BIBLIOLOGY 001 Revelation, Authority and Inspiration - Systematic Theology Series Notes adapted and abbreviated from Theology I at Eternity Bible College INTRODUCTION A. Bibliology: The Study of the Divine Nature of the Bible a. Most would say this book is God s Holy Word but their lives tell a different story b. People profess the Bible to be their standard for life and claim to be Bible believing Christians yet there is no evidence in their life for this to be true. c. People state that it is the most important book but they spend no time reading it. B. MAIN THOUGHT: We must understand the importance, relevance and power of the Word in order to join with God is what He is doing in this generation. a. It tells us the absolute truth about who God is, salvation, right and wrong, sin and its consequences, Jesus Christ, heaven and hell, as well as the future. b. The Bible is the sole source for Christianity; if the Bible fails, so does our faith C. The Uniqueness of Scripture a. Written by some 40 different authors from diverse vocations in life (e.g., Moses, a political leader; Joshua, a military leader; David, a shepherd; Solomon, a king; Amos, a farmer; Matthew, a tax collector; Luke, a medical doctor; Paul, a rabbi; Peter, a fisherman) b. Written in 3 different continents (e.g., Africa, Asia, Europe) c. Written in 3 different language: (e.g., Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) d. Written over a period of more than 1400 years (from about 1400B.C. to 95A.D.) e. Written in a variety of circumstances (e.g., desert, exile, on the run, prison, royal courts) - The Bible is a unique book. It is one of the oldest books in the world, and yet it is still the world s bestseller. It is a product of the ancient Eastern world, but it has molded the modern Western world. Tyrants have burned the Bible and believers revere it. It is the most quoted, the most published, the most translated, and the most influential book in the history of mankind (Geisler and Nix, From God to Us, p. 7). D. The Structure of Scripture: the books are ordered by kind rather than chronologically a. The Old Testament (39 books) i. The Law or Pentateuch (5 books: Genesis-Deuteronomy) ii. History (12 books: Joshua-Esther) iii. Poetry or Wisdom Literature (5 books: Job-Song of Solomon) iv. Prophets (17 books: Isaiah-Malachi) 1. The Major Prophets (Isaiah-Daniel) 2. The Minor Prophets (Hosea-Malachi) b. The New Testament (27 books) i. History (5 books: Matthew- Acts) 1. Gospels (Matthew-John) 2. The Early Church (Acts) ii. Epistles or Letters (21 books: Romans-Jude) 1. Paul s epistles (Romans-Philemon) 2. General epistles (Hebrews-Jude) iii. Prophecy (1 book: Revelation) 1
I. DIVINE REVELATION A. Revelation: 1. The Definition of Divine Revelation a) Revelation (apokalupsis): disclosure or unveiling. b) Divine Revelation: God unveiling Himself to mankind. 2. The necessity of Divine Revelation a) It is logical: If God exists, He would reveal Himself to us b) It is necessary: If God did not reveal Himself to mankind, we could not know Him, Jesus Christ or how to be saved. B. General Revelation 1. Revelation through Nature (Psalm 19:1-6) a) Reveals His glory- the weight of His worth (19:1a) b) Reveals His power to create (19:1b) c) Reveals knowledge continuously: day after day; night after night (19:2) d) Reveals without words or speech (19:3) e) Reveals knowledge universally to every part of the earth (19:4) f) Reveals powerfully: like a bridegroom or strong man (19:5) g) Reveals without exception, to every nook of the earth (19:6) 2. Revelation through Providence (Matt. 5:45; Acts 14:17; cf. 17:28-29) a) Reveals His benevolence to both the evil and good (Matt. 5:45) b) Reveals Himself by providing food to past generations (Acts 14:17) 3. Revelation through Conscience (Rom. 1:18-20; 32, 2:14-15) a) God makes Himself plain to all men (1:19) b) God reveals His eternal power and divine nature (1:20a) c) God reveals enough of Himself to leave man without excuse (1:20b) d) Reveals the consequences of rebellion to God s decree (1:32) e) Reveals a knowledge of right and wrong written on their hearts (2:14-15) 4. Conclusions of General Revelation a) General truths: God s glory(ps. 19:1), eternal power and divine nature (Rom. 1:20) b) Continuous: God reveals Himself 24 hours a day (Ps. 19:2) c) Universal: God reveals Himself to every last individual (Ps. 19:4-6) d) Obvious: God has made Himself plain to everyone e) Internal Revelation: God has written His law within us (Rom. 2:14-15) f) Without excuse: Man is left without excuse for rejecting Him g) Summary: General Revelation is enough to condemn but not enough to save (1) General revelation does not reveal enough to provide for salvation (Jn. 14:6; Acts 4:12; Rom. 10:13-14, 17; 1 Tim. 2:5) (2) They are not held guilty for rejecting the gospel they did not know but for disbelieving and disobeying the Creator they did know. (Lewis and Demarest, Integrative Theology, 1:75). 5. Purposes of General Revelation (influenced by Charles Ryrie, Basic Theology, 37 and Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, 174-75) a) To provide external evidence to the existence of God b) To leave mankind without an excuse for their universal sinful rebellion c) To display God s grace despite the sin of mankind d) To provide a point of contact with unbelievers: - God has done the prep work with people in our neighborhoods 2
