Monday, March 17, 2014

Pieper, 1968. Chapter B4, “The Relation of the Holy Ghost to the Holy Writers”

Chapter B4, “The Relation of the Holy Ghost to the Holy Writers”

When God inspires his Word, how does the Holy Spirit work in the writers? Pieper cites modern theologians as having difficulty with this question. How, when we deny specific inspiration, can we resolve the problem of the way the Holy Spirit works? Yet this also leaves us with a Bible we cannot trust as God’s Word.

Pieper says, on the contrary, (section 4926) “God employed the holy writers as His tools, or instruments, in order that men might have His Word fixed in writing.”  In the early Church, theologians used terms such as “secretary,” “amanuensis,” even “hand” or “pen.” In no way, however, did they consider this a mechanical activity. The Church has always denied the idea of a trance. Rather, the Holy Spirit spoke specifically to the authors, using their own will, speaking specifically what He wishes to say.

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