Page 23 - Bible Doctrine Survey I - Student Textbook (3)

13. Can you tell me about the history of the KJV?
14. Are there other versions that are accurate to the original manuscripts?

How did God produce the Bible?
God superintended human authors so that, using their own individual personalities, they composed and
recorded without error in the words of the original autographs His revelation to man (Charles Ryrie).
The very words written were inspired by God.

Where did the Bible come from?
The Bible was written by prophets, shepherds, kings, doctors, fishermen, rich men, poor men, people of
all walks of life, over a period of 1600 years (beginning with Moses in 1500 BC to John in 90 AD.) These
people were moved by the Holy Spirit to write down God’s revelation to them for us. While over 40
authors wrote the Bible, the canon (measuring rod) was brought together as one Book, one doctrinal
system, one moral standard, one plan of salvation, one program for the ages.

There are no contradictions or errors in the unity of the books; each supplements the other.

The Bible explains it own origin: II Tim 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable ...” 2 Peter
1:20-21 “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,
for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from
God.” 2 Peter 3:2

The Definition of Inspiration “that inexplicable power which the divine Spirit put forth of old on the
authors of Holy Scripture, in order to guide them even in the employment of the words they used, and
to preserve them alike from all error and from all omission.” - L. Gaussen

What is inspired—the autographs or the copies? Inspiration applies specifically to the original
autographs of the Bible and not to copies and translations. This should not cause concern about
whether the Bible one holds is truly the Word of God. As Geisler says, “Even when the accuracy of a
reading in the original text cannot be known with 100 percent accuracy, it is possible to be 100 percent
certain of the truth preserved in the texts that survive. It is only in minor details that any uncertainty
about the textual rendering exists, and no major doctrine rests on any one minor detail. A good
translation will not fail to capture the overall teaching of the original. In this sense, then, a good
translation will have doctrinal authority, although actual inspiration is reserved for the autographs”
(Geisler and Nix, p. 44).

The Definition of Inerrancy - The original autographs that were written by the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit were created without any disharmony between books and the very words and even the
punctuation were penned by each author without error in thought or form. God’s thoughts were
perfectly expressed in written words.

The result of the divine-human authorship is a message without error. If God is true (Rom. 3:4) and the
Bible comes from God (2 Tim. 3:16), then the Bible must be true in all its parts. That is why the Bible is
said to be inerrant. “Inerrancy is the view that when all the facts become known, they will demonstrate
that the Bible in its original autographs and correctly interpreted is entirely true and never false in all it
affirms, whether that relates to doctrine or ethics or to the social, physical, or life sciences” (Paul D.
Feinberg in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Walter A. Elwell. Grand Rapids: Baker. p. 142).

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