Poll - Views of the Bible

[pescador]

It contains the word of God. I see grave theological problems with the doctrine if Scripture absolutely contradicts itself even one time.

And an example of this is..?

 

[pescador]

Jesus IS the Word of God.

The Bible is a written record of the words that he spoke to, and through, his prophets - some of which pointed to the coming of THE Word. It contains many of Jesus' words and teachings; not all of them, John 21:25, but those that we need for salvation, faith and life. It contains words, and teachings, spoken by the Apostles - those who had been witnesses to the Word, 1 John 1:1-2. The apostles no doubt said, and wrote, many things too, but the books that we have in the Bible are those which were considered to have been authentic and in line with their teachings.

The Bible is inspired and contains all we need to know God, his nature, his works, his salvation and what he wants for us. It is useful for teaching, correcting and training in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16. It is the source of all doctrine. If someone produces a doctrine, belief or rule, says that God told them and it's not found in Scripture; he didn't. (E.g Moonies say that Jesus came to earth to get married but died before he could do so; in their eyes, he failed.)
The Bible teaches us the Gospel, which is powerful, Romans 1:16, and the word of God which is a sword, Hebrews 4:12, Ephesians 6:17. It is to be treated with respect - but is not to be worshipped.

Great post!

 

[pescador]

God spoke trees into existence so they are also the word of God, so how are you defining "word of God"?

What are you talking about? Just because God spoke trees into existence is irrelevant to the subject. God spoke many things into existence.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I voted "other".

The Scriptures are the word of God because they contain the Word of God. The Scriptures are the source, the fount of faith, in which God's words of Law and Gospel are presented, and in which Jesus Christ, the Divine Logos Himself, is found. Jesus Christ is the point of the Bible, Jesus is the Word, the Utterance, that fills every page of Holy Writ.

The Scriptures are the word of God, because they contain the Word of God, and become the word of God through faithful preaching and reading/hearing of Scripture. The vehicle through which God continues to proclaim the truth of His Law, the truth of His Gospel; by which the Law mortifies our flesh and calls us to active righteousness in the world; and the Gospel which declares our sins forgiven and grants us peace with God in Christ Jesus and by which we are freely and fully justified by the imputed righteousness of Christ.

As Martin Luther said, "We believe the Scriptures for Christ's sake; we do not believe in Christ for the Scriptures' sake."

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Strong in Him]

Great post!

Thank you.

 

[.Mikha'el.]

And an example of this is..?

Read 1 Samuel 17 very carefully and tell me exactly how Goliath died.

 

[zoidar]

Three main views of Scripture are:

The Bible is the Word of God (held by most Fundamentalists / Conservative evangelicals, eg. BB Warfield, early Berkouwer)

"Scripture is the Word of God in the sense that the human words as God-breathed are a divine product. As such they are true, trustworthy, infallible, inerrant, and authorative in every pronouncement they make, in every subject matter they address, and in every area in which they speak - as well as being fit to be the means of regeneration, justification and sanctification."​

The Bible contains the Word of God (most Liberals)

The Bible is a human witness to the acts and teaching of God.​

The Bible becomes the Word of God (Neo-orthodox, eg. Karl Barth, Emil Brunner)

"Over against a schema that views the Bible as the Word of God in esse, the Neo-orthodox school located the objectivity of the Word of God uniquely in the Person of Christ. He alone embodies or incarnates the Word. Revelation occurs as the Spirit speaks to us through the instrument of Scripture. Scripture is not itself revelation but is a vehicle of or witness to revelation. It becomes revelatory as the Spirit speaks through it. The Scripture, then, is a vehicle of the divine-human encounter. Without the activity of the Spirit the Scripture cannot be viewed as objective revelation.

For Calvin the testimonium results in a subjective acquiescence to an objective revelation. The Bible is the Word of God with or without the internal testimony.

For Neo-orthodoxy, the Bible is not the Word of God in essense but only a vehicle of revelation. It may or may not be the Word of God, depending on the testimony of the Spirit. Objectivity is restricted to Christ and does not extend to the Biblical writings."​

The Bible is the Word of God, but the Ford manual is the manual of Ford. It is God breathed alright, the message is, not like every word has to be that exact word for it to be God breathed, or else only the orginals are God's Word.

 

[Fervent]

Not quite sure how to vote in this poll, since the first option is actually broader than it appears. It is not the word of God in the way that Islamists claim the Qu'ran is the word of God(literally spoken by God in revelation) as it is the work of a collection of human authors with their own personalities being part of the fabric of it. Yet it is the word of God in the sense that every bit of it is authoritative, inspired, and intentioned by the Holy Spirit. So should I vote other or 1st option?

 

[hedrick]

Not quite sure how to vote in this poll, since the first option is actually broader than it appears. It is not the word of God in the way that Islamists claim the Qu'ran is the word of God(literally spoken by God in revelation) as it is the work of a collection of human authors with their own personalities being part of the fabric of it. Yet it is the word of God in the sense that every bit of it is authoritative, inspired, and intentioned by the Holy Spirit. So should I vote other or 1st option?

Except the prophets, which claim pretty close to verbal inspiration, though I’d guess the word choice is actually theirs.