Lutheranism

====Inspiration====
Although many Lutherans today hold less specific views of [[Biblical inspiration|inspiration]], historically, Lutherans affirm that the Bible does not merely contain the Word of God, but every word of it is, because of plenary, verbal inspiration, the direct, immediate word of God.<ref>{{cite book |last=Engelder |first=Theodore E.W. |url=https://archive.org/details/MN41551ucmf_1 |title=Popular Symbolics: The Doctrines of the Churches of Christendom and Of Other Religious Bodies Examined in the Light of Scripture |page=[https://archive.org/details/MN41551ucmf_1/page/n55 26] |location=Saint Louis, MO |publisher=Concordia Publishing House |year=1934}}</ref> The ''[[Apology of the Augsburg Confession]]'' identifies Holy Scripture with the Word of God<ref>"God's Word, or Holy Scripture" from the [http://www.bookofconcord.org/defense_2_originalsin.php Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article II, of Original Sin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022004920/https://bookofconcord.org/defense_2_originalsin.php |date=22 October 2020 }}</ref> and calls the Holy Spirit the author of the Bible.<ref>"the Scripture of the Holy Ghost." [http://www.bookofconcord.org/defense_greeting.php Apology to the Augsburg Confession, Preface, 9] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031090229/http://bookofconcord.org/defense_greeting.php |date=31 October 2020 }}</ref> Because of this, Lutherans confess in the ''Formula of Concord'', "we receive and embrace with our whole heart the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the pure, clear fountain of Israel".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bookofconcord.org/sd-ruleandnorm.php|title=The Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord|access-date=5 March 2015|archive-date=28 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200228130027/http://www.bookofconcord.org/sd-ruleandnorm.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> The prophetic and apostolic Scriptures are confessed as authentic and written by the prophets and apostles. A correct translation of their writings is seen as God's Word because it has the same meaning as the original Hebrew and Greek.<ref name="Engelder 1934 27">{{cite book |last=Engelder |first=Theodore E.W. |url=https://archive.org/details/MN41551ucmf_1 |title=Popular Symbolics: The Doctrines of the Churches of Christendom and Of Other Religious Bodies Examined in the Light of Scripture |publisher=Concordia Publishing House |year=1934 |location=Saint Louis, MO |page=[https://archive.org/details/MN41551ucmf_1/page/n56 27]}}</ref> A mistranslation is not God's word, and no human authority can invest it with divine authority.<ref name="Engelder 1934 27"/>