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ALTHOUGH MANY ‘Christian’ denominations will readily pay lip-service to what is loosely termed ‘the inspiration of Scripture’, it is sadly the case that the churches of Christendom in general, by contrast with their earlier counterparts, no longer believe that a ‘wholly inspired’ Bible necessarily implies the acceptance of the verbal inspiration of the Word of God in all its parts. Yet this is a teaching which is integral to the Christadelphian faith, and which forms the necessary basis of a true understanding of the nature and function of the Divine writings of the Old and New Testaments.
The Foundation Clause of the Christadelphian Statement of Faith neatly encapsulates in credal form the distinctive Christadelphian understanding of the Apostle Paul’s inspired assertion to Timothy that "All scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3:16):
"That the book currently known as the Bible, consisting of the Scriptures of Moses, the prophets, and the apostles, is the only source of knowledge concerning God and His purposes at present extant or available in the earth, and that the same were wholly given by inspiration of God in the writers, and are consequently without error in all parts of them, except such as may be due to errors of transcription or translation". [The Birmingham Amended Statement of Faith, published by the Christadelphian Office, Birmingham, and embodied in the constitutions of Christadelphian ecclesias in the Central Fellowship.]
This now unique view of the nature of Bible inspiration is called "The Foundation", because upon it rest all other Christadelphian beliefs, which are firmly rooted in this unconditional acceptance of the original text of the Bible as the infallible communication to mankind from an all-knowing and all-powerful God.
Inspired and infallible
The fact that such limitless power was intimately involved in the production of the Bible through intermediaries—which is explicitly stated in passages such as 2 Peter 1:21 ("the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit")—guarantees that what is familiarly known among us as ‘the Word of God’ is, in fact, nothing less than the ipsissima verba (the very words) of God Himself. Whatever the delicate, and in many ways inscrutable, relationship between the ‘personalities’ of the writers of the Bible text and the Divine words which they expressed, Christadelphians rightly allow of no qualifications as to the fact that the Bible is, quite literally, God’s Word. And ‘verbal inspiration’ is simply the technical term by which Christadelphians gratefully recognise the truth of what David says, as a typical representative of the very many inspired writers and speakers whose utterances are embodied in the Bible: "The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and His word was in my tongue" (2 Sam. 23:2).
Put the other way round, of course, the acceptance of the possibility of error in these writings—which claim, on almost every page, to be of Divine origin—would leave Bible readers adrift on a sea of uncertainty and human speculation. For if the God Who claims to speak to His creatures in this Book had in fact failed to ensure the accuracy of this record of His role in our history, and of the sayings of those who purported to speak His words, then He would have left us with a fallible guide to our understanding of Him. In other words, the Bible is either an authority to be trusted, inspired by a God Whose superintending power has seen to it that we are provided with a solid foundation on which to build our lives and our faith, or it is a shifting sand on which nothing of lasting value can ever be built.
"God-breathed"
In the final analysis, therefore, our acceptance of the Bible as the very words of God, or, conversely, our uncertainty as to its true value as an unerring guide to a godly way of life, comes down to this: the Bible has either been given to us "by inspiration of God", or it is the work of men. And if the former, then it is, as Paul says to Timothy, ‘breathed out by God’, since this is the literal meaning of the Greek word which Paul uses (theopneustos) to describe the character of "all scripture" (2 Tim. 3:16). And that term itself stands as a shorthand formula which explains the method of the Bible’s production, with the Spirit (‘the breath’) of God acting in and upon the Bible’s human authors, infusing them with the supernatural impulse both to speak and to record, with comprehensive accuracy and authority, the truths which God has determined that men should know and learn.
And nothing less than one hundred per cent accuracy will do; for the psalmist tells us that "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times" (Ps. 12:6), where the word for "pure" (tahor) signifies ‘clean’, or ‘free from impurities’, and where the analogy with the sevenfold refining of silver is added as a reinforcement of the concept of the precious nature of the Bible, which God has refined, as it were, to perfection. But then, what else ought we to expect of a product of the action of God’s Spirit, that which He has ‘breathed out’ as a perfect expression of His Divine mind?
"Therefore..."
And the perfection of God’s Word exists for a purpose, as with everything that God does. "Thy word is very pure", says the psalmist, "therefore Thy servant loveth it" (Ps. 119:140). The acceptance of the Bible’s Divine origin, in other words, is deliberately intended to have its moral consequences, arising directly from personal submission to its authority by those who recognise the Book’s true character.
"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?", the psalmist asks earlier in this psalm (v. 9). And the answer? "By taking heed thereto according to Thy word". It is a clear case of cause and effect. The purity of the thoughts and ways of God, which are so much higher than our own natural ones (Isa. 55:9), is bound up within the very fabric of God’s Word; and that Word is, of itself, able to produce all kinds of beneficial results. As the prophet goes on to say, God’s Word is sent out by Him to accomplish that which He pleases (v. 11).
Small wonder, then, that a Christadelphian writer, who perhaps knew this book better than any other man in modern times, and who thereby experienced its transforming power, should state without possible contradiction that "Salvation depends upon the assimilation of the mind to the Divine ideas, principles, and affections, exhibited in the Scriptures". [Robert Roberts, preface to The Bible Companion.] Without the words of this Book, powerful to save those who will unconditionally imbibe its teachings as the very out-breathing of the Spirit, or ‘mind’, of God Himself, men are in ignorance of the truths that alone can save them from eternal death. By means of them, even the most sinful of men can be "transformed", as Paul puts it, "by the renewing" of their minds in the perfect ways of God (Rom. 12:2).