C. Special Revelation 1. Definition a) General revelation reveals general/vague truths about God while Special revelation is more specific, narrow and detailed b) General revelation reveals the existence of an almighty and good deity while Special revelation reveals they path of reconciliation/salvation to this God 2. Reveals through Jesus Christ a) Jesus Christ revealed the unseen God (Jn. 1:18) b) Jesus Christ is the whole fullness of God in body form (Col. 2:8) c) Jesus Christ is the exact imprint of the Father (Heb. 1:3) d) Jesus Christ is the same as seeing God the Father Himself (Jn. 14:9-10) 3. Reveals through the Word of God a) Since Christ is in heaven, the Word is our sole source of special revelation b) Reveals God s plan of salvation to mankind c) Reveals everything we need to know for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3) 4. Claims of Special Revelation a) Authoritative/Inspired: The Word of God is in fact God s Word Bibliology -002 (next time) b) Inerrant/Infallible: The Word of God is without error and will not mislead c) Sufficient: The Word of God is completely sufficient to produce a man of God II. THE AUTHORITY AND INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE A. Definition of Authority and Inspiration: 1. Authority: If God is author of the Bible, then by nature of Himself, it is authoritative. B. The Internal Witness to God s Inspiration 1. Frequent repetition (approx. 3800 times) of God says... and thus says the LORD (e.g. Ex. 14:1; 17:14; Lev. 4:1; Deut. 4:2; 2 Sam. 23:2; Isa. 1:10; Jer. 1:11) 2. Peter believed that the O.T. authors were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21) 3. Paul placed Luke s writings on the same level as Moses (1 Tim. 5:18; cf. Deut. 25:4 & Luke 10:7) 4. Paul understood his writings to be divinely authoritative (1 Cor. 14:37; 1 Thes. 2:13; 4:8) 5. Peter equates Paul s writings with Scripture (2 Pet. 3:15-16) 6. John understood his writings to be from God (1 Jn. 4:6; Rev. 22:18-19) C. The External Evidence to God s Inspiration 1. Evidence from the historical accuracy 2. Evidence from accurate fulfillment of prophecy 3. Evidence from the consistent testimony and harmony of the human authors 4. Evidence from the transforming power of the Bible in people s lives 5. Evidence from the adaptability of the Bible to all cultures and generations - Even without these uniqueness, the Bible is consistent and without contradiction. It quickly becomes apparent that no human being(s) could have orchestrated the harmony of the teachings of the Scripture. The divine authorship of the Bible is the only answer (Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology, 155). 3
D. The Nature of Biblical Inspiration 1. Inspiration (theopneustos): God-breathed, God inspired, God s very words 2. The object of inspiration is Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16) a) Inspiration limited to the written Word of God b) The Scriptures, not the writers, were inspired. c) These writers were not men of unusual ability or greater spiritual insight. 3. The extent of inspiration plenary and verbal a) Improper Understandings of Inspiration (1) Not Partial Inspiration: Only the parts of the Bible related to matters of faith and practice are inspired. Matters of history, science, and other non-faith matters are not inspired. (2) Not Conceptual Inspiration: Only the concepts and ideas of the writers are inspired, but not the words. b) Proper Understanding (1) Plenary: extends to every portion of the Bible (2 Tim. 3:16 all Scripture) (2) Verbal: extends to every letter of every word (Matt. 5:18; Gal. 3:16) (a) not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away (Matt. 5:18) (b) Paul s argument rests on the singular seed not seeds. If he did not believe the letters to be inspired, his argument fails (Gal. 3:16) c) In other words, the whole Bible is inspired all of its contents. 4. The role of the Holy Spirit and man in inspiration (2 Pet. 1:20-21) a) The Bible is both divine and human; an unexplainable mystery b) Man s role: Scripture reveals a distinct contrast in style and vocabulary, suggesting the authors were not robots simply quoting God. (1) Prophetic inspiration could lay hold on a man without is anticipation of it (1 Kings 13:20), without his knowledge of it (John 11:51), without his desire for it (Num. 23-24), without his comprehension of it (Dan. 12:8-9) (Pache, 55) (2) At all times they affirmed the miracle of inspiration; but never did Paul, Peter or anyone else disclose just how it took place, or the exact manner and extent of the divine influence brought to bear on the sacred writers. (Pache, 50) c) Holy Spirit s role: superintended the human authors as they wrote so that they wrote freely and exactly what God wanted them to write without error. (1) Not Divine Dictation: God did not dictate the words of Scripture and men wrote them down passively, being mere secretaries who wrote only the words they were told to write. Some of the Bible was dictated, but much of it was not, as the difference in style and vocabulary reveal. (2) Scripture does not originate with or find its source from man (1:20) (3) Scripture came through men but was no produced by man s will or according to man s agenda (1:21a) (4) The Holy Spirit carried along (empowered) men as they wrote; analogous to a ship being carried along by wind (1:21b; cf. Acts 27:15) d) Descriptions of Inspiration s divine partnership with men - God superintended the human authors of the Bible so that they composed and recorded without error His message to mankind in the words of their original writings (Ryrie, Basic Theology, 81). - The Holy Spirit s superintending over the writers so that while writing according to their own styles and personalities, the result was God s Word written authoritative, trustworthy, and free from error in the original autographs (Enns, Moody Handbook of Theology, 160). 4
CONCLUSION A. MAIN THOUGHT: We must understand the importance, relevance and power of the Word in order to join with God is what He is doing in this generation. a. God s Word must inform, drive, dictate and empower our lives b. What other philosophy or theory is there that should be given greater credence c. The Creator of the universe has spoken to us, we should desire to listen B. We must Desire the Word of God a. David describes the Word as more precious than silver (Ps. 12:6) b. David claims the Word is more to be desired than fine gold (Ps. 19:10a) c. David claims the Word should be craved more than honey (Ps. 19:10b) C. We must Digest the Word of God a. Peter claims that we must crave the Word like a suckling baby (1 Pet. 2:1-3; 1 Cor. 3:3) b. Jesus claims that man does not live on bread alone but the Word (Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4) 5