Nazarenes Exploring the Inspiration and Interpretation of the Bible----- A closer look. How did we learn anything about God? about Jesus? Virgin birth? the Gospel? The Bible! See what Jesus said about scripture! (See the page on the tab above) Learn the history of Nazarene thought on the Bible. (hint....it used to be slightly different....)
"Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn't think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God--which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe." I Thess. 2:13
The Nazarene Manual states that we believe in the "Plenary" Inspiration of the scriptures. ple·na·ry ˈplenərē/ adjective unqualified, absolute synonyms:unconditional, unlimited, unrestricted, unqualified, absolute, sweeping,comprehensive "We believe in the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, by which we understand the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration, inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation, so that whatever is not contained therein is not to be enjoined as an article of faith."
Most casual readers would think that this means that all scripture is inspired, reliable, true and free from errors. That is what most Nazarene members think. That is the historical stance of the Church--(see this page)
Here is a quote from the General Superintendents to the Nazarene General Assembly in 1928--" We must stand for the whole Bible. We do not as a movement believe merely that the Bible contains the Word of God. We believe the Bible is the Word of God. We believe it from Genesis to Revelation…. The Bible has received the bitterest attack of the enemy for centuries, but today the Old Book stands as impregnable as the Rock of Gibraltar…. The church must stand first, last and all the time for the whole Bible, the inspired, infallible, revealed Word of God…. Every man in this body is a fundamentalist and so far as we know there is not a modernist in the ranks of the Church of the Nazarene. We believe the Bible and accept it as being the revealed Word of God, immutable, unchangeable, infallible and sufficient for every human need. A modernist would be very lonesome in this General Assembly." but-- that is not what several modern Nazarene theologians think. They take a new, nuanced view that says that ideas connected with salvation are truly inspired , from God and without error, but----that history, geology, geography, science, origins etc may be erroneous, inspiring maybe, but absolutely true? maybe not. There was a strong effort made to have the statement acknowledge full inerrancy, but Horton Wiley(theologian who wrote the statement) wasn't willing to go that far---so he slyly used the words "inerrantly revealing" things necessary to salvation----not full reliability. There was another effort in 2012 at the general assembly to put in a "full reliability in everything it teaches" type phrase------but it was voted down.... When the truth about this belief is known, many are disappointed---only able to trust in parts of the Bible. Who decides which parts? Can I decide? Can you? Can a general superintendent? A seminary professor? Do we judge the Bible or does it judge us?
Let's see what the Bible claims about itself and what Jesus said about it.
II Timothy 3:14-17 says-----14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The word "God-breathed" in the Greek is "THEOPNEUSTOS ." The power of the breath of God in divine inspiration pervades Scripture. God breathed “the breath of life” into Adam (Genesis 2:7), and Jesus “breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:22). In 2 Peter 1:21 we are told that “prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Here we see the truths of Scripture described as coming directly from God, not from the will of the writers He used to record them.
The Bible plainly declares to be the very Word of the living God. Some 3,800 times the Bible declares, "God said," or "Thus says the Lord."
Habakkuk 2:2 states how it worked in one case. 2 Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.-----------God spoke, Habakkuk wrote it down.
Ps. 119:160 The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.
IS BELIEF IN A FULLY RELIABLE BIBLE A CALVINIST THOUGHT? Not only did John Wesley consistently affirm the plenary inspiration of Scripture, but his own clear statements confirm his belief in the full verbal inspiration and trustworthiness or inerrancy of Scriptures. In 1776 Wesley commented in his Journal on Jenyn’s tract Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion by saying though it was an admirable piece, it was hard to tell whether Mr. Jenyn was a Christian, a deist, or an atheist. “If he is a Christian, he betrays his own cause by averring(or denying) that “all Scripture is not given by inspiration of God, but the writers of it were sometimes left to themselves, and consequently made some mistakes.” Nay, if there be any mistakes in the Bible, there may as well be a thousand. If there be one falsehood in that book, it did not come from the God of truth.” Wesley proposed the following logical argument: “The Bible must be the invention either of good men or angels, bad men or devils, or of God. 1. It could not be the invention of good men or angels; for they neither would or could make a book, and tell lies all the time they were writing it, saying, “Thus saith the Lord,” when it was their own invention. 2. It could not be the invention of bad men or devils; for they would not make a book which commands all duty, forbids all sin, and condemns their souls to hell to all eternity. 3. Therefore, I draw this conclusion, that the Bible must by given by divine inspiration.” (Robert W, Burtner and Robert Chiles, A Compend of Wesley’s Theology, Abingdon Press. 1954. p. 20)
Richard Watson the great Methodist theologian, wrote in 1830: Plenary inspiration consisted in this, that they were kept from all lapses of memory, or inadequate conceptions, even on these [historical] subjects; and on all others the degree of communication and influence, both as to doctrine, facts, and the terms in which they were to be recorded for the edification of the Church, was proportioned to the necessity of the case, but so that the whole was authenticated or dictated by the Holy Spirit, with so full an influence, that it became truth without mixture of error.
It makes ahuge difference if we view the Bible as a human document or a Divine one. Here is an idea from a famous denominational preacher with a huge church(not Nazarene), who views the Bible as of human origin: "As I learned to appreciate the Bible's humanity, I found I could look at homosexuality differently." i.e. condone it and promote it as a preacher----he wrote that the Bible is as inspired as you or I writing a poem, or painting a picture. He does believe in Jesus resurrection somehow, but much of the rest of the Bible is just mildly interesting, possibly inspiring. As of Aug. 2018--22 he is behind a denomination split over homosexuality. In 2023 his denomination will vote to divide and embrace sodomy. But remember 2 Peter 1 says: 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
"Inerrancy is foundational to all other essential Christian doctrines. It is granted that some other doctrines (like the atoning death and bodily resurrection of Christ) are more essential to salvation. However, all soteriological (salvation-related) doctrines derive their divine authority from the divinely authoritative Word of God. So, epistemologically (in a knowledge-related sense), the doctrine of the divine authority and inerrancy of Scripture is the fundamental of all the fundamentals. And if the fundamental of fundamentals is not fundamental, then what is fundamental? Fundamentally nothing! Thus, while one can be saved without believing in inerrancy, the doctrine of salvation has no divine authority apart from the infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture." www.DefendingInerrancy.com
"A denial of biblical inerrancy always leads to a loss of confidence in Scripture both in the pulpit and in the pew. It was not the growth of education and science that emptied churches, nor was it the result of two world wars. Instead, it was the cold deadness of theological liberalism. If the Bible’s history is doubtful and its words are open to dispute, then people understandably lose confidence in it. People want authority. They want to know what God has said." Answers in Genesis
Here is how the Bible was written----- "The Holy Spirit moved men to write. He allowed them to use their own styles, cultures, gifts, and character. He allowed them to use the results of their own study and research, write of their own experiences, and express what was in their minds. At the same time, the Holy Spirit did not allow error to influence their writings. He overruled in the expression of thought and in the choice of words. Thus, they recorded accurately all God wanted them to say and exactly how He wanted them to say it in their own character, styles, and languages." Answers in Genesis On the day of His resurrection, Jesus rebuked two of His own disciples for not believing what He what all of the Old Testament had to say about Him. And he said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!" (Luke 24:25).
What the Bible is and how it was inspired will be explored in this website. May God richly bless and encourage you!