Category Archives: Inspiration

Credibility

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Somehow I got to thinking about my freshman speech class. Back in the day we used a book by James McCroskey which focused on the idea of credibility, the degree to which listeners see a speaker to be believable and to which they accept the speaker’s message. McCroskey saw communication as a flow of rising and falling credibility; you could almost describe credibility as an account in which you deposit and withdraw.

As I did, I realized that the subject of credibility applies to biblical writers. Some people don’t view Old Testament writers as particularly credible, for example. These skeptics feel that the writers were merely conveying mythologies that explained certain happenings; by this view, what’s written may or may not have happened. All that matters is that the writers found the stories and writings to be useful for their purposes.

Many others today doubt Paul’s credibility. You hear people talk about valuing Jesus over Paul or saying things like “that was just Paul’s view.” For some, Paul’s writings are merely a historical curiosity, giving us a glimpse into the thoughts of a leader from the first century, but offering nothing of substance to the church of today. Maybe no one would express things in those exact terms, but it’s the idea that is conveyed to many.

I continue to have a high view of Scripture. I believe that God’s Spirit was at work in the compilation process of the text, as well as the preservation of that text. I think we have what we have for a reason. Because of that, I approach every text asking myself, “Why do we have this?”

There is a human element to the Bible. The Bible even presents some ideas that are nothing more than that, like the arguments presented by Job’s friends. But I also believe the Bible to be a highly credible witness (impeccably credible) to the things that God wants his people to know. We work with literary criticism, historical context, and numerous other tools as we deal with the text, but we never lose sight of the fact that this collection of books is much more than a human creation.

I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.

Did God have anything to do with our New Testament?

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This discussion started last week, so you may want to read some previous posts if you haven’t done so. Last week, I pointed out the humanity of the gospels, which often gets overlooked. There was as great a human element in the writing and preserving of the gospels as there was with the epistles.

That said, I believe that all the books of the Bible were inspired. I’ll admit to not being able to explain all the ins and outs of inspiration, for I’m neither a “divine dictation” believer nor a “purely human” advocate. But I’m firmly convinced that God breathed life into the words in this book, giving it value that common books do not have.

Both Luke and John talk about why they wrote their books. They felt that writing was their decision. Paul also speaks of choosing to write the letters he writes. That shows the existence of some humanity in what was done. Yet I’m convinced that God guided their writing, shaping the books into what he wanted them to be.

I also believe that God guided the church in the preservation process. Early Christians debated a bit, but relatively quickly came to a consensus as to which books belonged in our Bible (despite what you might have read in Dan Brown novels). They rejected certain gospels, discarded certain letters, but kept the books that they felt best met the needs of Christians outside of the original recipients. I don’t think these choices were made by chance.

That’s why I’m frustrated with the current “That’s just Paul” movement. It very much downplays the role of the Holy Spirit in the Holy Book. Paul is not divine in the way Jesus is. But Paul’s words are as inspired as the recorded words of Jesus. The early church thought they had a wider application than their original audience; surely God had a hand in that. They deserve to be taken seriously, very seriously.