Further consequences
Once (but not until) we are able to open and read the Bible with absolute conviction as to its wholly inspired Divine origin, we can be sure of beginning to make progress towards genuine enlightenment in the spiritual things which God has revealed in its pages. And as a direct consequence, Bible study necessarily takes on an entirely different character from the ‘ordinary’ study of a man-made book, with the promise of God’s blessing coming within human reach. The Bible itself makes this abundantly clear. "To this man will I look", says the Divine Author, "even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word" (Isa. 66:2). With the right approach, in other words, the Bible will bring the reader into a proper relationship with his Maker.
Once its contents are correctly appreciated, not as "the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth" (1 Cor. 2:13), "the natural man", as Paul describes him, is enabled to discern spiritually rewarding things which he would otherwise be unable to receive (v. 14). The reader is able to compare "spiritual things with spiritual" through what is, in effect, a sealed system of truth which endlessly repays the effort to interpret what would otherwise be incomprehensible in any meaningfully valuable way. Only by this means is the Bible reader empowered, by continued contact with it, to be amongst those who "know the things that are freely given to us of God" (v. 12).
Not for nothing, then, does the same Apostle Paul recommend to his young son-in-the-faith Timothy that he should "give attendance" to the reading of the Bible (1 Tim. 4:13), which at that time consisted already of the whole of the Old Testament and some, at least, of the Gospels and the early apostolic letters. In this light, too, it is possible to appreciate the appropriateness with which the writer to the Hebrews explains that the powerful influence of God’s Word makes it analogous to a sharp sword, capable of deeply affecting the human mind, "piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow... a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (4:12). The Word itself, it is clear, shares the active characteristics of God Himself and of His Son Jesus, who is depicted in the Revelation as wielding that same sharp sword (1:16; 2:12), and whose very name is given as "The Word of God" (19:13). Such are the dramatic effects upon those who come into contact with the Bible’s powerful influence.
"Profitable"
Produced by the Spirit of God, and therefore exhibiting the Divine character, God’s Word is only a ‘dead letter’ to those who deny its authority over them. But for those who estimate it at its true worth—as the expression of the mind and purpose of God—it is the very embodiment of all that God is and intends to be. For them, the Bible is the source of enlightenment, of encouragement and guidance, of correction, and of ultimate promise.
The benefits of contact with God’s Word listed by Paul to Timothy, and which open up to the avid reader, are all-embracing (2 Tim. 3:16,17). The word for "profitable" (ophelimos) is associated in all its New Testament occurrences with salvation (cf. Mt. 16:26; 1 Cor. 13:3; Gal. 5:2); and it is a clear reminder of that key saying of the Lord Jesus: "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (Jno. 6:63). That ‘profit’, the Spirit itself tells us through Paul, includes "doctrine" (the Greek word didaskalia signifies the active process of teaching as well as the substance of what is taught), "reproof", or rather ‘conviction’ (elengchos—the provision of ‘evidence’, as in Hebrews 11:1, where it is spoken of as the very basis of faith), "correction" (epanorthosis—the act of putting things right), and "instruction [paideia—the careful nurture, or leading, of a child] in righteousness".
If, then, the Word of God has the power to achieve such multifaceted ‘profit’, it is not to be wondered at that it is capable, rightly received and discerned in "an honest and good heart", to make men "perfect" in the sight of God, and to furnish them "throughly... unto all good works".
In good company
Nor are Christadelphians alone in gratefully ascribing to the Bible the powers which it claims to hold within its pages by virtue of its Divine origin. The promise which formed the foundation of Abraham’s faith, and which so transformed his life, was communicated to him not only by private revelation from angels, but also by "scripture" (Gal. 3:8). The patriarch Job esteemed the words of God’s mouth more than his necessary food (Job. 23:12). For Solomon, all the words of God’s mouth were righteousness (Prov. 8:8), and he commended them fervently to his son (Prov. 1–3). To the psalmist, God’s Word was a lamp to his feet, and a light to his path (Ps. 119:105).
Isaiah recognised the Word of God as the only source of true enlightenment (Isa. 8:20). Such was the reverence of Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch for the words which God had caused them to record that they readily acquiesced in rewriting the whole of the scroll which the impious Jehoiakim had so wantonly destroyed (Jer. 36). Daniel pored over the word of prophecy through Jeremiah, and was brought to his knees once he understood the true meaning of the "books" containing that Divine revelation (Dan. 9:1-3). Finally—and most significantly of all for those who claim to be true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ—the Master himself exhibited the deepest possible reverence, in all his many references to the Old Testament Scriptures, for the inspiration and authority of the sacred writings, of which he firmly declared that not "one jot or one tittle" would fail (Mt. 5:18).
Light in our darkness
Rightly understood in all these ways, and with the example of so many men of faith before us, our own regular contact with the Word of God, through reading, study and meditation, cannot be regarded as some kind of optional extra in our life in Christ. Instead, that Word should be central to our daily existence, and should be given the very highest priority. We owe it to ourselves to do as Brother Robert Roberts once exhorted his contemporaries: "Be it ours to hold fast by the true light which God has placed in the world to lead us from the paths of darkness". [Robert Roberts, "The Power of the Scriptures", in Further Seasons of Comfort, 1885 edition, p. 50.]