What Do You Mean The Bible Is Inspired?
In 2 Timothy 3:16, the Apostle Paul makes the statement that “All Scripture is inspired by God.” What exactly does Paul mean by that statement?
Paul is stating the fundamental truth about the source of all Scripture. Scripture comes from God. The phrase “inspired by God” is a translation of the one Greek word - theopneustos - which literally means that Scripture is ‘God-breathed’.
This word is not used anywhere else in the Bible. However, the literal meaning of the word brings to mind the creation of man, back in Genesis 2:7, when it says that “God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” Paul seems to be saying that Scripture is as much the product of God, or as much to be traced to Him as life itself.
But, we might ask, are not the Scriptures written by man? Do we not know that the Bible is made-up of books written by 40 different authors? How is it that it was written by men but is a product of God?
Let’s turn to 2 Peter 1:21 for greater understanding. Peter says, “no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
Here, Peter is speaking of prophecy or a Divine message. He says two important things.
First, no prophecy or Divine message was ever made by an act of human will. At no time was the message instigated, initiated or prompted by the desire or will of the messenger. The product was not of the human will.
The second truth is that prophecy or the Divine message came as the messenger was “moved by the Holy Spirit.” The word ‘moved’ is very important here. The Greek word is phero. It means ‘to be borne along or carried along.’
We get a better understanding of its meaning as we see it used, in Acts 27:14-17, to describe Paul’s ship being driven along by the winds of a strong storm: “But before very long there rushed down from the land a violent wind, called Euraquilo; and when the ship was caught in it, and could not face the wind, we gave way to it, and let ourselves be driven along. And running under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, we were scarcely able to get the ship’s boat under control. And after they had hoisted it up, they used supporting cables in undergirding the ship; and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the sea anchor, and so let themselves be driven along.”
Paul’s ship was not steered by the sailors but by the winds. The ship was not guided by the will and skills of the captain but by was guided along or driven along by the storm. The ship’s crew were completely passive.
Thus, Peter is telling us that prophecy or the Divine message was not initiated nor invented nor under the control of the will of the messenger. In stead, the Spirit of God guided the faculties of the messenger. The bringing forth of a Divine message was not an act of human will but of the will of God. The messenger was passive, speaking or writing only what the Spirit moved them to say or write. Thus, the message came from God rather than man.
Let’s dig just a bit deeper. To what extent did the Spirit guide the message? Did the Spirit provide the basic concepts or ideas and then the messenger expressed those concepts and ideas according to their own manner of expression and vocabulary? Or did the Spirit totally dictate every part of the message, even selecting each and every word?
The answers to those questions are provided, by the inspired Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 2:11-13:
“For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit Who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.”
I would have us note from this passage that Paul says that the Spirit of God conveys to the inspired messenger the thoughts of God. He goes on to say that the messenger does not speak words taught by human intellect or wisdom but words taught by the Spirit. Inspiration is the combining of God’s spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. Or, to say it differently, inspiration is when the Spirit of God conveys God’s thoughts by selecting the appropriate spiritual words that best express those thoughts and places them in the mind of the human messenger.
Therefore, we can assuredly say that not only is every thought and concept found in Scripture to be from God but so is every single word found in Scripture chosen and taught by the Spirit of God. Scripture is nothing less than the words of God.
The writer of Hebrews 1:1 tells us that “God…spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways.”
It is interesting that this passage says that God spoke in the prophets in “many ways.” Certainly, we find that God relayed His messages differently to His messengers.
Numbers 12:6-8, “He [God] said, "Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; With him I speak mouth to mouth, Even openly, and not in dark sayings, And he beholds the form of the LORD.”
Here, God clearly states that the most common ways in which He relayed His message to His messengers, during the time of the Old Testament, were by dreams and visions. This is not only true for the ages recorded in our Old Testament but is the case in New Testament times as well.
When the Spirit came upon the Apostles at Pentecost, in Acts 2:16-18, we find Peter explaining that it was the beginning of the fulfillment of that “spoken of through the prophet Joel: ’AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, ’THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT UPON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS; EVEN UPON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT And they shall prophesy.”
The Apostle John described the visions that relayed the information found in the Book of Revelation as being “in the Spirit” (Rev. 1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10). This shows that the visions were occasions when the Spirit was teaching the prophet the Divine message.
Interestingly, this is the exact term used by Jesus in describing how David received His Divine messages - Matthew 22:43, “He said to them, ‘Then how does David in the Spirit call Him ’Lord,’ saying….” David, himself, said in 2 Samuel 23:2, "The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me and His word was on my tongue.”
Thus, we have it that while David was experiencing a vision, the Spirit of the Lord put the Divine message in his mouth that he was to speak. Thus, the Spirit was in complete control.
