Hi Mickey,

Of course all of the Bible is inspired.  Every word.  There is not a
conflict between Paul and God, nor could there ever be.

Your church member has a false impression of inspiration.  God did not
dictate every word to the writers of Scripture.  He let them write
their own words, in their own style, but He sovereignly worked so that
the words that Paul (also Matthew, Luke, Moses, etc.) wrote were
exactly the words that God wanted written.

So when Paul says "I, not the Lord" he is not saying that this is
simply his opinion or in some way not inspired.  What Paul is saying
is that he doesn't have a specific teaching of Jesus or OT teaching in
mind when he gives this command.  Paul often expanded on the teachings
of Jesus and the OT and applied them to the current situation.

In 1 Co 7:10 he says "Let a wife not depart from her husband." and he
says that this command comes directly from the Lord.  He doesn't mean
that he just heard these words directly from God a minute before he
wrote them.  What he means is that "Let a wife not depart from her
husband" corresponds to the teaching of Jesus in Mark 10:12 and
elsewhere.

When he gets to verse 12 and addresses the issue of an unbelieving
spouse married to a believer he acknowledges that Jesus never directly
addressed this particular situation.  So the command "she should not
divorce him" does not come directly from the mouth of Jesus but
instead indirectly from the Holy Spirit via the pen of Paul.  Either
way the command is God-breathed and fully inspired.

Usually someone attempts to drive a wedge between Jesus and Paul so as
to discount other teachings that Paul gave as somehow "less inspired"
or no longer applicable to us today.  "Oh, wives don't need to submit
to their husbands anymore.  That was just Paul speaking" or "Jesus
never said anything about homosexuality.  Paul just had a hang-up
about it."  But the Holy Spirit inspired every word of Scripture and
He doesn't change or make mistakes.

If we discounted every time Paul used the first person we'd be in big
trouble.  Take Romans 8:38-39 for example: "For I am sure that neither
death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things
to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ
Jesus our Lord."  Is this just Paul speaking?  I certainly hope not.

God bless.



--


Grace and peace,
Kevin Sigafoos
---------------------
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be
glory forever. Amen. (Rom 11:36)