When we think of the word inspiration, this kind of idea might come to our minds. The idea of something or someone operating as a muse for a work of art or a course of action. We might think of famous artists who create new songs based on broken relationships or new relationships. If we are not careful, we can take that same thinking into our understanding of the inspiration of Scripture. When it comes to theology, and that is the direction of this new series, we can fall into dangerous ground when we don’t properly define terms. When it comes to inspiration, this refers to many things, including the authors of Scripture and the words of Scripture. We will first talk about the authors before we get to the proper definition of the term.
The Bible is a divine book
Our statement of faith begins in a similar manner of Scripture itself. In the beginning pages of Scripture, we see “In the beginning, God.” God is present and active. We read of him speaking the world into being. The word is powerful and active. The gospel of John begins a similar way, we see discussion of the Word and then that the word was made flesh. Jesus is the fullness of God’s self-disclosure. However, throughout the Scriptures, we also see indications of how God is guiding his people. This is through spokesman, like Moses and the prophets. More than 400 times, we read the phrase “thus says the Lord.” We also see instructions to write down specific words, and we have the benefit of the written Word. God tells Moses in Exodus 17:14 to “write this memorial in a book.” We later see him instruct Moses once again to write down certain words in Exodus 34:27.
The same thing is true of the prophets. Not only did they speak words from God, but were instructed to write God’s Word as well. Matthew 1:22 says, All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet[1]. And then goes on to quote from the book of Isaiah.
God’s Word is to be written, and the written word is to stand as an objective standard for the people of God.
Look at what we see in 2 Chronicles 34:21,
21 “Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book.”[2]
It’s not just a word that brings judgment, but one that brings life. As we see in Matthew 4:4, when Jesus responds to Satan with the written word of God, it tells about the nature of that word.
But he answered, “It is written,
“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
This is not contained only in the Old Testament, but we see the church quickly recognize the authoritative writings of the New Testament. Jesus told the disciples that he would send the Spirit to remind them and instruct them on what to write. Remember the words of John 14:25-26,
“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 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 have said to you.[3]
This is a promise to the disciples and to us. The Holy Spirit was at work calling to their mind the Words of Jesus so that we would have them recorded for us. As the book Evangelical Convictions puts it,
“That message was entrusted to the apostles of Christ, and through them it has come to us in the New Testament. This apostolic witness provides a sure foundation for the church (Eph. 2:20) and cannot be surpassed for it unerrringly testifies to God’s ultimate speech act, Jesus Christ.”[4]
This quote rightly reflects the Biblical tone of Hebrews 1:1-2
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.[5]
We also see Peter refer to Paul’s writings as Scripture in 2 Peter 3:15-16
15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
Perhaps my favorite understanding of the Bible as God’s Word to us is the way that Jesus uses it in Matthew 19.
4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
When we compare this to Genesis 2:24, what do we see? We don’t see God speaking anything. There are no quotes. What Jesus is saying, and what the church has understood this to mean throughout the generations, is that when Scripture speaks, God speaks.
Practical applications
The divine author gives unity to the book
One application of this truth is that the Bible has cohesion and unity. We can see themes develop throughout the pages of Scripture.
We can also use Scripture to interpret Scripture. The New Testament sheds new light on the Old Testament. Easier-to-understand passages can help us know what the more difficult ones are saying. This is what the reformers in the 16thcentury referred to as the analogy of faith. But the idea of Scripture interpreting Scripture or the overall cohesion of the Bible isn’t new to them.
The divine author gives greater weight to the book
We will talk about this in the weeks to come, but the fact that the Bible is a divine book gives it greater weight. It is not merely a human artifact but the very Word of God to us.
