Inspiration of the Old Testament is easy to document in the New Testament:
“All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction and for
instruction in righteousness” (II Timothy 3:16).
That is, the New Testament acknowledges that the Old Testament was/is the very words of God.
But what is tougher to find is God’s authoritative stamp of approval on the New Testament being equal in authority and inspiration as the Old Testament. Does the New Testament claim for Itself the same inspiration as the Old Testament?
First, let’s define two terms to understand the issues.
By “inspiration,” theologians mean that the Living God caused men to write such that what they wrote was authoritative and accurate, with an every-word-is-from-God orientation. The technical, theological phrase is verbal, plenary inspiration.
Theological war rages over differing views of “inspiration,” the liberals saying, “It is inspired only if it speaks to a person’s heart” and “What’s truth for you may not be truth for me.” One could almost say their view is The Ten Commandments are the Ten Suggestions if it is convenient. The conservative, fundamental, evangelicals answer, “The Bible is the authoritative message of the Living God to humanity.”
Canonicity The issue and question this word addresses is, “What gets into the Bible (the theologians address this with the term canonicity? What gets into the canon?”). In the two centuries following the life of Jesus Christ on earth various writings circulated. Which ones should be included in a collection of Scripture? Fanciful reports of the boyhood miracles of Christ were deemed of inferior quality and were not included in the canon. Much ink has spilled on hundreds of pages by writers to address the issue of canonicity. Such minutiae can get very academic.
Returning to the question of this article—what about the belief of orthodox Christians that the New Testament is equally inspired as the Old Testament? Are there any verses in the N.T. that claim divine inspiration for the N.T.? Yes. The New Testament shows the approving stamp of the Living God, so it is worthy to be viewed as “Scripture” and be included in the canon. Two examples:
II Peter 3:15 & 16 “Our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scripture” (emphasis KGK).
Here Peter shows not only an awareness of the existence of written epistles from Paul, but also a clear willingness to classify “all of his letters” with “the other Scriptures.” It is obvious that very early in the history of the church all of Paul’s epistles were considered to be God’s written words in the same sense as the Old Testament.
I Timothy 5:18 “For the Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle the ox when it is treading out the grain’ and ‘The laborer deserves his wages.’” The first quote is from Deuteronomy 25:4, but the second occurs no where in the Old Testament. Instead, it is a quote from Luke 10:7. Paul here quoted Jesus’ words as found in Luke’s gospel and called them “Scripture.” Hence the New Testament places its claim to being inspired by God, equal with the claim of the Old Testament.
These two passages—taken together—indicate that during the time of the writing of the New Testament documents there was an awareness of additions being written which were called “Scripture,” writings that had the character of being God’s very words.
I Corinthians 14:37 Paul adds a brush stroke to his own understanding of what he himself was writing: “If any one thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the command of the Lord.”
We are convinced of the Bible’s claim to be God’s words as we read the Bible. The ultimate conviction of the Bible’s worthiness and truthfulness comes when a willing believer immerses himself in the Bible, since the Holy Spirit will bring illumination and understanding. Apart from the Spirit of God a person will not receive or accept the truth that the Scripture is indeed the words of God.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). We hear the Creator’s voice speaking to our minds and hearts as we read the Book, and realize the Bible is like no other book.
“Since the words of Scripture are ‘self-attesting,’ they cannot be ‘proven’ to be God’s words by appeal to any higher authority. If we make our ultimate appeal, for example, to human logic or to scientific truth to prove that the Bible is God’s Word, then we assume the thing to which we appeal to be a higher authority than God’s words and one that is more true or more reliable. Therefore, the ultimate authority by which Scripture is shown to be God’s words must be Scripture Itself.” Grudem, page 37
Is that circular reasoning? Yes, it is. But by the very nature of the Living God and Truth, it of necessity is. The Holy Spirit is able to convince people. So let’s read the Book willingly, often, and gratefully.
Keith Kaynor
Wow, I learned a lot in this article. I appreciate your tackling this challenging subject and applying Scripture where it can answer the question. I also liked the Grudem quote near the end. This article answered the question posed at the beginning quite well. Thank you!