Ignoble yet Inerrent?
The transmission of the Bible has been a sticky issue for believers for a very long time. Modern scholars, however, would like to say that the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls has changed everything and really given text-critics the foundation for all their speculation and very criterial attacks upon the Word of God.
But I like what John Frame has said concerning Antithesis and Doctrine of Scripture . Basically showing that there is an unbelieving or a believing way that we look at Scripture, always an antithesis! This is especially true or important when thinking about the transmission of scripture. Is it God's Word or not? Is it God's superintendence of fallible man's errors and mistakes roughly keeping the heart of God's redemptive purpose but flexibly bending to culture and time as His need sees fit? Or is the Bible that the church has always received - the very Words of God in spite of the transmission phenomena?
Frankly, our doctrine of Scripture as the principia, rather than our evaluation of the phenomena must determine here, and far to many "conservative" scholars are jumping on the "neutrality" band wagon and insisting that the phenomena can be evaluated properly without the norming influence of the scripture itself. "Oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe"!!
However, I would like to endorse a hearty doctrine of the ignoblity of Scripture. What ?!? Well, simply put - I mean - the Scripture most assuredly does not act the way we would like. It does not conform to our ideas of what is perfect or pristine. We want the book to fall from heaven complete. To be written in one language, and never to have been translated . But alas God does seem to love to frustrate the wise of this world and to exult the lowly - and the history of transmission is no exception.
So what does all this mean for inerrency? It means that God is the author and finisher and His Word will not return to him void! It means that we serve a "God that does as He pleases" and that will not share his glory with anyone. That the exhaustive knowledge of "How" always belongs to Him and the responsibility to believe always belongs to us. And yes, it still means that the Bible contains no mistakes! That it never lies! And that try as hard as he may, neither man nor Satan can contaminate even the smallest part of it - Even if the Dead Sea Scrolls had 15 conflicting copies of Jeremiah!
Let the phenomena come. Let it rise up like the false prophets of old - that even sometimes prophesied truly - and let us stand in belief! with full confidence declare..."Yes, God did really say!!"
1 comment:
How do fifteen copyists adding or taking away phrases words or syllables affect the doctrine of inerrancy, inspiration, historicity, authority, etc. of our english bible (gasp the KJV) or change the truth that those to whom God has given His Spirit in love and grace are able to discern the very letters and numbers of God's speech in His word? Does God's word get lost in translation? To those whom God has reprobated, yes. Does God's word get lost in transmission? To a church in apostasy, yes. Or is this just all a convenient excuse to pull out the cork and party like it was 1999? God's speech in written form(Word made flesh sound familiar?) is the means of grace He has given to save His innumerable multitude. God has had a church since the beginning of creation and He has always given them His pure word. If one of our academicians dusts off the translation made as a fruit of the reformation, one see great textual scholarship and translational, and theological integrity. In our times apostasy, if one has scholars tell him of biological and cultural and textual and translational evolution that we must honestly acknowledge as the morphing corpus of the scriptural corpse, if one has Dr. Bultmann approach him with a "new improved" text, translation, and theology that Darwin and the buddha helped him cobble together, if one has the lie come and say you had better get with the spirit of the age, one knows where one must tell them to go.
Craig
Post a Comment