This is one of the most sensible explanations I have run across, so I thought I would share it:
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For Warfield, the unique authority of the Bible lay in the fact that it is inspired. “Inspiration is that extra-ordinary, supernatural influence... exerted by the Holy Ghost on the writers of our Sacred Books, by which their words were rendered also the words of God, and, therefore, perfectly infallible.” (It may be noted that Warfield’s use of the term “infallible” to refer to the Bible may represent a response to the First Vatican Council’s insistence that the pope is infallible.) Although Warfield is careful to stress that the humanity and individuality of biblical writers were not abolished by inspiration, he nevertheless insists that their humanity “was so dominated that their words became, at the same time, the words of God, and thus, in every case and all alike, absolutely infallible.” Other theories of inspiration located this authority elsewhere. What is important, however, is that recognition of the authority of the Bible preceded any attempt to formalize that authority theoretically.
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For Warfield, the unique authority of the Bible lay in the fact that it is inspired. “Inspiration is that extra-ordinary, supernatural influence... exerted by the Holy Ghost on the writers of our Sacred Books, by which their words were rendered also the words of God, and, therefore, perfectly infallible.” (It may be noted that Warfield’s use of the term “infallible” to refer to the Bible may represent a response to the First Vatican Council’s insistence that the pope is infallible.) Although Warfield is careful to stress that the humanity and individuality of biblical writers were not abolished by inspiration, he nevertheless insists that their humanity “was so dominated that their words became, at the same time, the words of God, and thus, in every case and all alike, absolutely infallible.” Other theories of inspiration located this authority elsewhere. What is important, however, is that recognition of the authority of the Bible preceded any attempt to formalize that authority theoretically.
