Yes. There are three models (ways) to read and interpret the Bible. Which model you use will profoundly impact upon your understanding of the Bible and how you relate to the Scriptures ... and to others.
The possibilities:
Inerrant: God Spoke the Words and They Were Written Down Exactly
General Inspiration: Humans Were Inspired Like Shakespeare Was Inspired and Wrote the Bible Stories. God Was Not Involved.
Infallible (or Incarnational): The Bible Was Fully Inspired by God and Written by People.
The possibilities explained:
Inerrant: At the Chicago meeting in October 1978, the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy issued the following statement on inerrancy: ‘Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God’s acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God’s saving grace in individual lives’ (James Montgomery Boice, Does Inerrancy Matter?, Oakland: International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, 1979, p. 13.)”
General Inspiration: The Bible was written by people and for people. These writers wrote very well and were inspired by the muses, much as a novelist is inspired. God was not involved directly in the writing. The Bible is a fully human endeavor.
Inspired: Scripture is inspired by God and was written in sixty-six books by human beings over many centuries. The scriptures are infallible in all they have to tell us about God, God’s attributes, and God’s interaction with humanity. However, written by fallible humans, the books of the Bible are limited in their cultural, historical, and scientific scope as each was written in a particular time, place, and culture. Therefore, the Bible must speak in the language and with the understanding of those peoples at those times. However, through the Holy Spirit, the Bible transcends its human limitations, crossing cultural and historical barriers to bring us God’s message today.
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