Page 33 - Ecclesiology Textbook Masters

set our feet back on the right course. The Psalmists wrote, “The law of the Lord is perfect,
restoring the soul… (Psalm 19:7a).

4. Training in righteousness – “Training” is the word, paidia, which means “instruction or
discipline.” From its root word we get the word disciple. It does not mean punishment for wrong
doing, but more the concept of training or guidance that produces character, strength, skills, etc.
This demonstrates the long-range effects of the Scriptures as through the years, as a person
immerses his mind in them, He will become more like Christ in attitude and behavior.

Verbal Inspiration

Verbal means that every word of Scripture is God-given. The idea is that every single word in the
Bible is there because God wanted it there. The idea behind verbal inspiration is that God
supernaturally guided the biblical authors to write the exact things that He wanted expressed, to
the very words and punctuation.

Plenary Inspiration
The word plenary, means “full or complete.” Plenary means that all parts of the Bible are equally
authoritative. This includes such things as the genealogies of the Old Testament. All parts of the
Bible are of divine origin.

We combine the two thoughts and say that the Bible is the verbal, plenary verbal inspiration of
God. It is verbal in that the Holy Spirit directly guided the exact words recorded by the biblical
writers as they wrote the Scriptures. It is the “full” (plenary) inspiration of the Scriptures, in the
sense that the whole Bible is inspired, not simply portions of it.

Verbal plenary inspiration stands in opposition to partial inspiration which limits the inspired
quality of the Bible in various ways whether it be restricting inspiration to doctrinal matters, or one
author was inspired where another was not, or there are mistakes in historical events and
geographical locations but the main thoughts are correct.

Conclusion

So, the true church holds a historical orthodox position of inspiration as important:

(a) The Bible is the infallible Word of God.

(b) The Bible is the only rule of faith and practice.

(c) Human reason and knowledge are wholly subject to the Scriptures. As the Bible reveals to man
God’s view of everything – the correct view of everything. (See the point made in 1 John 2:15-17
where the ways / views of the world are going to pass away, but the Lord and His children will
continue with Him forever.).

(d) There is no inner light or added revelation ever given beyond what is contained in the Bible.

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