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“The Inspiration of Scripture
2 Peter 1:20-21

 

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas

The Transfiguration of Our Lord—February 26, 2017

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

For each doctrine of the Christian faith there are corresponding Bible passages which theologians call the “sedes doctrinae,” Latin for the “seat of doctrine.” They are also called “proof texts.”  These are specific verses in the Bible which support particular doctrines.  If you remember studying the Small Catechism, the Bible verses under each topic are the primary proof texts, the “sedes doctrinae” on which that Biblical teaching is based.

A “seat of doctrine” for the teaching that we are all sinners is in Romans:  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  A “seat of doctrine” for the teaching that Jesus Christ redeemed us from our sin is in 1st John: “The blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin. . . He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”  A “seat of doctrine” for the teaching that salvation comes through faith in Christ is in the book of Acts: “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”  A “seat of doctrine” for the teaching that we are saved through faith alone, apart from works, is in Ephesians:  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.”

In today’s Epistle Reading from first chapter of 2nd Peter, there is a very significant “sedes doctrinae,” a “seat of doctrine” for the Verbal Inspiration of the Bible:  “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation.  For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Peter wrote this letter because the Christian Church in his day was threatened from within, by false teachers preaching heresy.  Peter warns, “There will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies.”  Still today, the Christian Church is threatened from within, by false teachers preaching heresy.  For, just as Peter prophesied, there are false teachers within Christian denominations, who are introducing destructive heresies.

There is a prominent retired bishop of an American Protestant denomination who has written three appalling books. The first was, “The Easter Moment: A Bishop Rethinks the Resurrection of Christ.”  In this book he denies that Christ physically rose from the dead.  His second book was, “Living in Sin?  A Bishop Rethinks Love and Marriage.”  In this book he says it is not sinful to have sexual relations outside marriage, including homosexual relations.  His third blasphemous book was, “Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Virgin Birth.”  In this book he says Jesus Christ was not the result of miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit, but an attack by a Roman soldier on Mary, and she simply made up the story of the angelic annunciation and virgin birth to explain away her pregnancy—and that’s how the myth of Jesus as the Son of God got started.  This same bishop once preached an Easter Sunday sermon in his beautiful cathedral with the theme, “Jesus Christ Did NOT Rise from the Dead.”  Though he is now retired, he has never been disciplined in any way, and remains a bishop in good standing with what was once a venerable Christian denomination.  Don’t ask me to explain it, because I can’t.

And sadly, the book “What’s Going on Among the Lutherans” gives appalling evidence of similar destructive heresies in the largest Lutheran church body in America, a denomination which is completely separate from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod to which our own congregation belongs.  The doctrine textbook used to instruct seminary students in this other Lutheran church body states: “Today it is impossible to assume the literal historicity of all things recorded [in the Bible].  What the biblical authors report is not accepted as a literal transcript of the factual course of events.”  The national bishop of this other Lutheran church body wrote: “I would not support the employment of Lutheran theologians who hold a view [that the original writings of Scripture were inerrant and infallible].  It is well and good for our seminary students to be exposed to the fact that there are some who hold this opinion.  But it is quite another thing to advocate this view in our seminaries.” Again, don’t ask me to explain it, because I can’t.

The situation has gotten so bad, that apart from a few exceptions like our Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and some other conservative bodies, most of the mainline churches in the United States today actually support gross heresies, such as so-called homosexual marriage and openly homosexual clergy.  But, shocking though it is, it really shouldn’t surprise us.  Because, Peter’s words still apply today: “There will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies.”

“Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation.  For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

What do we mean by the doctrine of Verbal Inspiration?  Verbal Inspiration means that the original manuscripts of the Bible were divinely inspired and therefore totally without error.  It is called VERBAL Inspiration because it was different from the “inspiration” other authors or poets may feel when they compose other works of literature.  God did not just inspire the Bible authors with the urge to write; he did not just inspire their general subjects and train of thought.  He also inspired the very “verba,” Latin for the very WORDS of Scripture—VERBAL Inspiration.

David wrote most of the book of Psalms; he says, “The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; his word was on my tongue.”  Paul wrote 13 of the New Testament’s 27 books; he says to the Thessalonians, “When you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God.”  Verbal Inspiration means that God gave the Bible’s authors the very words of Scripture itself.

The Bible doesn’t give us too many details as to HOW the process of Verbal Inspiration took place.  Verbal Inspiration was not what is called automatic writing, an occultic practice when people claim to totally lose their personalities and go into a trance as they mechanically transcribe messages supposedly from the spirit world.  The Bible’s authors kept their own individual personalities, their own intellect, their own style of writing.

