Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20010401.htm

SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY: (ORGANIZED BIBLE KNOWLEDGE)
Part I: Bibliology (Knowledge of the Doctrine of Scripture)
C. Biblical Inspiration (Is the Bible Really God's Authoritative Word?)
  1. Introduction
    1. Many university educated people propose the Bible contains "myths," errors and mistakes, making it not divinely inspired and hence not authoritative. The believer may often feel inadequate to answer this charge because he lacks background information available to many Liberal Theology critics of the Bible.
    2. The Bible in light of archaeological findings reveals the divine inspiration of Scripture as follows:
  2. Biblical Inspiration (Is the Bible Really God's Authoritative Word?)
    1. Liberal Theology has put forth the following three major theories about Scripture's origins, theories that are used to teach the Bible is full of myths which make it an unreliable, non-divinely inspired text:
      1. First Theory - The Documentary Hypothesis: "Two names for the O.T. God (Elohim and Jahweh) with other literary analyses of Pentateuch literature argue for there being several authors behind it. Thus, Moses allegedly did not originate Genesis through Deuteronomy!"
      2. Second Theory - Traditio-Critico Hypothesis: "Men in Moses' era passed on sacred oracles by word of mouth. The O.T. then came from campfire stories of antiquity, and are thus unreliable for truth."
      3. Third Theory - Form-Critico Hypothesis: "As these stories made their rounds at campfires, they were embellished so that the final O.T. record contains corrupted versions, making Scripture unreliable!"
    2. These theories are in error according to scientific disciplines applied to archaeological findings as follows:
      1. Re: the Documentary Hypothesis: Findings show ancient Semitic peoples used several names for a deity to show several attributes or offices of the god (Nat. Geog., 12/78, p. 737f. Also, U. Cassuto, Prof. of Bible at the Hebrew U., Jerusalem, in The Documentary Hypothesis, p. 100, wrote: "Since... the whole structure of the documentary hypothesis rests on the 5 pillars enumerated [(1) variations so-called of the divine names in the text, (2) inequalities of language and style, (3) subject matter differences in various sections, (4) so-called duplications and repetitions of sections and (5) composite sections], and subsequently (we)...found that all these pillars were without substance, it follows that this...edifice [of the documentary hypothesis] has...nothing to support it, and (it) is founded on air."
      2. Re: the Traditio-Critico Hypothesis: Findings reveal a mentality of canonicity existed in Moses' day, and probably long before, making it unlikely Moses would have compiled word-of-mouth accounts loosely apart from a mentality of reverence for divine authority of the written text:
        1. Pritchard's Ancient Near Eastern Texts, Princeton U. Press, 1969, p. 32-36 contains the Egyptian Mortuary Text (2,400 B. C.), "The Conquest of Death," found inside the pyramids of Unis & Pepi II, which texts were never intended to be seen by human eyes following their tombs' sealings. Yet, these texts were carefully written message to honor the gods in a mentality of obvious canonicity!
        2. William F. Albright's, The Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions & Their Decipherment, Harv. Theol. Studies XXII, Harv. U. Press, 1969, p. 20 includes the following translation found on a steliform rock panel near a turquoise mine in Nubia: "O Merciful One, with the Serpent Lady, lords of the mines of Wawat, (I) swear (to bring) a sacrifice." Since this spelling of the city, "Wawat" is from Egypt's Old Kingdom, the writing is between 1,500 years B. C. up to 2, 160 B. C.! Thus, deep respect for religious writings existed in Moses' era if not long before him in contrast Liberal Theology claims!
    3. Positively put, the Bible itself asserts full divine inspiration of Scripture:
      1. Scripture claims to be infallible, without intentional deception, 2 Timothy 3:16; Rom. 3:4; Mtt. 5:18f (Clark H. Pinnock, A Defense of Biblical Infallibility, p. 1).
      2. It claims to be inerrant, without even unintentional errors, Ps. 12:6; John 10:34-35, Ibid., Pinnock.
      3. The Bible claims every part of it alike (plenary) is inspired by God, 2 Timothy 3:16.
      4. Scripture claims to be verbally inspired by God, that all of its words, parts of those words and even parts of the letters within its words affecting linguistic meaning bear God's full approval, Mtt. 5:18-19.
Lesson: (Definition of Inspiration) God superintended the authors of the Bible that, while using their own personalities and styles to record and compose the Bible's words, He yet produced the infallible, inerrant, plenary, verbally inspired Word of God in the Bible's autograph manuscripts (2 Peter 1:20-21)