“The Bible, as originally given, is the inspired and infallible Word of God. It is the supreme authority in all matters of belief and behaviour.”
What are we affirming in this statement?
God has revealed himself through the bible so that we can know him, look to him and be saved. Though he reveals himself through creation in certain ways, these are limited and our perception is badly distorted by sin (see Romans 1:18-23). Psalm 19 tells us that creation speaks of the glory of God, but his verbal revelation in his law is “perfect” and has the power to bring wisdom, enlightenment, and righteousness.
This verbal revelation is written down and preserved in the sixty-six books of the bible, representing a diversity of authors and genres which all nevertheless tell the story of redemption culminating in Jesus. “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last times he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.” (Hebrews 1:1-2).
"as originally given"
This is not to say that we only have the Word of God if we can manage to discover the original autographs written by the very hand of Paul and others. Rather it is saying that authority does not lie with any particular textual tradition or translation, but rather that we have God’s Word wherever the original is accurately preserved and conveyed by copyists and translators.
Here is an affirmation of the positive role that textual criticism plays in the preservation of Scripture in conjunction with the faithful work of scribes and others who have carefully copied the text of Scripture for centuries. There is also a caution here in adding to or taking away from Scripture; it is not an open and evolving text but has already been fully ‘given’ and is complete.
In this affirmation of textual criticism and the ideal of the ‘original,’ it is important to affirm that Scripture has been sufficiently preserved and transmitted through the copying and translation such that the gospel message is clear. If we can affirm that God, by his Spirit spoke through the writings of prophets and apostles over thousands of years that we can also affirm that he has providentially preserved those writings so that they might serve as authoritative revelation for his people throughout history.
So, the ongoing task of textual criticism doesn’t leave us without God’s Word, but simply alerts us to the need for and possibility of minor improvements to our critical texts and translations in the future.
"inspired and infallible Word of God"
Scripture is God’s self-disclosure. It carries divine status as the words which God speaks, and is therefore wholly trustworthy, grounded in God’s character without denying the human dimension of its authorship. Consider 2 Peter 1:20-21, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Scripture’s trustworthiness doesn’t require us to eviscerate any human touch in its writing and transmission. Instead, we recognise that in his sovereignty, through these human writings inspired by His Spirit, God truly speaks.
This origin from God guarantees that, despite human involvement, it is wholly trustworthy and free from mistakes. (For more on this see ‘The Inerrancy of Scripture’ by Kevin Vanhoozer).
"it is the supreme authority in all matters of belief and behaviour."
Scripture is not a static body of information waiting to be downloaded, rather it is dynamic revelation which demands a response and carries God’s power to transform lives. The bible carries the authority of God and is used by him to enact his redemptive purposes, not in contrast or opposition to his work through the incarnate Son or by the Spirit but as the ongoing revelation of the Son by the Spirit. As the author of Hebrews confesses, it is “alive and active” not merely information about God (Hebrews 4:12).
As it carries God’s authority, it demands a response of obedience from us, directing the content of our faith and how that plays out as we conduct our lives in light of Christ. Other sources of wisdom and revelation which might shape our understanding of God and our behaviour (philosophy, observations of the created world, secular wisdom and ‘best practice’) are all subject to Scripture’s judgement. We interpret what we see in creation through what Scripture teaches.
Where is this challenged or a challenge when studying theology at university?
This view of and attitude towards Scripture is the most persistently challenged evangelical belief in academic theology. It is also not hard to see that the denial of many other core truths of the gospel is often deeply connected to a rejection (either explicit of functional) of the authority of Scripture.
Some areas of challenge include:
- Alleged historical errors in the bible or discrepancies between parallel accounts of the same events.
- Claims of scientific inaccuracy (by today’s scientific standards).
- Questions about the legitimacy of the canon of Scripture, its origins, authorship and extent.
- General attitudes and hermeneutical strategies which bypass the authority of Scripture and prioritise external standards of goodness or truth which are used to stand over Scripture.
There isn’t space to go into these challenges in detail here. Many of them are answered in a general way in Vanhoozer’s article linked to above. Specific manifestations of these challenges are frequently addressed by the Text and Canon Institute, Tyndale House, and Theology Network.
It is important for our doctrine of Scripture and our approach to interpreting it to hold sufficient space for its thoroughly human nature. However, this need not lead us to abandon recognition that it is the inspired and infallible Word of God through which God exercises his authority.
How does this help us do Evangelical Christian theology better?
The authority of Scripture is not a doctrine to primarily be looked at, but to be looked along to see Scripture itself in a way that actually shapes how we do theology. Scripture is central to any theology that we do as evangelicals. It is our primary source for knowing God and the measure against which our theology can be judged.
This serves as encouragement to have humility as we come before the text of Scripture, doing our best to read what is there and not simply what we want to see, and coming to it with an expectation that we will be challenged and corrected as we grow in our understanding and godliness.
The theology that we produce and hold to is always subject to the judgement of Scripture. It is not a particular interpretive tradition which is authoritative, but Scripture itself. Our theology is always subject to being reformed in light of Scripture.
As our authority in belief and behaviour, the bible doesn’t allow evangelical theology to remain in the abstract, but moves us to ask “what are the implications for my relationship with God?” and “how ought this change the way I live?” Evangelical theology cannot be a practice disconnected from the life of the church as these questions of how the bible shapes our faith and faithful living are incredibly significant towards approaching the bible as authoritative Scripture and not just historical artefact.
