I am hoping @BibleVendor will participate in this thread, because the distinction in these three sub-doctrines of bibliology (a branch of systematic theology) are what he is not yet distinguishing. I'll use Ryrie's Basic Theology (our textbook for Bible Doctrines 1 & 2). Hopefully that way BibleVendor will not think I am just giving my own opinion. Ryrie gives good conservative evangelical theology. There is too much in bibliology to discuss the whole thing, but I'm concentrating on these three.
1. Revelation is the doctrine of how God gives us His Word. It is divided into "general" (the revelation creation gives us about God) and "special" (the direct revelation of truth God gives linguistically). Ryrie says, "General revelation provides evidences for the existence of God. Special revelation, on the other hand, generally assumes His existence" (p. 31). Sometimes special revelation is given to God's servants who are then not allowed to write it down: Paul (2 Cor. 12:1-4) and John (Rev. 10:4). However, usually special revelation was inscripturated; that is, written down for us.
2. Inspiration: "God superintended (or carried along' the human authors of the Bible so that they composed and recorded without error His message to mankind in the words of their original writings" (Ryrie, p. 627). By "carried along" Ryrie is referring to 2 Peter 1:21, "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
Thus, written became our Bible, the Old and New Testaments. It was given "by inspiration" (2 Tim. 3:16), Greek theopneustos, meaning "breathed out" by God. Thus to toy with ("revise") God's written revelation in its original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek form is to mess with the inspired, "breathed out" Word of God, is to play with fire and offensive to God. Psalm 138:2, "I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." It is a dangerous thing indeed to "revise" or change God's eternal Word.
3. Finally, illumination. Ryrie writes that "generally the concept of illumination relates to the ministy of the Holy Spirit helping the believer to understand the truth of the Bible" (p. 132). Note that illumination refers to how we understand the words God had written, not revise them.
BibleVendor is confusing inspiration with preservation, one form of which is Bible translation, with which we transfer the meaning of the original (without revising it) into our own or another language so that illumination can take place. We can't be helped by the Spirit in illumination without the Bible being translated into our own language. So when he said "revise" he appeared to be actually talking about translation--yet the meanings he gave were quite different from the meanings of the Lord's Prayer in the original Greek in which the NT was given.
1. Revelation is the doctrine of how God gives us His Word. It is divided into "general" (the revelation creation gives us about God) and "special" (the direct revelation of truth God gives linguistically). Ryrie says, "General revelation provides evidences for the existence of God. Special revelation, on the other hand, generally assumes His existence" (p. 31). Sometimes special revelation is given to God's servants who are then not allowed to write it down: Paul (2 Cor. 12:1-4) and John (Rev. 10:4). However, usually special revelation was inscripturated; that is, written down for us.
2. Inspiration: "God superintended (or carried along' the human authors of the Bible so that they composed and recorded without error His message to mankind in the words of their original writings" (Ryrie, p. 627). By "carried along" Ryrie is referring to 2 Peter 1:21, "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
Thus, written became our Bible, the Old and New Testaments. It was given "by inspiration" (2 Tim. 3:16), Greek theopneustos, meaning "breathed out" by God. Thus to toy with ("revise") God's written revelation in its original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek form is to mess with the inspired, "breathed out" Word of God, is to play with fire and offensive to God. Psalm 138:2, "I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." It is a dangerous thing indeed to "revise" or change God's eternal Word.
3. Finally, illumination. Ryrie writes that "generally the concept of illumination relates to the ministy of the Holy Spirit helping the believer to understand the truth of the Bible" (p. 132). Note that illumination refers to how we understand the words God had written, not revise them.
BibleVendor is confusing inspiration with preservation, one form of which is Bible translation, with which we transfer the meaning of the original (without revising it) into our own or another language so that illumination can take place. We can't be helped by the Spirit in illumination without the Bible being translated into our own language. So when he said "revise" he appeared to be actually talking about translation--yet the meanings he gave were quite different from the meanings of the Lord's Prayer in the original Greek in which the NT was given.
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