The Bible is a Human Book
Luke describes his authorship in Luke 1:1-4
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. [6]
When we think of books, there is something that every book has in common. It has an author. Perhaps this is obscured in the digital age of AI writing term papers. However, even the information that informs AI is sourced through human authors or other digital sources that are then sourced through human authors. Again, this might be a little complicated with modern texts or papers, but it’s very clear in ancient texts. There are those who write them. Scribes may be involved, and it is a process, but there is a human element at play. Sometimes we indeed read that the Bible was a result of direct dictation. God instructed exactly what to write. We see examples in Exodus 34:27 and Jeremiah 36:4. Or think about the letters to the churches in Revelation, where Jesus tells John “to the angel at the church of ______ write…” and John writes. But that’s not the typical way it is done. John Frame, in his excellent book on the Doctrine of the Word, says this,
The regular pattern, rather, is that God appointed the biblical writers to be prophets, apostles, or associates of the apostles, and those writers wrote what they chose to write. In their writing, their individual human qualities appear vividly. David writes in a very different way from Moses. Luke’s writing is very different in style from that of John, or of Paul. But…all of these very different writers were chosen by God to convey his personal word to the world.
The result of their writing is nothing less than the Word of God, the personal word of God to us. It is like dictation, because what Luke writes is exactly what God wants us to hear. It is like mechanical inspiration, because God is in full control of the process. But how unlike mechanical dictation it is! God’s dealings with Luke, for example, are person to person, as are all of God’s dealings with human beings. God uses Luke’s gifts as a historian and as a physician, his careful accuracy, and his association with Paul to add distinctive elements to Luke’s Gospel and the book of Acts.[7]
Herman Bavink and Abraham Kuyper call this organic inspiration. This, for them, gets at the idea of God using human authors.
[God used] differences of heredity, environment, upbringing, education, gifts, talents, styles, interests, and idiosyncrasies to reveal his word. These differences were not a barrier that God had to overcome. Rather, they were God’s chosen means of communicating with us. God’s Word is complex and nuanced, multiperspectival. God used the organic complexity of human persons and the diversities among persons to communicate the complexity of his own personal word. He used human persons to communicate with us in a fully personal way.[8]
This makes sense, doesn’t it? The Bible is the Word of God but the way this comes to us is also a way that God communicates to us. The sunset displays God’s glory and the beauty of the flowers and cascading waters. And the beauty of varied communication and personality within the Word of God.
Practical Implications
God uses diversity
Some of you may gravitate toward certain genres or human authors of Scripture more than others. If you are very analytical and theological, maybe you love the letters of Paul. Others may be fascinated with narrative or enveloped in poetry. Others say, “Just give me the practical – a Proverb a day is good for me.” It is excellent that Scripture relates to people of different personalities. The danger, though, is neglecting all that God has for you because certain aspects appeal more. This is actually one of the benefits of the local church. If we are left on our own, we might read sections of Scripture, listen to podcasts, or watch YouTube videos of people explaining those parts and then miss the full counsel that God has for us. So, do rejoice in the parts that readily appeal to you, but also don’t forget that all of it is for your good.
Understand the authors on their terms
If God being author brings unity to the Scriptures, human authors bring diversity. This means that we should seek to understand the authors and what they are communicating to the original audience. This is the first step in Bible study methods. It’s true that this cannot be separated from God’s authorship.
Every Word Is Inspired By God
When we think of the idea of the Bible being inspired, we must keep in mind the concepts that it is a divine book and a human book. Inspiration is the word that relates the two. One theologian described inspiration as the divine act creating an identity between a divine word and a human word. Our statement of faith says that the Bible is verbally inspired. Verbal simply refers to the words. Often, you might hear of “verbal plenary inspiration.” Plenary refers to all or every, and verbal words. So every word is inspired. Let’s read 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and 1 Peter 1:20-21, and then I will share an explanation of this from a book published by the EFCA, our association.
