Thursday, March 13, 2014

Pieper, 1968, Chapter B3, “The Verbal Inspiration of Holy Scripture”

Chapter B3, “The Verbal Inspiration of Holy Scripture”

Pieper appeals to the biblical text for documentation of verbal inspiration of Scripture. Based on 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:21 he establishes a biblical claim to divine inspiration. He then discusses additional ideas which he ties to the Scriptural view of inspiration.

1) Inspiration is not that of topics or people but of words, since the Scripture consists of words. Pieper concludes that this inspiration of words extends to the specific words used.

2) Inspiration is not merely guidance or protection from error. If that is the extent of inspiration the Scripture is left a merely human word.

3) Inspiration extends to all of Scripture, including those things commonly known to “everybody” at the time.

4) Inspiration requires inerrancy. In a quotation of Quenstedt, Pieper offers inerrancy in the original text as that which the Bible claims.

5) Inspiration includes God giving authors the desire to write.

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