Argument against Verbal Inspiration The dictation theory of inspiration brings to,focus some of the central issues concerning the doctrine of inspiration. Evangelical thinking has fretted at the word dictation and yet tended to gravitate towards the concept. Liberal scholars have used the word to caricature the doctrine as mechanical, rigid and incredible in terms of human […]
After his extended treatment of the doctrine of revelation and the distinction between general and special revelation, Bavinck concludes his introductory volume in Reformed dogmatics with a consideration of the doctrine of Scripture. The inscripturation of special revelation represents the provision within God’s providence of a permanent and fixed form of revelation. Just as the […]
The prophet Amos once proclaimed an age of darkness for the Old Covenant people of God, when he said ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.’ […]
“Organic” Inspiration In his survey of the development of modern biblical criticism, Bavinck is surprisingly frank regarding the implications of this approach for the older doctrine of inspiration. As he observes, the Christian theologian “does not resolve the dilemma [of the inspiration and absolute authority of Scripture] in all its sharpness by closing one’s […]
As we serve the Lord in our Reformed congregations across the country, we need to remember that the leaven of theological liberalism is still with us. In this sense the dawn of the twenty-first century is not much different from the beginning of the twentieth. “The battle cry of modern culture,” Wolfhart Pannenberg observes, has […]
It can only be with great sadness that one finds the question of the infallibility of Scripture questioned within Reformed circles—again. Even sadder when it enters what is usually labeled as the conservative sector of the Reformed arena. The definition of infallible can be simple and brief. Whatever is infallible is free from error. Charles […]