Has God Revealed Himself to Humanity?

2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:19-21

2. The real meaning of inspiration (theophneustos).

God breathes out, is the meaning of inspiration. The Spirit of God is the ultimate author of the messages.

3. The Bible is not a Divine-Human product.

No, the Bible is not a divine human product. The emphasis of scripture is that it is God who has spoken. The Scriptures did not tangibly exist, and God "breathed them" into being.

4. The characteristics of revelation.

A. Ectypal- God is now communicating knowledge to us based on an original archetype. God already knows the truth; the truth that He conveys to us then is a reflection of the truth that He has. It therefore is the ectype, compared to His knowledge, which is the archetype.

B. Revelation is incomplete. When Jesus returns, additional revelation will be available to us. So, until He returns, revelation as a whole will be incomplete.

C. Revelation is sufficient. It provides us with all the information we need to live in covenantal faithfulness to God.

D. Revelation is accurate. It conveys exactly the message that God intended to convey.

5. The limitations and "flaw" of General Revelation.

A. It does not equate man with the only way of salvation.

B. It does not convey any reliable knowledge of God and spiritual matters. Because of sin, it is not sufficiently clear to establish truth about God and religion.

C. It does not and cannot furnish an adequate basis for religion.

Yes, general revelation is flawed. Because of sin, we have "dark lenses" over our eyes, so we can't see the truth that God has for us.

6. The limitations of Special Revelation.

A. Logistics problem- it's not available to all people.

B. Sin problem- scriptures cannot be understood by sinners.

C. Even among Christians, the Scriptures are not equally understandable in all of their parts.

7. Discussing the nature of inspiration.

The nature of inspiration is dynamic. Inspiration terminates on the writers, not on the written product.

Inspiration is mechanical. God dictated what the secondary authors wrote, so that the latter were amanuensis.

Inspiration is organic. There is a necessary interaction between God the Holy Spirit, as primary author, and the biblical writer as a secondary author. This view demands the utilization of talents, abilities, and style of the individual author.

I embrace the third view, that inspiration is organic. God inspired the men and the content of what they were to write. They were allowed to write in the way they saw fit as long as they didn't add to or take away from the content. This is why the styles from one book to the next are noticeable to which author wrote the book. The best example of this, are the Gospels. These books are four different accounts by four different authors, but the content is the same.

8. In reference to the extent of inspiration, explaining the words plenary and verbal.

Plenary means the full inspiration of scripture. Verbal means that the very words are from the Lord. They are both significant because they emphasize the inerrancy of scripture.

9. The reason why your English Bible is truly the Word of God.

Yes, my English Bible is the Word of God. In Acts, chapter 2, the people heard the word of God in their own language. So, by Scripture, if it is a good, faithful translation, my English Bible is the Word of God for I'm simply hearing God's Word in my own language.