Luke tells us, at the beginning of his Gospel, that he “carefully investigated everything” to write his history of the life of Christ.  It seems the Apostle John loved the word “love,” and so this word appears much more in his writings than in any other.  Paul, on the other hand, favored the words “justify” and “justification.”  It’s clear that the individual writers of the Bible’s books kept their own individual personalities, their own intellect, their own favorite words and other style of writing.  And yet, as Paul says, it is not the word of men, but the Word of God.

So, how exactly did this process of Verbal Inspiration take place?  Peter himself experienced the phenomenon of Verbal Inspiration.  He gives us an interesting illustration of it in our text: “Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

The Greek word translated “carried along” is a rare nautical term, used only one other time in the Bible, describing Paul’s voyage in the book of Acts, when it says they “let the ship be carried along” by the wind.  Of course, Peter’s original occupation was a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee.  One of the most fascinating archaeological discoveries related to the Bible was 30 years ago, when a drought exposed a complete fishing boat buried beneath the beach on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  Even more amazing, it was dated by Israeli archaeologists to 33 A.D.!  So, we now we know exactly what their fishing boats were like, and we know they were sailboats.

When Peter says, “Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit,” he’s thinking back to his former occupation, his days as a fisherman, recalling that image so familiar of a boat carried along by the wind.  For those who originally read his epistle this illustration was obvious, because in both Hebrew and Greek the words for “wind” and “Spirit” are the same.  When Peter declares, “Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit,” he’s saying the Holy Spirit is like the wind filling the sails of a boat—filling the souls of the Bible’s human writers, who are “carried along” by the Spirit like a boat by the wind.

This illustration helps us understand a little bit how the Bible can be both divinely inspired, but at the same time still reflect the individual personalities of its human authors.  Peter says that as he writes his books of the Bible, he is like a boat, the sail of his soul filled by the Spirit with the holy wind of divine inspiration.  Yet, just as a boat, though powered by the wind, still is guided by its own rudder, Peter and the other writers of Scripture, while under the influence of divine inspiration, still retained their own personalities.

Paul also experienced the phenomenon of Verbal Inspiration.  He describes it this way in 2nd Timothy: “All Scripture is God-breathed,” or as the King James Version says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.”  That’s what “in-spi-ra-tion” literally means, to be “breathed into.”  “Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit,” “All scripture is given by inspiration of God,” “All Scripture is God-breathed.”

A simple deduction follows: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God”; God “cannot lie” or make mistakes; therefore, the Bible is without any error.  Anyone who teaches that the Bible contains errors either doesn’t believe major premise, that God inspired the Bible, or doesn’t believe the minor premise, that God cannot lie or make mistakes.  Remember, Peter says, “They will SECRETLY introduce destructive heresies.”  Most false teachers want to have it both ways; they’ll still say that the Bible is the Word of God, but they also say that the Bible has errors.  But, if the Bible truly is God’s Word, then it must be without error.

 The inerrancy of the Bible is clearly taught throughout the pages of the Bible itself.  Jesus said, “Thy Word is truth . . . the Scriptures cannot be broken.”  The book of Psalms says it over and over again: “The law of the Lord is perfect . . .  The testimony of the Lord is trustworthy”; “all your commandments are truth”; “the words of the Lord are flawless”; “the Word of the Lord is right and true”; “All your words are true”; “Every word of God is flawless.”  Jesus sums it up this way: “If you continue in my Word you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth.”

Our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has always taught that the Bible is verbally inspired and therefore inerrant.  This is how it is stated in the “Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod,” which was adopted in 1932:  “We teach that the Holy Scriptures differ from all other books in the world in that they are the Word of God.  They are the Word of God because the holy men of God who wrote the Scriptures wrote only that which the Holy Ghost communicated to them by inspiration.  We teach also that the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures . . . is taught by direct statements of the Scriptures.  Since the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God, it goes without saying that they contain no errors or contradictions, but that they are in all their parts and words the infallible truth . . .  We reject the doctrine which . . . has gained wide popularity in the Church of our day that Holy Scripture is not in all its parts the Word of God, but in part the Word of God and in part the word of man and hence does, or at least, might, contain error.  We reject this erroneous doctrine as horrible and blasphemous . . .”

The doctrine of Verbal Inspiration is not a minor, unimportant matter; it is one of the key doctrines of the Christian faith.  The Apostle John writes, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”  It is your personal responsibility as an individual disciple of Jesus Christ to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God,” to test all preachers and teachers, including me, and denominations, including our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  Continually test all preachers and teachers and denominations against the Word of God, and if they reject or depart from God’s Word, then you must reject and depart from them.  As the Bible says of the Christians at Berea, “They received the message with great eagerness and searched the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”

“Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation.  For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Amen.

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