Word of God
We believe
that the Bible is the Word of God. Upon this fact we base our faith; everything we believe and all that we declare and publish is founded upon and measured by the Bible. The most fundamental fact of life, in our view, is that the Bible is true - that it is divinely inspired.As a Fellowship of Christians, drawn from many of the denominations of Christendom, we believe that the Books of the Bible were written by the authors to whom
they are ascribed, and that their contents are as when they came from their hands: we therefore, accept in their entirety, these books of the Bible as to their statements of facts.It is the inspiration of the Bible which is the basis of its authority, and not its historicity. The thrust of the enemy’s attack against the Christian faith has been in the field of inspiration; unfortunately many have failed in this respect; their faith has wavered because they have doubted some part of the Word of God. It is only as we stedfastly refuse to be led away from the fundamental principle that the Bible is the inspired Word of God that we shall be able to gainsay the enemy of our souls - the devil.
Definition of Inspiration
When we say that the Bible is divinely inspired we find it necessary to define
inspiration. It is not revelation, since revelation is the process of communicating divine knowledge to man’s mind, whereas inspiration is the act of the Holy Spirit upon the person who makes that knowledge known to others. It is not illumination, since this is subject to degrees of capacity for receiving illumination. Inspiration on the other hand, is not limited to the capacity of a person to receive it since it is God-breathed, and is really the breath of God expressing itself through human personality. Neither is it genius: however great a capacity a person may have for the retention and expression of native genius it cannot be compared with inspiration. Divine inspiration is inscrutable even though its effects are knowable. It is not possible to say how the Holy Spirit operated on the minds of the authors of the Bible to produce the books any more than we can say how He works on the minds and hearts of men in conversion and regeneration. We accept both on the testimony that appeals to faith.Extent of Inspiration
When the Holy Spirit’s power came upon the writers of the Bible they were divinely-inspired and their work was infallible, and remains so today. The Bible declares:"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." II Peter 1: 21.
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness " II Timothy 3: 16.
The records of creation, the fall of man, and the deluge, along with other hotly-contested portions of Scripture, are as divinely inspired as the Gospels. Archaeology, ethnology and other modern sciences are combining their varied testimonies to prove the authenticity of the Scriptures. The historical books and the prophetical books are inspired too: modern history is a most suitable medium in proving this, as we see prophecy being translated into history.
Inspiration does not reduce a person to the level of a machine, neither did the writers of the Bible become automatons. If inspiration was a mechanical, bald compulsion upon the writers of holy writ, then we may rightly say that they were machines , but their writings are dynamic, and there is a divine influence upon them - the hall-mark of divine inspiration. To say that God is unable to do this without making a man to become a machine is to limit the Holy One of Israel. He who created man a free agent, has left Himself the opportunity to mould man’s thoughts into forms of speech which are inerrantly expressive of His will. Therefore, the thoughts and words of the Bible are those which God intended should be written.
Proof of Inspiration
The Bible is the supernatural revelation of the will of God to bring all men to salvation, and herein lies its great attraction to mankind and the greatest proof of its divine inspiration. Whatever other evidence is presented to show that the Bible is God’s Word, this is the most important. Throughout the ages men and women have known this experience through simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s National promises have been fulfilled in a large measure and the nation that has enjoyed the consequent blessing has been God’s servant-nation and ministers throughout the Christian dispensation.
In the face of such cumulative evidence, about which more may be read in the Fellowship’s other Outreach Leaflets, we believe that we have overwhelming evidence that the Bible is God’s Word. The character of its contents, the unity of its parts, the fulfilment of its prophecies, the miracles recorded and the effects it has wrought in the lives of nations and individuals, all go to prove that it is a divine Book.
The Bible is God’s Word
The Bible is God’s Word and was so used by our Lord: He described His ministry by applying to it the prophecy of Isaiah as found in the sixty first chapter. Each detail of the prophetic utterance He applied to Himself, although spoken by the prophet over eight hundred years before. He used the Scriptures in the correct manner. Our Lord overcame the devil in the wilderness by using three portions of the Scripture from Deuteronomy: He employed these words as being the Words of God and not as the words of Moses.
We believe the Bible to be the
Word of God and, in the words of Article VI of the Articles of Religion of this Realm and Kingdom, declare:| "Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to |
| salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, |
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nor may be proved thereby, is not required |
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of any man that it should be believed as an Article |
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of Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. |
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In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand |
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those canonical books of the Old and the New |
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Testament, of whose authority was never |
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any doubt in the Church." |
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