Gods sovereign decree was the foundation of the authority of his ministry and his theology. To doubt or oppose what Paul wrote as an apostle is to doubt or oppose God – there is no difference. That said, God was the one who produced the Bible, and Paul was a mere instrument by which God delivered his revelation. In fact, since God moved men to write exactly what he wanted (2 Peter 3:16), he was the only actual author. A man could use a hundred pens to write a book, the pens varying in color, thickness, and so on. He could use various writing styles and literary forms, and write in several languages. Each section would then exhibit many differences, but there would still be one author and one book. Indeed, men are more than pens, but God is more than a human author. The human author purchases the pens, and he has limited mental ability to produce variety, but God made the men that he used to write the Bible, and with his infinite intelligence he held them by his Spirit as he caused them to write. Thus the instruments were secondary, but the central issue is that All Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). Although we make the usually harmless generalization that the apostles and prophets wrote the Bible, significant portions of the Bible were not written by them, or not known to be written by them. To address this, some people invent the principle that these documents were nevertheless written by those who were closely associated with the apostles and prophets. However, they arbitrarily dictate this principle without warrant, and they also arbitrarily decide how closely associated with the apostles and prophets these other authors need to be. In addition, the relationships of these authors to the apostles, and the scribes to the prophets, are often uncertain, and offer a weak foundation for something as weighty as divine inspiration. The entire difficulty is self-inflicted due to the false assumption that every word in the Bible must be written or approved by apostles and prophets. However, once we point out that God is the author, even the only actual author, then it becomes evident that the matter of human authorship is unable to undermine the inspiration of Scripture, because it has no decisive relevance in the first place. God can write on tablets of stones, speak in a voice from heaven, enable a donkey to talk, make stones cry out, or cause a man to write his words. God is the one who speaks and writes. Although he often used the apostles and prophets, he could cause anything to happen through anyone he chooses. By his Spirit, he took hold of various men and caused them to write out his words. Then, by his providence, he secured these documents and compiled them into one final volume. Thus inspiration applies to every word in the Bible, not because every word was written by apostles and prophets, but because every word was written by God. -- Vincent Cheung, Commentary on Ephesians, 2014, p5.
Posted on: Tue, 06 May 2014 20:05:28 +0000
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