Understanding the New Testament: Inspiration, Canonisation, and Historical Context

A common modern perception of the inspiration of Scripture often portrays it as a rigid, divine dictation of words from God to be written down verbatim. This perspective leads to concerns among some religious communities, such as Muslims, who view any alteration or addition to the text as a potential threat to the entire faith. The Islamic understanding of inspiration emphasises direct and unalterable divine dictation, contributing to their scepticism of multiple Bible translations, which they falsely label as “corruption”. In contrast, the Biblical inspiration of the Scriptures has never been viewed as a literal divine dictation, as if the apostles were under a holy spell ensuring word-for-word accuracy. <a href="https://www.crosswalk.com/church/pastors-or-leadership/pauls-lost-letters-11637049.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Dr Michael Heiser</a> emphasises that the writers were influenced by God through the circumstances of providence, with God guiding them to write what was deemed necessary for posterity. This perspective shifts the focus of inspiration from the writers to the ultimate, providential guidance of God. <a href="https://medium.com/thesacredfaith/understanding-the-new-testament-inspiration-canonisation-and-historical-context-4b6c0dcc3536">Learn More</a>