WITHERINGTON ON 2 TIMOTHY 3:16

I discovered that Bible commentator Ben Witherington has a weblog, and in a recent post he offers thoughts on the inspiration of Scripture:

If one studies the ancient concept of inspiration, whether in relationship to Biblical or other prophets it is perfectly clear that it was believed that the prophetic words, inspired by God, had authority because of the source and the character of the one inspiring the prophet to speak. Indeed sometimes it was even believed that the deity in question took over the human being and simply spoke through them. The Holy Writings were not seen as merely revelatory of God’s Word, they were seen as synonymous with God’s Word, such that God said what the Scriptures said.

There are other thoughts, and the comments are interesting, too. I have several of Witherington's books, and generally recommend them, although I tend (no surprise) to be more conservative than he. I used to preach in Nicholasville, Kentucky, about five minutes from where Dr. Witherington teaches at Asbury Seminary, never met him, though. I probably should have called him up for lunch one day...