Going back to what was stated in our Numbers 12:6-8 passage, God usually conveyed His message through dreams and visions. However, He said it was different with Moses. With Moses, God communicated the message as in a face-to-face conversation.
However, we know that the Spirit was in control when Moses delivered the message to the Israelites by what is said in Nehemiah 9:20 - "And Thou didst give Thy good Spirit to instruct them, Thy manna Thou didst not withhold from their mouth, And Thou didst give them water for their thirst.”
Thus, it is taught that Moses, too, was inspired by the Spirit of God.
Whether they received the message by dream, vision or face-to-face, we enjoy the Divine messages today because God instructed the messengers to write the information down for the benefit of those in their generation and for those in generations to come.
We have record of Moses receiving that instruction -
Deuteronomy 5:31, “But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I give them to possess.”
Exodus 34:27, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.’"
Exodus 24:3-4, “Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, ‘All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do!’ And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord.”
Deuteronomy 31:24-26, “And it came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book until they were complete, that Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, ‘Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you.’”
We have record of Jeremiah receiving the instruction to put the Divine messages in writing -
Jeremiah 36:1-2, 4, "And it came about in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ‘Take a scroll and write on it all the words which I have spoken to you concerning Israel, and concerning Judah, and concerning all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day’….Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord, which He had spoken to him, on a scroll.”
Some folks have said to me, “Scott, I can accept some of the history of the Old Testament and the teachings of Christ Jesus. But, surely, you cannot expect me to accept all of the fanciful stories of the Old Testament. Surely, you are not expecting me to accept everything to be literally factual.”
That is exactly what we must do. If we question the validity of one part of Scripture, how can we accept any of it? Additionally, we must not overlook the fact that Jesus, Himself, vouched for the validity of the Old Testament Scriptures:
1. I have examined the teachings of Jesus and have found that Jesus quoted from 15 different books of the Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Hosea, Jonah, Micah, Zechariah and Malachi). He obviously believed the books to be authoritative.
2. Jesus alluded to many of the stories as historical that some might doubt; for example, the Creation of Man (Matthew 19:4); the murder of Abel (Matthew 23:35); Noah and the flood (Matthew 24:37-39); the existence of Abraham , Isaac and Jacob (Matthew 8:11); the judgment of Sodom & Gomorrah (Matthew 10:15; 11:23-24); the judgment of Lot’s wife (Luke 17:32); Moses the Law-giver (Matthew 19:7-9; John 5:46-47); Manna from Heaven (John 6:49); lives saved by looking upon the raised serpent by Moses (John 3:14); King David (Matthew 12:3-5); Solomon and all his glory (Matthew 7:29); the Queen of Sheba and her visit to Solomon (Matthew 12:42); the prophet Isaiah (Matthew 15:7); the prophet Daniel (Matthew 24:15); Jonah and the big fish (Matthew 12:39-41); the prophet Zechariah and his murder (Matthew 23:35). If these Old Testament personages and events are not historical, then Jesus’ credibility is zero because He taught them as such.
3. Jesus testified to His Apostles that the Law, Psalms and the prophets of the Old Testament spoke of His coming and ministry - Luke 24:44-45, “Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”
Before we close our discussion on Inspiration, I want us to examine the Scriptures which speak of the inspiration of the writers of the books of the New Testament.
Toward the beginning of our lesson, we read Hebrews 1:1-2, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son.”
For spiritual instruction under the New Covenant, God would have us listen Jesus, the Son of God.
In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus confirmed to His Apostles that He possessed full authority when it came to teaching Mankind: “Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’"
Jesus instructed the Apostle to teach the world to obey all that He commanded. However, Jesus did not write down His teachings for the Apostles to spread to the world.
In His last discussion with His Apostles before He was betrayed by Judas, Jesus told the Apostles that He would send them the Holy Spirit to teach them His will -
John 14:16-17, 26, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you...But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” John 16:7, 12-15, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you… I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.” Matthew 10:19-20, “But when they deliver you up, do not become anxious about how or what you will speak; for it shall be given you in that hour what you are to speak. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”
So, we see that the Apostles would be guided into all the truth by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit would teach them all things.
To confirm that the message they were speaking came from the Lord, the Apostles were granted the ability to perform miracles. Hebrews 2:3-4, “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.”
As we close our remarks, it has been my goal for us to see how the Bible itself instructs how it came into being. It has been my aim to help us better grasp what we mean when we say that the Scriptures are inspired. It is my hope that it increases our faith in accepting the Scriptures as the literal words of God.
I close with the words of Paul, written to the congregation at Thessalonica, in 1 Thessalonians 2:13, “And for this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God’s message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”
