The Inspired Word of God

Discussion Starter:
We're all familiar with 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." What is meant by the word "Scripture" here?

In many/most places in the NT it refers to the Old Testament Scriptures, which makes sense because the NT texts were not compiled and many were not written yet. There are passages, on the other hand, that do refer to NT writings as Scripture. Consider 2 Peter 3:15-16, "Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction."

This brings me to my primary question: What does it mean that the Bible is the "Inspired" Word of God? Did God tell the writers, word-for-word, what to say? This doesn't really make sense as each author has his own style of writing, and, in fact, there are minor discrepancies between different biblical authors. Paul even says in 1 Corinthians 7:10-14 that "not I, but the Lord" says such and such, then "I, not the Lord" says this, that and the other. So he definitely wrote down things that were from himself (Paul) as well as things that were from God.

"Traditionally", we look at the Bible as infallible. Is this a correct view of Scripture if Paul is adding his opinion in when he feels like it?

Finally, the word Scripture (Greek: grafe) means “a writing”. The implication is that these are "writings from God", but that's not what the word means in Greek. So what exactly is a "Scripture"?

Grace and Peace,
Keith

CCP-Boys - What's the point?

CCP-Boys,
I thought I'd put this BLOG up as a place where we could share our thoughts about things, especially Biblical things. I have a lot to teach you guys about God, so the sooner we start the better.

I actually have an idea in mind to start. I've been studying a book called THE DEATH OF THE CUSTODIAN. It's available to read online: http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/wcketcherside/tdotc/

Let's start with a few simple questions:
1. Are we under the Old Covenant?
2. What exactly is the "Old Covenant"?
3. How many Covenants has God made with mankind?
4. How do the books of the "Old Testament" and "New Testament" relate to these Covenants?

More to come...

In Him,
Keith