VARIOUS PROBLEMS CONNECTED WITH VERBAL INSPIRATION - 4

The Problem of Antagonistic Passages

 

Rom. 3:5 - "I speak as a man."
Paul here is reproducing the arguments of men. The statement (record) of the argument is verbally inspired.

1 Cor. 7:6 - "I speak this by permission and not of commandment." This is not a discussion of the relation between Paul and the Holy Spirit, but between Paul and the Corinthians.
The “permission” given Paul was obviously from the Lord, since no one was above Paul in terms of apostolic authority. Thus, he was claiming—not denying—divine inspiration. He did not have an explicit “commandment” to cite for this teaching, either from the Mosaic law or the teachings of Christ, but rather he had direct divine authorization.

1 Cor. 7:10, 12 - "I command, yet not I, but the Lord."
"Speak I, not the Lord."
In vs. 10 Paul is merely repeating what Christ had said on earth. In vs. 12 he announces something new, which Christ had not taught. In these two verses Paul places what he writes on the same level as the words of Christ.
"yet not I" In this case, Paul was not citing his own divinely-inspired authority for his teaching (as in 1 Corinthians 7:6, 12), but to a specific teaching of Scripture (e.g., Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:3-6). The Lord had already established and commanded the marriage relation to be permanent.
"not the Lord" Again Paul is claiming, not disclaiming, divine authority for his teaching. In fact, he is even boldly superseding a command given by God through Ezra to the Jews. After returning from their captivity in Babylon, the Jews had taken wives from the unbelieving people of the land, and God told them: “Separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange [i.e., foreign] wives” (Ezra 10:11). In the Christian context, however, a Christian is commanded not to divorce a non-Christian spouse, as long as the latter is willing to remain in the marriage.