Basil Manly: The Authority of Scripture
Vol. IX, No. 2, February 1996
This selection is from Basil Manly's The Bible Doctrine of Inspiration originally published in 1888. (And recently republished by the Sunday School Board as one in the new series, Baptist Classics. They are all highly recommended. You may inquire about their availability by calling 800-443-8032.) The paragraphs below appear on pp. 31 & 32 of Manly's book in a section titled, "Inspiration Implies Both Divine and Human Authorship."
"The Word is not of man, as to its source; nor depending on man, as to its authority. It is by and through man as its medium. Yet, it is not simply the channel along which it runs, like water through a lifeless pipe. It is through and by man as the agent voluntarily active and intelligent in its communication. Both sides of the truth are expressed in the scriptural language: "Holy men spake as they were moved ["borne along"] by the Holy Spirit." (See 2 Peter 1:21.) The men spoke. The impulse and direction were from God. ...
"This full recognition of the human authorship of the Scriptures is of prime importance. For much of the force of the argument against a strict doctrine of inspiration consists in proving this human authorship of the sacred writings, which we think is undeniable, and then inferring from that their fallibility.
"'Human, therefore fallible,' they say. 'Fallible, therefore false in some measure.' But this favorite line of argument seems to us to be more plausible than powerful. It is a mere assumption that their being human forbids their being also divine, that God cannot so inspire and use a human being as to keep His message free from error, that the human origin, under divine control, necessarily involves either falsity or fallibility. This seems to be perfectly plain. Yet this fallacy underlies whole pages of vigorous denunciation and confident appeal."