The amazing apostasy of modern Protestant theologians from the Biblical doctrine of inspiration is strikingly depicted in Hastings's Encyclopedia, where we read : "Protestant scholars of the present day, imbued with the scientific spirit, have no a-priori theory of the inspiration of the Bible. . . . They do not open any book of the Old or New Testament with the feeling that they are bound to regard its teaching as sacred and authoritative. They yield to nothing but what they regard as the irresistible logic of facts. . . . And if in the end they formulate a doctrine of the divine influence under which the Scriptures were written, this is an inference from the characteristics which, after free and fair investigation, they are constrained to recognize." And again: "To sum up, the old doctrine of the equal and infallible inspiration of every part of the Old Testament ... is now rapidly disappearing among Protestants. There is in reality no clean dividingline between what is and what is not worthy of a place in the Scriptures." (VII, 346, et al.) In a similar vein the late Theodor Kaftan wrote: "We are realists" (Wirklichkeitsmenschen), which he explains to mean: "We do not regard as authoritative what Scripture teaches of itself, but only what we profess as divine truth according to the imprission which Scripture makes upon us." (Moderne Theologie des alten Glaubens, 2, pp. 108. 113.)
This express denial of the divine inspiration of Holy Scripture in spite of its own clear and unmistakable testimony is prompted, in the last analysis, only by unbelief, or the sheer refusal of human reason to accept the truth of God's Word. It was so in Christ's time, when our Lord reproved the unbelieving Jews: "Because I tell you the truth, ye believe Me not. . . . If I say the truth, why do ye not believe Me? He that is of God heareth God's words; ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God," John 8, 45-47, and it is so to-day. In his criticism of the unbelief of the Pharisees, Christ became very severe and rebuked them thus: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar and the father of it," John 8, 44. This criticism of the carnal heart, which rejects God's Word, applies with the same force and emphasis to-day. Rationalistic theologians to-day accuse the "later Lutheran dogmaticians" of having invented "an artificial theory" ("eine kuenstliche Theorie") when they taught the verbal and plenary inspiration of the Bible; they thus became guilty of a historical falsehood. In addition, they resort to logical fallacies to bolster up their rejection of God's Word, claiming that the doctrine of inspiration is disproved by the different style of the various writers, their private study and research, the variae lectiones in the copies, and the like. However, the real source of every denial of the doctrine of inspiration is unbelief.
The consequences of the denial of Biblical inspiration are indeed far-reaching. As a matter of fact, Christianity stands and falls with this doctrine; for if there is no inspired Scripture, there can be no divine doctrine. In particular, all who deny the divine inspiration of the Bible, and as long as they do so, have no possibility of ever knowing the divine truth; for this is possible only in case men "continue in Christ's Word," John 8, 31. 32; 1 Tim. 6, 3. 4. Moreover they give up faith in the Christian sense, since faith comes alone by hearing God's Word, Rom.10, 17; Jas.1, 18; 1 Pet. 1, 23. So, too, they give up Christian prayer with all its temporal and eternal blessings; for this presupposes faithful adherence to the words of Christ, as He Himself teaches: "I£ ye abide in Me and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you," John 15, 7. Again, they give up the possibility of triumphing over death,· for only he "shall never see death" who keeps Christ's saying, John 8, 51. They also give up the only means by which the Christian Church is built upon earth, namely, the precious Gospel of Christ, Mark 16, 15. 16;
Matt. 28, 19. 20; 2 John 9. 10. They likewise give up the only means by which the Christian Church may be preserved in its true unity of faith, Eph. 4, 3-6, as Luther rightly says: "The Word and the doctrine must make Christian unity and communion." (St. L., IX, 831.) In addition, they give up all communion with God, since we can find our precious Lord only in His Word, John 6,67-69; 17,17; Luke 11,28; John 5,24. Lastly they pervert the "wisdom that is from above," or "the wisdom of God in a mystery, which God ordained before the world unto our glory," but which "has never entered into the heart of man," Jas. 3, 17; 1 Cor. 2, 7-9, into a doctrine of men, or into a "wisdom which descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish," Jas. 3, 15; for the denial of the divine inspiration of the Bible is invariably joined with the denial of the saving Gospel of Christ and with the teaching of the pagan doctrine of work-righteousness. Rationalism begins with the disavowal of the doctrine of inspiration and ends with the repudiation of all the divine doctrines of Holy Scripture, unless by God's grace this destructive process is checked by a "fortunate inconsistency," by which in practise the conclusions are not drawn from the premises that are theoretically maintained. If Paul's earnest warning "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,"Gal. 6, 7, applies anywhere, it applies especially to man's attitude toward the Scriptural doctrine of divine inspiration.
6. THE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION AND CONFESSIONAL LUTHERANISM.
In answer to the claim that the doctrine of inspiration is a "dogmatic construction," we point to the fact at that time the doctrine was not in controversy, so that there was no pressing need for presenting it in detail.
8. THE PROPERTIES OF HOLY SCRIPTURE.
divine authority, divine efficacy, divine perfection, and divine perspicuity