#544 Middle Knowledge and Scriptural Inspiration Once More

Dr. craig’s response

You’re certainly correct that a Molinist perspective on biblical inspiration raises fascinating modal and metaphysical questions, Steve! Let me try to address yours.

To begin with, I read QoW #541 differently than you do. The questioner Mark was trying to draw a distinction between the epistles and other canonical writings because of the occasional nature of the epistles. His argument was that the occasional nature of the epistles ought to lead us to think that they are not inspired. My answer to Mark was intended to show that this difference between the epistles and other New Testament documents is not a good reason to think that they are not equally inspired. Given a middle knowledge point of view, God can inspire the writing of occasional letters so that they are both verbally inspired and yet freely written, reflecting all the personal and historical peculiarities of their human authors.

But, of course, you’re free to ask whatever question you want, so let’s consider your two questions on their own merits.

First, you grant that I have successfully articulated a model which reconciles verbal inspiration with human freedom, which was my intended goal. You express dissatisfaction because such a model doesn’t give us any reason to think that the New Testament documents are, in fact, inspired.

The problem with this complaint is that you’re indicting the model for failing to do something which it was never intended to do. That’s like complaining that the kitchen refrigerator makes a lousy oven!

The fact of the matter is that I just don’t have much interest in providing evidence for the inspiration of Scripture, since it plays no role in my apologetic case. I’m content to show that the New Testament documents are historically reliable with respect to the life of Jesus, including his radical personal claims, whereby he put himself in God’s place, and the facts of his death, burial, empty tomb, post-mortem appearances, and the origin of his disciples’ belief in his resurrection, which go to ground the inference to his resurrection from the dead. So I’ve not studied in any depth arguments for the inspiration of Scripture and so have nothing to contribute to that question which other theologians have not already said. So, yes, I agree that my Molinist model “does not speak to the issue of whether they actually are inspired.”

You do raise one point, however, which I have addressed, in your comment: “There are countless documents written by countless people, each existing because God chose to actualize those people in those particular circumstances. Why should believe one of those documents (Ephesians) is Word of God when almost all the others are not?” Given God’s universal superintendence of the world, it seems that He has supervised the free composition of every document in the world. So what makes the documents of the New Testament God’s Word to us and not these other documents? As I explain in my article, the difference lies in God’s intention: He intends for Paul’s letter to the Ephesians to be His Word for us, whereas He does not so intend for, say, this Question of the Week.

Now this does not answer your question as to why we ought to think that Ephesians is one of these special documents; but that is, as I said, not a question in which I have been interested. Many theologians would say that the Holy Spirit bears special witness to God’s Word, so that regenerate believers recognize therein God’s speaking to us. I’m content with this answer.

As an atheist, Steve, that ought to be enough for you. You don’t need to believe in the inspiration of Scripture in order to become a Christian. The evidence I’ve laid out is ample for your embracing Christian theism. Don’t get hung up on secondary issues.

Your second question was also addressed in the original article I referenced and, ironically, in last week’s QoW #543: “why didn't He juggle the infinite possibilities so as to only populate the world with people who would freely accept the Gospel?” The assumption behind your question is that if God can juggle the possibilities to achieve the inspiration of a book, then He can juggle the possibilities to achieve universal salvation without any overriding deficiencies. Just stating the assumption ought to make it clear how conjectural it is. We have no idea of whether the requisite counterfactuals of creaturely freedom are true that would make it feasible for God to actualize a world of universal salvation without overriding deficiencies, even if it were feasible for Him to inspire the Bible. This is especially evident when we realize that for each person God creates there will be a future of potentially infinite free choices that God must take into account. So an infinity of possibilities to juggle just doesn’t guarantee that a world of universal, free salvation without overriding deficiencies is feasible for God.