THREE MORE BOOKS ON THE BIBLE: A CRITICAL REVIEW*

Trinity Journal, Spring 2006 by Carson, D A

3. Inspiration

Webster urges that there are three requirements if talk of inspiration is to be profitable. First, it "needs to be strictly subordinate to and dependent upon the broader concept of revelation" (p. 31); it must not become the hinge on which all else turns, for "inspiration is not foundational but derivative, a corollary of the self-presence of God which takes form through the providential ordering and sanctification of creaturely auxiliaries" (p. 32). Webster wants to avoid grounding Christian certainty on some notion or other of inspiration. Instead, he says, he wants to follow Calvin, who asserts that "since certainty of faith should be sought from none but God only, we conclude that true faith is founded only on the Scriptures which proceeded from him, since therein he has been pleased to teach not partially, but fully, whatever he would have us know, and knew to be useful" (p. 32).8 second, the notion of inspiration must avoid both objectifying (i.e., the inspired product must not take precedence over the "revelatory, sanctifying and inspiring activities of the divine agent" [p. 33]) and spiritualizing of the divine activity (so that the center of gravity is pulled away from the text toward the persons associated with the text). And third, the notion of inspiration must be expounded "in clear connection to the end or purpose of Holy Scripture, which is service to God's self-manifestation" (p. 35).

This brings Webster to his "conceptual paraphrase" (p. 36) of 2 Pet 1:21.1 mention only one of his four points: "the Spirit generates language" (p. 37). This, and not dictation, is what is properly meant by "verbal inspiration." "What is inspired is not simply the matter (res) of Scripture but its verbal form (forma)" (p. 38). Webster writes:

Inspiration is the specific textual application of the broader notion of sanctification as the hallowing of creaturely realities to serve revelation's taking form. Where sanctification indicates the dogmatic ontology of the text as the servant of the divine selfcommunicative presence, inspiration indicates the specific work of the Spirit of Christ with respect to the text (pp. 30-31)

I cannot devote equivalent space to the detailed description of the remaining three chapters of Webster's book, but I may attempt very brief summaries.

In his second chapter, "Scripture, Church and Canon," Webster provides what is in fact an elegant defense of the classic Protestant view of the processes of canonization during the patristic period (though he doesn't call it that). He begins with a "dogmatic sketch" (p. 42) of the relations between Scripture and the church, describing the latter (i) as a "hearing church": "the definitive act of the church is faithful hearing of the gospel of salvation announced by the risen Christ in the Spirit's power through the service of Holy Scripture" (p. 44); (ii) as a "spiritually visible" church (p. 42):

The church's visibility, of which Holy Scripture is part, is spiritual visibility. . . . Positively, this means that the church has true form and visibility in so far as it receives the grace of God through the life-giving presence of Word and Spirit. Its visibility is therefore spiritual visibility, (pp. 47-48)