Divine Authority and Biblical Inspiration

As testimony to the self-manifesting truth of God in the gospel, Scripture is authoritative because it indicates the sovereignty and perfection of God's self-communication. This indication is reliable, and therefore authoritative, because God acts in, with, and over the human authors, ordering their acts of communication in such a way that they are caused to bear fitting and effective testimony. In the theological tradition, this divine oversight is usually termed "inspiration." By this is meant God's superintending of the processes of creaturely text-production.

--John Webster, "Scripture, Authority of," in Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible (gen. ed., Kevin J. Vanhoozer; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2005), 726.

Humility in Interpretation

[W]hile the Word of God is authoritative and reliable, our comments on the Scriptures are always in soft lead pencil, subject to correction, modification, and even erasure.

--Daniel I. Block, Deuteronomy (NIV Application Commentary; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), 16.

The Ordinary Human Language of Scripture

If we say that we shouldn't take God's words at face value, that we need to discover some sort of hidden meaning beneath the plain meaning of the words of Scripture, then we are saying that God is using human language in a way that is different from the way human beings use language. But we have absolutely no indication that this is the case. To the contrary, when God spoke to human beings in the Bible, they understood Him and acted according to the plain meaning of His words. When God told Israel to build a tabernacle, they didn't perform some sort of dance as a spiritual interpretation of His words. Instead, they took His words at face value and created a tabernacle in accordance with the plain meaning of God's words. Our approach to Scripture should be the same.

--Francis Chan, with Mark Beuving, Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples (Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook, 2012), 130-131.