The doctrine of the scriptures is fundamental to the Christian faith. However, there is more to say about the scriptures than simply:?The Bible says so. Does that set that?If you do not understand what the Bible is and how it was born, you will never fully understand its meaning. Because the meaning of the Bible is vital to our faith and our lives, we will briefly define here some key terms that relate to the doctrine of the scriptures as a study of God’s written Word.
Authority: Should the power of the Bible be believed and obeyed, having been announced by God?(Confession of Faith of Westminster 1. 4). Because of its divine author, the Bible is “the source and rule for things such as the faith, conduct, and experience of God” (Westminster Theological Term Dictionary).
Autographs: The original texts of biblical books delivered by the hands of human authors.
Canon: The authorized list of inspired Bible books. Shortly after Jesus’ death, the Canon of the New Testament was affirmed by evaluating the apostolicity, reception, and teachings of books, but ultimately the canon is self-authenticated, for the voice of Christ is heard in him (John 10. 27; CFW 1. 5).
Inerrance: the position that the Bible does not assert lies of any kind; that is, “he is without fail or error in everything he teaches” in history and science, as well as in faith (Chicago Declaration on Biblical Inerrance). Intolerance allows literary resources such as metaphors, hyperboles, round numbers and family expressions.
Infallibility: The position that the Bible cannot be wrong or make mistakes, and that it is totally reliable as a guide to salvation and the life of faith and will not fail to achieve its goal?(Westminster Dictionary). As the Christian Church has traditionally taught, this doctrine is based on the perfection of the divine author, who cannot be wrong.
Inspiration: The process by which God acted through the human authors of the Bible to communicate his revelation. The term derives from the Greek theopneustos, which means “blown by God?”(2 Timothy 3:16), and refers to God as the final source of Scripture.
Organic Inspiration: The process by which God guided the human authors of the scriptures, operating in and through their particular styles and life experiences, so what they produced was exactly what God wanted them to produce. Is the text really the work of human authors? Didn’t God order you as an abbreviation?And yet the Lord is behind this as the final source.
Need: It refers to humanity’s need for God’s special revelation in the scriptures to acquire knowledge of the gospel and the plan of salvation, which cannot be learned through the general revelation of nature and consciousness.
Insight: The Clarity of the Bible; that is, what one should know and believe in relation to life and salvation is “so clearly established and evident in one place or another in Scripture” that anyone can understand it (CFW 1. 7).
Writing: From Latin scriptura, meaning “written”; refers to sacred texts, but more specifically, to the Bible as God’s written Word.
Special Revelation: The Things God Reveals About Himself, Apart from Nature and Consciousness (General Revelation; see Romans 1:19-21). These things, which have to do with Christ and the plan of salvation, are found only in the Bible.
Sufficiency: Everything you need to know and believe about salvation and what pleases God is in the Bible.
Verbal and plenary inspiration: the extension of God’s vigilance of the composition of the scriptures to the very choice of words, not just to the main topics or concepts; that is, “all Scripture and all its parts, even the same words of the original,” were inspired (Chicago Declaration).