The Doctrine of The Bible

Summary Review of The Doctrine of the Bible
· God is infinite. We are finite. If we are to know God, God must make Himself known to us.
· He has done this in two ways: General Revelation and Special Revelation.
· General Revelation is ‘God’s communication of himself to all persons at all times and in all places’[1]
· Nobody is without General Revelation as Psalm 19:1-2; Acts 14:17; Romans 1:19-20 indicate.
· Through General Revelation we can have some awareness that God exists and some knowledge of what He is like but this knowledge is limited. It does not provide sufficient information for man’s salvation. That requires Special Revelation.
· Special Revelation- ‘By special revelation we mean God’s manifestation of himself to particular persons at definite times and places, enabling those persons to enter into a redemptive relationship with him.’[2]
· Special Revelation is ‘special’ because it is not given to all people at all times. It is revelation that God gives primarily through the Bible. (Think Great Commission!)
· Three key words: inspiration, infallibility, and inerrancy.
· Inspiration means “…God’s directing the thoughts of the writers, so that they were precisely the thoughts that he wished expressed.[3] 2 Timothy 3:16. Inspiration is not to be confused with our common understanding- ‘She was inspired by her coach.’ Inspiration means ‘God-breathed’.
· ‘Inspiration is the process by which Spirit-moved writers recorded God-breathed writings.'[4]
· The Scripture writers are not said to be inspired. It is the Scripture that is God-breathed. The ultimate source of Scripture writing is God.
· The human writers wrote what God wanted them to record-See 2 Peter 1:21- so that the words of Scripture are the words God wanted recorded.
· Infallibility means unable to fail or incapable of failure.
· Inerrancy means always truthful. A student who gets all the spelling words correct on a test would be inerrant on that particular test. To be inerrant is to be without error. As the God of truth, what God says is always true or errorless.
· Luke 24:13-27 reveals the high view that Jesus held of Scripture. Verse 27 refers to the entire Old Testament.
· Read, love, study, memorize, and believe the Word of God. We should saturate our minds with Scripture.
Chuck Chambers, Pastor Woolsey Baptist Church


[1] Erickson, Millard Christian Theology Vol. 1; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1983. page 153
[2] Ibid, p. 175
[3] Ibid, p. 216
[4] Geisler, Norman L. and Nix, William E.; A General Introduction to the Bible; Chicago: Moody Press, 1968. page 27