Scripture and the Unalterable Character of God

Inspiration and Inerrancy are not only about the veracity of scripture but these theological pillars also affect our view of God. Both reflect truths about the character of God. To understand this connection, we will not begin with a definition of Inspiration or inerrancy, but with a robust understanding of the unchanging character of God and see how that relates to scripture.

There is an indivisible connex between God and the nature of His word. While the word of God is not God, however, it does showcase God's nature and essence. One could say God's nature has left an imprint on the scriptures. In other words, He gave it a certain character, which in turn reflects back on Him.

For instance, the word of God is truth, because God is truth. It is eternal because God is eternal. It is inerrant because God cannot lie. It is unchanging and unchangeable because God is immutable. This is so, because the nature of the word of God is established by the character of God. There is an indissoluble bond between the Divine Author of the scriptures and the scriptures itself. Therefore, since God is eternally unalterable, it stands to reason that His word is too.

Why? The Apostle Paul says that "all scripture is inspired by God and is profitable..." (2 Timothy 3:16). The superlative "all" demonstrates that all of scripture is breathed out by God. Some might argue, well the New Testament (hereafter, NT) is not exactly breathed out by God since Paul is talking about the OT. There are many ways to answer this objection.

• First, Jesus is God, therefore what Jesus says, he says as God, thus the word Jesus produced (NT), is God produced.

• Second, the Book of Hebrews, says "God spoke... but now He speaks through His Son". The same God who spoke in the Old Testament (hereafter, OT) is the same God who speaks in the NT, in the person of Jesus.

• Third, Jesus claims, in similitude to the OT, that His word will endure forever, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away" (Matthew 24:35, authors emphasis). Which means, that Jesus equates the veracity and eternality of His word to the OT.

For this reason, we can make the claim that both the OT and NT are "inspired", or rather, breathed out by God and both have certain characteristics and imbued quality that reflect to some degree its relation to God.

The foundation of this inherent reality, which relates to the nature of the word in its truthfulness, reliability, eternality lies in the fact that God himself breathed out the scriptures. In 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul states this truth, in the word "inspired".