work in their lives.

The Holy Spirit helps us to understand the Bible. This understanding is for all God's children. There are some who think that one has to be a seminary graduate or a PhD in order to understand the Bible. This is not true (by that I am in no way saying that there is no benefit as a Christian to have that king of formal training). Paul said, "’Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God" (1 Cor. 2:9-10).

The simplest saint, the humblest Christian can understand the tremendous eternal truths in the Word of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. We can ask God to bless us and impart to us an understanding of his Word. The Bible is for our reading, our study, and our edification. It is the Word of God hidden in our hearts that will protect us and keep us from sin (Ps. 119:11). When we place God's word in our hearts, he will impart to us spiritual and eternal truths, it becomes “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105).

We must obey the imparted Word.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version (NKJV).