We believe in the verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture. This is a nicely concise yet beautifully rich little statement. It also sounds kind of technical–the sort of words that might make our eyes glaze over. This tends to happen when we encounter an undefined term in a sentence that we hear or read. This one short sentence has three terms that are candidates for such loss of communication.

Verbal – The very words of Scripture are inspired by God. In Matthew 5:18 we have Jesus assuming this view when He refers to the Scriptures this way: “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.”

Plenary – All of Scripture is inspired. Think of a plenary session at a conference–that would be a session where all attendees are present. II Timothy 3:16-17 tells us… “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”

Inspiration – Scripture is breathed out by God. God supernaturally guided the authors of Scripture. Because God worked through the human authors, each book retains the style of the author (God did not dictate), but the text contains exactly what God intends for it to contain. This, also, is captured for us in II Timothy 3:16.

Now, look again at the phrase “verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture.” Those five words pack a lot of meaning. We’ll be looking more at what it means and its implications in class this Sunday.