origin in anything human. And second, an equally emphatic affirmation: Scripture was written as a direct result of the Spirit of God at work “carrying along” its human authors. God produced the Scriptures by means of men who spoke and wrote under his direct influence. Indeed, God did not merely “lead” the Biblical writers or “guide,” “direct,” or even “control” them — all of which could rightly be said. Peter goes further: the Biblical writers were taken up by the Holy Spirit and brought by his power to the goal of his own choosing. In short, the words of the Biblical authors were, in fact, the very words of God.
“His outlook was very clearly this: what Scripture says is true, and everything that contradicts it is false. How could it be otherwise?” Warfield is careful to emphasize another detail of the passage. In verse 18 Peter is referring to his experience on the mount of transfiguration, referring to things he himself saw and heard. But valuable as eye-witness testimony is, he says, Scripture is “more sure,” for it is the product not of man but of God. Finally, in John 10:35 Jesus himself insists on the complete reliability of Scripture, asserting plainly that “Scripture cannot be broken.” No word of Scripture can ever fail, he says. It’s claims and assertions are true at every point and can never be otherwise. Here is Warfield’s doctrine of inerrancy in a nutshell. But he is careful to stress that these passages do not stand alone. Nor does our doctrine of inspiration rest on them alone. Because of their direct and comprehensive brevity these passages hold a prominent place in our learning and statement of the doctrine. But we could establish the doctrine of inspiration as well without them, Warfield insists. These are but culminating statements that gather together in brief statement the claim Scripture everywhere makes. 48 | Credo Magazine | October 2011
Warfield demonstrates this endlessly. A few samples will have to do for now. First, there is the oft-repeated declaration of the prophets, “Thus says the Lord” (Isa. 7:7, et al) perhaps best described by David: “The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me; his word is on my tongue” (2 Sam. 23:2). Then there is the telling observation that New Testament writers regularly cite Old Testament Scripture with the introductory formula, “God says.” Or the New Testament writers can just as easily cite sayings of God in the Old Testament with the introductory words, “Scripture says.” They can say “Scripture says,” “Moses says,” “Isaiah says,” “God says,” “the Holy Spirit says,” or “he [God] says” interchangeably. These examples are seemingly endless, and Warfield makes much of them. The conclusion is inescapable: “What Scripture says, God says.” Moreover, the New Testament writers do not always cite Scripture in the past tense as having “spoken.” Over and again they cite Scripture with the words “the Holy Spirit says” (Heb. 3:7) and “he [God] says” (Heb. 1:8). This language reflects the conviction on the part of the New Testament writers that Scripture is “the ever-speaking Word of God.” This conviction is seen further in the reverential titles Scripture bears: “Scripture,” “holy Scripture,” “the sacred writings,” “the oracles of God,” “law,” even “Prophets,” and so on. Speaking from this conviction Jesus insists that Scripture “must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44-45). He settles all debate with the allauthoritative, “It is written.” He shames those who are in error with the simple rebuke, “Have you not read?” Likewise when he says “You are wrong, because you do not know the Scriptures” (Matt. 22:29), he reveals his settled understanding that Scripture speaks with indefectible authority — as Warfield summarizes it, “he who rightly knows the Scriptures cannot err.” This conviction of our Lord was shared, of course, by his apostles, and this same kind of evidence permeates their writings. “What Scripture says, God says” and