The Bible is not the Word of God, big "W" but, as the Confession of 1967 says, it is "the word of God written," small "w". Christ is the Word of God, and the Bible is a witness to Christ. It is subordinate to him.We turn now to another key notion in David Philips' essay, "The nature of the Bible," the idea of inspiration. Phillips states that the Bible is "what God has spoken." It is inspired, by which he means that it is "God breathed," that being the biblical meaning of inspiration. Phillips then makes an inference that seems crystal clear to him. Because the Bible is the Word of God, therefore, it is without error. He writes, "The character of the Word of God as infallible or inerrant derives from the very character of God Himself... the Bible is accepted as utterly true and utterly trustworthy because of the character of its author." God, he says, "is true in his very character and therefore His Word is Truth." In sum, the Bible is True, inerrant, and infallible because it reflects the nature of God, who is by definition Unblemished Truth.
The inference is that the Bible is perfect because it is "God breathed.". Phillips is correct to define inspiration by the term "God breathed," which comes from the second account of creation in the Book of Genesis. It says there, "Then the Lord God took some soil from the ground and formed a man out of it; he breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live." (Genesis 2:7) In the Psalms, God's breathe gives life not only to humanity, but also to all of God's creatures (Psalm 104:30). The New Testament also speaks of inspiration as being an indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In the Book of Acts, the Spirit filled the earliest Christians (Acts 2:1-4), Samaritan believers (Acts 8:17), and the Apostle Paul (Acts 9:17).
The gift of the Spirit has been given, that is, as the source of life for every living creature, for every person, and it has been given to the church. In these cases, inspiration had nothing to do with perfection. Inspiration signifies, rather, God's presence, giving life to what is dead physically or spiritually.
The affirmation that the Bible is inspired, in sum, means that it is another channel or vehicle for God's presence. Through it God reaches into our lives in much the same way the Spirit touches human hearts. Just as one Christian can be the channel for God's reaching into another person's life, so the Bible touches our minds and hearts. Like churches, it can mediate the one true Word of God, Jesus Christ. And like any other created thing, it can be abused, misused, and misconstrued. It is inspired. It is authoritative. There is nothing in the Bible itself that requires us to infer that the Bible must be perfect because God is perfect. Quite the opposite. The biblical precedence shows that there is no link between inspiration and perfection.
