The old theory of Bible inspiration was, as I have said, the theory
that the Bible was the actual and pure word of God, and was true in
every circumstance and detail.

Now, if an almighty and all-wise God had spoken or written every
word of the Bible, then that book would, of course, be wholly and
unshakably true in its every statement.

But if the Bible was written by men, some of them more or less
inspired, then it would not, in all probability be wholly perfect.

The more inspiration its writers had from God, the more perfect it
would be. The less inspiration its writers had from God, the less
perfect it would be.

Wholly perfect, it might be attributed to a perfect being. Partly
perfect, it might be the work of less perfect beings. Less perfect,
it would have to be put down to less perfect beings.

Containing any fault or error, it could not be the actual word of
God, and the more errors and faults it contained, the less inspiration
of God would be granted to its authors.

I will quote again from Dr. Gladden:

What I desire to show is, that the work of putting the Bible
into its present form was not done in heaven, but on earth; that
it was not done by angels, but by men; that it was not done all at
once, but a little at a time, the work of preparing and perfecting
it extending over several centuries, and employing the labours of