The Inspiration of the Bible

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
so that the man of God may be adequate,
equipped for every good work."
- 2 Timothy 3:16-17, NASB

Introduction

The Bible consists of 66 books, divided into two major sections, spanning a period of approximately 1400 years. Its overarching theme is the salvation of the human race. [ref] The Bible tells the story of how humankind came about, how it went astray, and how it is being redeemed. God is both the author and the main character of this factual story, and he used human beings to record it.

These claims, amazing in their own right, are made even more so in light of the smorgasbord of belief systems available today. An increasingly popular option is to simply pick and choose whatever "feels right." After all, isn't there some truth in all religions? And doesn't everyone worship the same God? It is becoming more and more fashionable to label as narrow-minded and intolerant anyone who subscribes to the notion of a single, definitive source of truth. And yet, that is precisely what the Bible claims. It purports to be nothing less than a long-running monologue from God our Creator, in which he reveals his nature, his character, and his plan for the human race.

If, as some claim, the Bible is nothing more than a compilation of ancient books written by imperfect people, we might wish to include it as one of many sources dealing with moral, ethical behavior, but we in no way want to ascribe to it the status of revealed truth from God. If the Bible at best represents nothing more than man's hopes and desires concerning God, then obviously it can never take us beyond our own limited human perspective. On the other hand, if the Bible truly is God's book, then to ignore it is to live foolishly indeed.

Inspiration

The question of the Bible's authorship centers on the notion of inspiration, which here can be defined as God's Holy Spirit moving upon the authors of the Bible in such a way that they wrote exactly what he wanted written, the end result being authoritative, trustworthy, and saving knowledge intended both for their immediate audience and for the world at large. [ref] Because the Bible is inspired by God, we can rightly and confidently claim that to read it is to read the very words of God. [ref] When we unpack the meaning of inspiration, we find three highly significant truth claims: 1) God revealed specific truths to the writers of the Bible and supernaturally guided them as they recorded those truths. 2) This process of guidance ensured that each of the 66 books of the Bible was without human error at the time it was originally recorded. 3) The truths recorded are dynamic and active, conveying God's message of his love for his creation, the steps he has taken to redeem that creation, and what we must do to secure the salvation he offers.

Nowhere within the Bible do we read, "This book is the inspired Word of God." Rather, time and again the Bible depicts God's communicating with and/or guiding its writers. "God says" is a major theme found throughout the entire Bible. When we combine both direct quotations and indirect references, we find that there are nearly 4,000 such instances.[ref]

Just as the Bible makes no argument for the existence of God, likewise it makes no argument for its own inspiration. The Bible's claiming that God is alive, real and active would be tantamount to an autobiography's claim that its author is alive, real, and active. Likewise the Bible's claiming that the words within its pages represent God's thoughts would be like claiming that the words in a book represent the thoughts of its author. Both are self-evident truths.

The Bible is not the story of how human beings discovered the truth about God. Rather, Scripture is the means through which God revealed - and continues to reveal - himself to humankind. Since the Bible does contain truth not readily available to the world at large, it is its own best witness. Thus we must allow it to speak for itself if we are to gain an accurate understanding of how it came to us.

Revealed Truths

Of the Bible's many self-revealed truths concerning the process of God's communicating with people, at least five are of special relevance here:

God spoke to and through people, and they relayed his truth to others.
God's Holy Spirit played a crucial role in the conveyance of God's truth.
Jesus demonstrated complete trust in the Scriptures.
The apostle Paul presents Scripture as being synonymous with God.
The apostles claimed both divine origin for their teachings and divinely-appointed authority for themselves.

Truth #1: God spoke to and through people, and they relayed his truth to others.

God spoke to Noah and told him to build an ark in preparation for his flood of judgment against the world (Genesis 6:13-14). Noah's obedient faith condemned a lost and unbelieving world (Hebrews 11:7), and he was later called "a preacher of righteousness" (2 Peter 2:5).
God spoke to Abram/Abraham, directing him to leave his homeland and promising to make of him a greatly blessed and highly influential nation. "Now the LORD said to Abram, 'Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.'" (Genesis 12:1-3).
On his deathbed, King David testified that, "The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, And His word was on my tongue." (2 Samuel 23:2).
Recounting his commission by God, the prophet Jeremiah said: "Then the LORD stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me, 'Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To pluck up and to break down, To destroy and to overthrow, To build and to plant.'" (Jeremiah 1:9-10).
Ezekiel likewise was given God's message. "(On the fifth of the month in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's exile, the word of the LORD came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there the hand of the LORD came upon him.)" (Ezekiel 1:2-3).
Following Israel's exile to Assyria, she was reminded of how God had many times warned her to turn back to him. "Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer ... " (2 Kings 17:13).
Jesus Christ was God's Word housed in human flesh (John 1:14), and of course he spoke directly to both individuals and crowds of people, as he "was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people." (Matthew 4:23).
The writer to the Hebrews affirmed God's repeated revelations. "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, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world." (Hebrews 1:1-2).

Truth #2: God's Holy Spirit played a crucial role in the conveyance of God's truth.

The prophet Nehemiah testified as to how it was God's Spirit working in and through the prophets to warn Israel: "'However, You bore with them for many years, And admonished them by Your Spirit through Your prophets ... '" (Nehemiah 9:30).
Likewise the prophet Zechariah said: "They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets ... " (Zechariah 7:12).
Jesus said that the Holy Spirit had spoken through King David. "'David himself said in the Holy Spirit ... '" (Mark 12:36).
Jesus also said that the Holy Spirit, having come upon the church, would "guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak ... " (John 16:13).
The apostle Paul testified that it was the Holy Spirit who gave authority to the teachings of the apostles. "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" (1 Corinthians 2:12-13).

