Understanding Revelation and Inspiration
Understanding Revelation and Inspiration
God used the gifts, the will, the disposition, and the ability
intellectual of the writers in the transmission of the divine message.
REVELATION - Definitions:
4- It is the opening of the eyes, of the ears, through speaking, brought into effect.
by the Lord.
["Nm 22:31","I Sm. 9:15","2 Tm. 1:10","Tt. 2:11","Tt. 3:4","Hb. 1:1,2","I Jo. 1:1"]
We can say that there are two meanings to the revelation: ACTIVE AND
PASSIVE.
ACTIVE: it is the activity of God Himself as He makes Himself known to
man.
PASSIVE: it is the knowledge that is given to man. Example: God
He reveals His law to Israel. Ex. 20:22
Original Revelation:
God,inrevealingHimselftoAdam,mancreatedinHisImageand
Similarity, He did it so that He could know, love, serve, and glorify.
Your Name. Adam enjoyed a deep communion with
God, knowledge that transcends our intellect. Gen. 3:8.
3- Redemptive Revelation :
It is the revelation operated by the Holy Spirit, in the inner man,
connecting him with His Creator. Acts 20:23; 21:4; John 14:26; Luke 12:12; I
Co. 2:10-12.
4- Biblical Revelation:
The Scriptures are one of the ways by which God reveals Himself to
Man, although not everything that God revealed is in the Word of God.
II Cr.9:29 ; Jo. 21:25; At.20:35; Dn.2:22.
WAYSOFREVEALINGGODTOMAN
1 - Through actions:
a) Thunder - 1 Samuel 7:10; Job 37:4
b) Cloud and fire column through the desert - Ex. 13:21; 14:20;
19:16
c) By the Plagues - Ex. 7:12
d) Through the Works of Creation - Gen. 1; Am. 5:8; Rom. 1:20
The ways in which God reveals Himself to man in the Old Testament,
are called Theophanies, that is, they are visible manifestations of the
Invisible God to His creature, man Ex. 3:2. All Theophanies
they are means used that signify the presence of God, indicating to
even though the fullness of His Person cannot be
perfectly known by the intellectual powers of man - Is.
55:8; I Corinthians 1:19,21; 2:14.
INSPIRATION-Definitions
Thus God urged the men He had chosen and prepared. l:5
to write exactly what He would desire them to
it was written, in order to convey the knowledge of Salvation to its
people and through them transmit to the world this knowledge,
however, not annulling God's personality of the writers
biblical.
The Revelation precedes the Inspiration. God reveals Himself to the
man (Revelation) and His Spirit enables to write the Word of
God (Inspiration).
On the other hand, in Luke 1:1-3, we observe that this servant of the Lord,
beloved doctor, as per Col. 4:14, was inspired to examine works already
known, and writing the Gospel that bears his name. However
we can still say that some passages mentioned in the Scriptures had
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FALSETHEORIESOFBIBLEINSPIRATION
Theory that says the Bible was written by wise men, endowed with
special generality. This denies the supernatural, for it was GOD who spoke.
to the men revealing Himself to them, speaking through them. Ex.: II Sam 23:2; II
Cr 20:14,15; Jr.1:9; Ez.3:16, 17; 11:5; At. 28:25.
It teaches that the inspiration of the Bible Writers is the same as today.
men possess when they pray, preach, teach, and walk in
communion with GOD. This goes against what the Bible records when
mention that the knowledge and spiritual anointing of the believer is granted
the Holy Spirit is in proportion to how much one seeks Him, now, if one consecrates oneself to
Lord, sanctify your life (Joshua 3:5).
Likewise, the inspiration of the Bible Writers does not allow for degrees: either it
it was inspired or not, for it would have to fulfill its purpose, to have
for personal gain (II Tim. 3:16; Titus 3:8). Common inspiration may be
permanent (I John 2:27), while that of the writers is temporary, as
the expression of the prophets: And the Word of the Lord came to me (Ez. 3:16;
6:1)
It teaches that the Bible contains the Word of GOD, but that it is not the
Word of GOD.
In IITm. 3:16, the Bible rejects this theory. (Eph. 6:17; 1 Pet. 1:25)
Teaches the inspiration of the Bible only concerning the words, leaving no room
for the activity and style of the writer. (Moses - prince and lawgiver; Joshua
4
-commander;)
David and Solomon - kings; Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel - prophets; Daniel - chief
of state; Amos - man of the field; Ezra - priest; Peter, James,
John - fishermen; Matthew - tax collector; Paul - theologian). This
theory makes writers true machines, writing books without
any notion of mind and reasoning.
Luke conducted a careful investigation of known facts (Luke 1:4).
We know that GOD revealed, inspired, and cared for the writers so that
there was no error in the registration of the revelation (Jer. 1:5; Gal. 1:15, 16).
The theory says that GOD inspired thoughts or ideas, not them.
words and expressions of the writers, that is, God inspired men,
leaving the selection of words to their discretion. If that were the case, such
men when writing thoughts or ideas, would introduce great
errors in your writings.
On the other hand, it is difficult to separate words from thought. A
thought is a word before it is spoken. Divinely thoughts
inspired, they would naturally have their expressions in divinely words
inspired - Col. 2:12,13; Heb. 1:1;
1 Peter 1:20, 21; Revelation 22:19.
Heavenandearthwilpassaway,butmywordswilneverpassaway.