Coptic Church & Ecumenical Movement - Saint Mina Coptic ...

• The objections to this view of Inspiration
Here is the summary of the paper:
• We believe that the Bible is the word of God and is inspired by Him. Inspiration
is the divine action by the Holy Spirit on the mind of the sacred writers, whereby
the Scriptures were not merely their own, but the word of God. The Bible does
not merely contain, but is the word of God (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 2:21) ‘all
(literally: every) Scripture is inspired by God.’
• We received the Scriptures through the church tradition, but the Scriptures have
authority over the church. The Holy Bible should be binding upon our minds,
consciences and wills.
• Scriptures are not mere products of human intellect, natural or intuitional
inspiration; otherwise, the Bible would be just a human product.
• Nor do we believe in ‘Partial Inspiration’, which is valid only in matters of faith
and practice, and not valid in scientific and historical matters. The Holy Spirit
secured the writer in every word. He did not only secure the thoughts, but also the
words of the Bible. Supernatural things mentioned in the Bible, like the virgin
birth of the Lord, Resurrection, Ascension, resurrection of the dead and final
resurrection, are true, because we believe in an infinite God, Almighty and
Omnipotent.
• Inspiration does not cancel the human element, but the Holy Spirit spoke through
living human beings, using human languages, tools, knowledge, and style, but
securing them from making any mistakes whatsoever.
• The Bible constitutes a specific unity although written by more than 40 writers,
over a period of 1600 years, because the Holy Spirit was inspiring and securing
them. Thousands of supernatural prophesies mentioned in the Old Testament
were fulfilled, and all the archeological discoveries proved the authenticity of the
Bible.
• The Bible should be read in veneration, with an open mind and heart, and with a
will ready to interact with God, believe in His promises and obey His
commandments. So then, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God
(Romans 10:17).
A contribution was given by Reverend Father Dirayr Panossian from the Armenian
Apostolic Church of Cilicia, as follows:
The Bible read in the liturgy carries the presence of God, the Breath of God, and
therefore is venerated in our churches by being put on the altar, read in a spirit of
devotion while standing, kissed, having candles of light around. We read several
chapters from the Old and New Testaments in every liturgy. All our doctrines,
traditions, rituals should be biblical in essence.
The Reformed View
Dr. Karel Blei presented a paper. Here is the summary:
• Like the Orthodox, Reformed Protestants respect tradition, especially the
Tradition of the first five centuries. In this tradition, they find the expressions and
summary of the Gospel as it has been proclaimed to us in the Scripture.
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