The latest tome on my 2008 reading list was God’s Infallible Word by David Bernard. The title sums up the author’s viewpoint when it comes to the Bible: it is the infallible Word of God. It’s not a page-turner (unless you’re a theological egghead), but it will give your faith a booster shot. It’s a good introduction to and overview of “verbal plenary inspiration” – the theological idea that the Divine inspiration of Scripture extends to every word and to all parts of the Bible equally.
Bernard is the president of Urshan Graduate School of Theology, the founder and pastor of New Life United Pentecostal Church in Austin, Texas, and probably the most notable and widely-read Apostolic Pentecostal author of the past 100 years.
God’s Infallible Word covers a wide range of subjects relative to the topic. Bernard begins by offering six proofs that the Bible is God’s inspired word: 1) the Bible’s own testimony, 2) the character of the Bible, 3) historical and scientific verification, 4) the witness in human society, 5) the witness in individual lives, and 6) fulfilled prophecy.
Each of these are important arguments, but the most interesting to me is fulfilled prophecy. No other book has predicted the future as well as the Bible. Consider the prophet Isaiah, who lived about seven centuries before Christ, yet he accurately predicted many of the events in the Messiah’s life. Daniel is so eerily accurate that liberal scholars insist his book must have been written after-the-fact. And the coup de grâce may be the Old Testament’s prediction that the Jews would be scattered throughout the earth, then be reunited as a nation in the last days.
Bernard also covers the extent of inspiration, Biblical criticism, Scriptural authority and the inherent truthfulness of the Bible, but in my opinion, the most interesting chapters are five through nine. In these, Bernard discusses the origins of the canon and the text, textual criticism, how the Bible was translated into English, and hermeneutics, the science and art of interpreting Scripture.
Chapter seven – “Textual Criticism and God’s Word” – is fascinating. The original manuscripts (the autographs) have long since disappeared, so how do we know the Bible we have today actually contains the words written by the Apostles and Prophets? Bernard does a great job answering this question, and he does so in a way that builds faith. Read this chapter and you’ll read your Bible with a renewed sense of respect.
Chapter eight – “God’s Word in English” – tells the story of how the Bible was translated into English. Bernard also gives an overview of a few of the many different English translations. One of the things I respect about Bernard is that he’s not a King James only kook. He does note that the KJV may be the best English translation, but he also gives high marks to the New King James Version, the New International Version, the New American Standard Bible and the Modern Language Bible, explaining how each can be important in study.
Books like God’s Infallible Word are important because belief in the inerrancy of Scripture is under attack on all sides. During the recent presidential campaign, Barack Obama seemed to call into question the Divine inspiration of certain books such as Leviticus when asking which Scriptures should guide public policy. But Bernard, like the Apostle Paul, argues that the Bible is completely and fully God’s Word: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable,” Paul said to Timothy (2 Timothy 3:16).
Even the parts you don’t want to hear.