Tuesday, March 9, 2021

John C. Poirier on 2 Peter 1:19-21 and the Doctrine of the Inerrancy of the Autographia

  

The problem with taking 2 Pet. 1:21 as a support for the inspiration of Scripture should be obvious for anyone who reads it slowly and deliberately: It does not refer to the inspiration of Scripture per se but rather to the inspiration of prophecies within Scripture (v. 20). Nothing in the verse implies that epistolary and narrative writings found within Scripture are also inspired. The discussion leading up to 2 Pet. 1:21 has to do with the assuredness of the Lord’s word, as delivered in a prophetic mode. Nothing in this verse can reasonably be construed as a statement about the nature of Scripture itself. (John C. Poirier, The Invention of the Inspired Text: Philological Windows on the Theopneustia of Scripture [Library of New Testament Studies 640; London: T&T Clark, 2021], 110, emphasis in original)