In a central passage on this theme, the Apostle Paul declares that “all Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Tim. 3:16). From this we speak of the Bible as “inspired” by God. Understood in the light of Paul’s statement, however, the emphasis is not so much on the inspiration of the writers as it is on the divine source of what is actually written. The focus is not on the process but on the product. All Scripture comes as if breathed out from the mouth of God…When we say that the Bible is a “verbally inspired” book, we mean that God has worked by his Holy Spirit through the instrumentality of the whole personality, life experiences and literary talents of its human authors to produce the very words that God desired to be written to reveal himself and his purposes to human beings. Peter describes this process as men speaking from God “as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:20-21; Heb. 3:7; cf. Jesus’ reference to David “speaking by the Holy Spirit” in Ps. 110 [Mark 12:36]). Apart from Peter’s description, we have no way of grasping the mysterious concurrence of God’s will working through the human will in producing this divine/human Word.[9]
Separating the Holy Spirit from the Word of God is, unfortunately, a common idea. In doing this, some say that the authors were inspired by ideas and then wrote them down. This places less emphasis on the specific words that are used and more on the general idea. The problem with this is twofold. First, it ignores the Biblical witness of inspiration. Second, it creates distance between the words of Scripture and the Holy Spirit. The traditional understanding is that the Holy Spirit gave us the very words that we need. This means that it is our job to understand these words correctly. Sometimes we confuse illumination and inspiration. Illumination is the work of God that helps us to submit to the teachings of Scripture and understand them spiritually. This is something that the Holy Spirit gives. And our interpretations of Scripture are not on the same level as Scripture itself.
The way that God communicates is not merely by ideas but by words. We see in Jeremiah 1:9, Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.[10] Or in Deuteronomy 18:18, “…I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.[11]” As you read through a Bible reading plan, pay attention to God giving words to say. The plural “words” implies not just the idea but the specific words.
Practical Implications
We can’t pit human authors and divine author against each other
One error is placing too much separation between the human and divine author in a way that pits them against each other. Some claim that Paul was merely a man of his time. This is not a new strategy. Some false teachers in the early church were ashamed of some of the brutality in the Old Testament, so they developed a strategy to find deeper, spiritual meanings in the Old Testament and discount the plain readings. I don’t want to discount that we can go deeper into the text, we can see how God brings themes throughout all the books of Scripture, we can see Jesus where maybe even the original audience wouldn’t have fully grasped it. But that does not discount the human author to the original audience. Think about it like the original Marvel Movies. Each were their own, sometimes even multiple movies for one character. But there were seeds that related to a bigger picture overall. That didn’t discount the original or render it null.
We have every word we need
We have just what we need. Linguist Kenneth Pike discusses an idea of the dimension of magnification. One theologian relates this to the Bible.
While God directs the writer to use particular words (precision) to express the idea, the idea itself may be quite general or quite specific…One cannot expect that the Bible will always display maximum magnification or a great deal of detail. It will, rather, express just that degree of detail or specificity that God intends, and, on that level of magnification, just that concept he intends. This accounts for the fact that sometimes Scripture is not as detailed as we might expect or desire. Indeed, there have been occasions when the Holy Spirit, to serve the purpose of a new situation, moved a Scripture writer to reexpress a concept on a more specific level than its original form.[12]
This chart from Millard Erickson can illustrate the degree of specificity.
Conclusion
Herman Bavinck offers a helpful concluding reflection for us to think about.
Inspiration alone would not yet make a writing into the word of God in a Scriptural sense. Even if a book on geography, say, was inspired from cover to cover and was literally dictated word-for-word, it would still not be “God-breathed” and “God-breathing” in the sense of 2 Timothy 3:16. Scripture is the word of God because the Holy Spirit testifies in it concerning Christ, because it has the Word-made-flesh as its matter and content. Form and content interpenetrate each other and are inseparable. But in order to paint a full-length portrait of this image of Christ, human sin and satanic lies in all their horror would have to be pictured as well. Shadows are needed in this portrait in order to bring out the light more brilliantly. Sin, also when it occurs in the biblical saints, must be called sin, and error may not be excused even in them. And as the revelation of God in Christ incorporates unrighteousness within itself as antithesis, so also it does not spurn to include elements of human weakness and human nature. Christ counted nothing human as alien to himself; and Scripture does not overlook even the most minor concerns of daily life (2 Tim. 4:13). Christianity is not antithetically opposed to that which is human but is its restoration and renewal.[13]
The Bible points us to the King of Kings. It shows us exactly what we need. Do you know Jesus? If not I hope that you can know Him through His revealed word.
The Scriptures are not only a record of redemption but are themselves the primary means of grace, through which the Spirit applies redemption to sinners in the present[14]
[1]The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 1:22.
[2]The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 2 Ch 34:21.
[3]The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 14:25–26.
Boonstra Babble 