Heaven and Earth will pass away but not the words of Jesus
“Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” ( Luke 21:33 ) The doctrine of plenary verbal inspiration, wrongly considered antiquated by many modern neo-evangelicals, is actually essential to the Christian faith. “All scripture [that is every word written down or inscribed] is given by inspiration [literally ‘breathed in’] of God,” not man ( 2 Timothy 3:16 )! We acknowledge, of course, that problems of transmission and translation exist, but these are relatively trivial in the entire context. We also acknowledge that the process of inspiration may have varied, but the end result is as if the entire Bible had been dictated and transcribed word by word. This is the way Jesus Christ—the Creator, the Living Word, the Author of Scripture—viewed the Scriptures. “The scripture cannot be broken,” He said ( John 10:35 ). “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” ( Matthew 5:18 ). “Then he said unto...