Sola Scriptura | The Inspired Word of God
The scriptures are inspired by God. This concepts established the bedrock of the authority of scripture. After all, how can scripture be authoritative, speaking above tradition and personal interpretation if God’s voice does not resound through the scripture. In fact, much of our view of God can be seen in our understanding of God’s self-revelation if what He is up to in the story and meta-narrative of all human history. If we are to be obedient to scriptures and understand the words of 2 Timothy 3:16 that “All Scripture is breathed out by God…” (ESV) then we must hold to a proper understanding of the inspiration of scripture. The foundation for scripture comes from God’s self revelation. God, by nature, wants to reveal himself to us, to know us and be known by us. God reveals his person and nature to us by providing His authoritative word to us through the inspiration of other’s writings. Sola Scriptura means that scripture is the authoritative word of God which comes from its nature as being the inspired word of God.
Yet, there exists a debate among Christians as to the degree that scripture is inspired by God. Each different perspective offers various interpretations of the word of God and the implications ripple down throughout their expression of the faith. Some feel th the scriptures carry no authority in and of themselves but only what has been affirmed in our hearts. Yet, do to so would ignore the beliefs that those carrying the faith in the old and new testament felt about scripture itself. They revered scripture as the inspired word of God, with its source coming from the mind of God himself. Some feel that the author had been taken over by God, acting merely as a vessel in an ecstatic state, or that God dictated the words specifically to the author. This would ignore the immediate context that the scriptures were written to teach and guide. The position this author holds to refers to itself as Verbal Plenary Inspiration. This maintains that the separate authors maintained there personality, individuality, and style all as given by God but the inspiration comes from the Holy Spirit moving in and through a person.
Inspiration as an Expression of God’s Sacramental Nature
Probably the biggest criticism to the inspiration of scripture would be the human component to its authorship. Since the physical hands that wrote the scriptures, old and New Testament, had been completed by a sinful person, then that non-divine inspiration could only serve to taint the true inspiration that comes from God. Or that the context of the culture during the time it was written invalidates the message of some points of scripture. While these positions are based in seeking the truth of God, they remain misguided in their understanding of God’s ability. When we cease to believe that God possess the ability move through the actions of man and sanctify the works of man, we abandon the core concept of the Gospel and grace.
Understanding the verbal plenary perspective on the inspiration of scripture relies on our understanding that God makes all things new. God, being fully sovereign, speaks through whatever means He deems appropriate all for His glory. “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:19-21, ESV) For scripture, God speaks through the hands of His faithful servants to record God’s message to a specific context and to the rest of humanity throughout time to come. God takes the physical and redeems it’s for His purposes. By taking the physical and natural and transforming it and redeeming it for His purposes, God brings humanity to its fullness and fulfillment while bringing Glory to Himself. God speaks through His people by inspiring the words of man to be the word of God through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The bible goes beyond being a mere book that we can analyze like any other, but, as the inspired word of God, holds us to a higher standard of divine revelation and truth.
What Inspiration Means to Us
The idea of inspiration also movies a hope that can only come form above. If scripture is inspire and its source does not come from man but from the mind of God, then God has not forgotten or abandoned us as His people. Too often, we tend to depict God as far off or merely letting us figure out life on our own. If scripture is merely a collection of different authors with words not inspired by God then our view of God remains intact. Yet, in doing so, we will walk through life devoid of hope and with an ambivalent God. We see in the person of Jesus Christ, though, that God has no intention of abandoning His people or leaving them without hope of a future. Scripture is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16, ESV) as it tells the story of God’s intervention in the life of mankind.
Scripture, by its very existence, shows us that we are not stranded, we are not alone. God speaks and reveals Himself to us, often times through the most ordinary of means. When we yearn and cry out to hear the voice of the Lord, we can open the scriptures and be refreshed by God’s word. Furthermore, just as the Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the receive and write the word of God, we too can receive the words of scripture as the Holy Spirit speaks within the confines of our soul. We are not alone. Even though we may feel alone, we have the word of God to guide and direct us to live in the fullness of God’s presence. That scripture is the inspired word of God means that we will never need to live with the uncertainty of knowing whether or not God is speaking or far off. God speaks to us clearly through His word. The scriptures are a gift and blessing in order that we may come to know God and submit our lives to His loving Lordship.