Truth #3: Jesus demonstrated complete trust in the Scriptures.

During his earthly ministry, Jesus time and again quoted from the Bible of his day, the Old Testament (OT). At the start of Jesus' ministry, Satan tempted him to forego the cross and claim his glory through illegitimate means. Three times Satan twisted Scripture in an attempt to make Jesus sin. Each time, however, Jesus used the Bible's truths to gain the victory over Satan (see Matthew 4:1-11).
When Jesus announced the beginning of his ministry, he did so by quoting the prophet Isaiah concerning the good news and freedom from oppression. Then he declared that, "'Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing'" (Luke 4:21).
Jesus proclaimed the authority of the OT writings: "'Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven'" (Matthew 5:17-19).
Jesus defended, taught, and debated using quotations from the OT Scriptures. For example: he rebuked Satan by quoting from Deuteronomy 6:13, 16; 8:3 (see Matthew 4:4, 7, 10); he taught on divorce by quoting from Genesis 1:27; 2:24 (see Matthew 19:4, 5); he taught on the topic of marriage at the resurrection by quoting from Exodus 3:6 (see Matthew 22:32); and he taught about his own Lordship by quoting from Psalms 110:1 (see Matthew 22:44).

Truth #4: The apostle Paul presents Scripture as being synonymous with God.

"For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 'FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH'" (Romans 9:17).
"The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, 'ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.'" (Galatians 3:8).
"But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." (Galatians 3:22).

Truth #5: The apostles claimed both divine origin for their teachings and divinely-appointed authority for themselves.

"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" (1 Corinthians 2:13).

Writing to the Christians in Galatia, the apostle Paul claims that "For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ." (Galatians 1:11-12).

In his letters to the Thessalonians, Paul claims divine authority for the gospel, and the apostles' commands and "tradition" (oral instruction later committed to writing [ref]): "For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God ... For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 2:13; 4:2). "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us" (2 Thessalonians 3:6).

In his first epistle, John asserts, "We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." (1 John 4:6).

In his second epistle, Peter calls his readers to "... remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles." (2 Peter 3:2).

And Peter equates Paul's writings with Scripture: " ... [Paul's] letters ... also the rest of the Scriptures ... " (2 Peter 3:16).

Pivotal Passages

Having made these observations, we now turn our attention to two important New Testament (NT) passages related to the Bible's inspiration.

2 Timothy 3:16

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness."

Charles Ryrie notes how within this single verse we find the extent, means, and purpose of inspiration: extent = "All Scripture," meaning the entire Bible; means = "inspired by God," meaning God is its author; and purpose = "profitable," meaning it is intended to be used. In other words, the entire Bible was given to us by God so that we can know how to live the best life possible. [ref] Because the Bible does come from God, it has much to say regarding the righteous life to which God calls us. As Warren Wiersbe puts it, the Bible is intended to help us know both what is right ("teaching") and what is not right ("reproof"), how to get right ("correction"), and how to stay right ("training in righteousness"). [ref]

While this verse may apply primarily to the OT, the NT writings are also Scripture and hence also included in Paul's statement. Jesus not only spoke with supreme authority as God-in-the-flesh, but he elected representatives (the apostles) to take his teachings far and wide, and he promised them further, direct teaching from God's Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 16:13). [ref] It should come as no surprise, then, that the apostles saw their inspired writings as being on the same level as the OT.

2 Peter 1:20-21

"But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."

The apostle Peter is writing to warn his readers against complacency and heresy. He transitions to the topic of false teachers by asserting that Scripture is true and reliable. Peter makes the point that although men were involved in delivering God's message, they did so under his direct supervision. Thus what they spoke and wrote was God's infallible truth, not their own interpretation of that truth.

Means and Purpose

Taken together, 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:20-21 confirm several truths concerning the means and purpose of inspiration: God used his Holy Spirit to inspire men to record the Bible; the Bible carries God's authority; the Bible is inerrant and infallible; and the Bible shows us what God desires of us.

God Inspired Men

God used his Holy Spirit to inspire men to record the Bible. Concerning "prophecy of Scripture," 2 Peter 1:21 says that "men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." The word "moved" translates the Greek phero, which means "to bear or carry something from one place to another." [ref] It occurs more than 60 times in the NT, 15 times in Mark's gospel alone. Most often, phero is used to describe the bearing or carrying of a person or object. Such is its meaning, for example, in Acts 27, where Paul recounts the details of his being shipwrecked on the way to Rome. "And when the ship was caught in it, and could not face the wind, we gave way to it, and let ourselves be driven (phero) along" (Acts 27:15). Peter's point is that human beings were the instruments God chose, and they proclaimed his truths as a result of being borne or carried along by his Holy Spirit.

One source has compared the process of inspiration to the work of the Holy Spirit in impregnating Mary. [ref] Although Mary was a sinful human being, she would give birth to "the holy Child ... the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). How was such a thing possible? As the angel explained to Mary, "'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow (episkiazo) you'" (Luke 1:35). This "overshadowing" of Mary harkens back to the OT's use of "cloud imagery" to depict God's presence and power. [ref] The very same term (episkiazo) is used by Matthew, Mark and Luke in describing God's presence during Christ's transfiguration (Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:34). In a similar fashion, "the power of the Most High" overshadowed the less-than-perfect writers of Scripture such that the end result was God's perfect Word, the Holy Bible.