I am thoroughly enjoying Stephen Nichols and Eric Brandt's new book, Ancient Word, Changing Worlds: The Doctrine of Scripture in a Modern Age. It is an excellent overview and discussion of "The Battle for the Bible" that raged throughout the twentieth century, as well as a strong defense for the authority of God's Word as inspired and innerant. They give specific attention to three words (and the arguments over those words): inspiration, innerancy, and interpretation. Two chapters are devoted to each word - the first providing a theological and historical overview of the significance of each word and what it implies and the second giving space for the actual words written by some of the major figures involved on both sides (called "In Their Own Words").
The following is a quote from the book, which is itself an excerpt from E.J. Young, who taught Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary, in his 1957 work, Thy Word is Truth. It is a reminder to us that we should approach the Scriptures with both reverence and humility:
When therefore we meet difficulties in the Bible let us reserve judgment. If any explanation is not at hand, let us freely acknowledge that we do not know all things, that we do not know the solution. Rather than hastily proclaim the presence of error is it not the part of wisdom to acknowledge our ignorance?
Young is not calling for an anti-intellectual and blind acceptance of the Bible; nor does he mean we should refrain from engaging in serious biblical scholarship. But he does mean that we should be humble enough to recognize that we may not know all the answers (which, of course, is not to say that there isn't an answer...just that we do not know what it is). To do otherwise would seem to be both irreverent and arrogant. Seems like wise counsel to me!
