John Hobbins has once again added helpful commentary on the Bellingham Statement. I hope more will chime in, especially academically-trained bibliobloggers who have expressed concerns over inspiration and inerrancy.
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From Inspiration and Inerrancy: A Revised Statement - Ancient Hebrew Poetry, originally published March 13, 2009:
Inspiration and Inerrancy: A Revised Statement
Mike Heiser offers a revised statement on the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. It is intended to speak to a number of issues that academically trained believers grapple with, unless they have their heads in the sand. I like the statement’s emphases. Though I might quibble with the wording here and there, I would have no trouble signing it. Thank you, Mike, for sharing and developing your insights on these matters.
Two further thoughts. The statement would be stronger and more challenging if three additional issues were addressed: textual criticism, the outer limits of the canon, and how we are to derive ethics from scriptural foundations. A tall order, to be sure. As it stands, the statement treats a long list of bibliological issues with aplomb. The three I mention are on a par with those in terms of importance.
Finally, the revised statement, despite its praiseworthy emphases, fails to capture the essence of the believer’s response to the experience of reading Scripture. The believer’s response cannot fail to have a singular focus: that of praising Scripture and exalting its perfections.
Here is an attempt to put that response into words. The sources of the expressions I employ are fourfold: Scripture itself; the eastern Christian tradition; the Catholic tradition; and the tradition of the Reformation. The opening lines are borrowed from Chris Tilling’s statement on biblical inerrancy.
The words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times. The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It is certain, it cannot err, it is clear. It does not let us go errant in the darkness, it is its own interpreter and enlightens the human soul with all salvation and all grace. The word God gives us in Scripture makes us confident in God, and humbles us, so that we abandon our pretensions and place ourselves in God's hands.
Thy word, O Lord, is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. Lord, who can grasp all the wealth of just one of your words? Like thirsty people who drink from a fountain, what we understand is much less than what we leave behind.
Holy Scripture is to be received with reverence and proclaimed with faith. Upon proclamation thereof, it is always right to conclude: “This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.”
In his goodness and wisdom God reveals himself in Scripture and makes known to us the hidden purpose of his will. Scripture leads us to believe that through Christ, the Word made flesh, we have access to the Father. Holy Scripture was committed to writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In composing the sacred books, God chose individuals who made use of their powers and abilities, so that, with God’s Spirit acting in them and through them, they, as true authors, consigned to writing everything and only those things which God wanted.
We acknowledge that Scripture teaches solidly, faithfully and without error that truth and those eternal verities which God wanted to disclose to us for the sake of our salvation, the edification of our daily life, and the good order of our communities.
Thy word, O Lord, is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. The word of God is a tree of life. From all its parts it offers you fruit that is blessed. It is like that rock opened in the desert. From all its parts it gives forth a spiritual drink. No one who drinks from that fountain can exhaust its riches. Be glad that you are overcome and do not be sad that it overcame you.
To my way of thinking, everything that Mike wrote, that I might write, or that anyone else might write, based on academic study of the Bible, is just a footnote to what is affirmed in the paragraphs preceding.
March 13, 2009 |
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