Inspiration

This and the following blog on inerrancy will be writings in defense of the Word of God as being both inspired and inerrant. This week’s study (even though it is abbreviated, it is a little longer than usual; I hope you will hang with me) will focus on the doctrine of inspiration. “Doctrine” comes from the Latin doctrina, meaning teaching, instruction, learning, knowledge. Recognizing that “doctrine” has a wide semantical range (i.e., there are many synonymous terms), and some may argue that “belief” would be a better choice, I feel confident in saying most all Christians would agree biblically speaking, “doctrine” means truth.

It should be understood at the start that I am not putting forth a theory of my own; far from it. Rather, I am defending a doctrine of the Bible. Inspiration is not what I say; inspiration is what God said in the Bible:

ESV 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Please note the opening words, “all Scripture.” In spite of the direct clarity of these words, people, pastors and teachers, and even renowned scholars persist in claiming that the human writers of the sixty-six books of the Bible were also inspired. Such a position is regrettably wrong and misleading. Certainly, it must be recognized that it is not incorrect to say that the Bible was written by both God and man, so long as it is clear that “”dual authorship” presupposes God wrote the Bible through human authors, using their personalities and backgrounds as they suited His purposes. Second Timothy 3:16 and the other verses included in this writing unequivocally proclaim that “all Scripture,” and not the human authors, was inspired “by God.”

NLT 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

“The Bible is the Word of God in such a way that when the Bible speaks, Good speaks.” –B.B. Warfield

Many would therefore ask what the problem is? If God said it, doesn’t that settle it? But, as incredible and, some may say, arrogant as it may sound, more than a few people, including professing Christians, do not accept this truth. Many liberals believe that the Bible is not the Word of God but only contains the Word of God. Not only is this speculative, but it begs the question who then decides which words are inspired and which are not? Whenever the words of Scripture are ignored, twisted, or undervalued, the supernatural power they contain is diminished.

“Inspiration” obviously must be defined. Biblical inspiration is different than the way the word is often used in society today, usually to refer to something of surpassing excellence. “Inspiration” comes from the Greek word θεόπνευστος (thee-ah-pe-neus-tos), which literally means God- breathed. Interestingly, this special word only appears this once in all of the New Testament. In our English dictionaries, “inspiration,” when it refers to respiration, is defined as in-breathing, the act of inhaling, but the Greek word in context carries the opposite meaning: out-breathing.  The Scriptures were not breathed in by God, they were breathed out. Friberg, the writer of an outstanding Greek lexicon, defines θεόπνευστος as pertaining to “communication that has been ordained by God’s authority and produced by the enabling of his Spirit; strictly God-breathed; hence divinely inspired, inspired by God.”

A good inclusive theological definition of inspiration is the following by Zuck (Biblical Interpretation): “Inspiration… is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit whereby He guided and superintended the writers of Scripture so that what they wrote is the word of God. This breathing into the writings, or superintending over the writings, was an act both verbal and plenary. It was verbal in that the Holy Spirit guided in the choice of words, which cannot be separated from thoughts. The Bible’s inspiration was also plenary in that it extended to every portion of the Bible. As a result it is infallible in truth and final in authority.… Because of its divine origin and nature, the Bible in its original writings was without error.” Next week we will look at the logical consequence of inspiration: inerrancy.

Chafer rightly states in his Systematic Theology, “Regarding the Scriptures and plenary, verbal inspiration, it may be said that no other explanation has been the belief of the church from the beginning.… No progress has ever been made in formulating doctrine from the Bible when men have doubted the inspiration of the Scriptures in all its parts.”

“Revelation” is another word that must be understood in this discussion of inspiration. I again quote from Zuck: “The Bible is revelation (not only a record of revelation), and inspiration is the act whereby God put the revealed truths into infallible written form. Revelation is the communication of truth which would not otherwise be known, whereas inspiration is the process whereby this information is presented accurately in written languages” (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek – TAR). It is by inspiration, as Chafer notes, that revelation finds infallible expression.

One more key word is “illumination.” Illumination has to do with the work of the Holy Spirit. It could rightly be said that inspiration, revelation, and illumination all are works of the Holy Spirit. Thomas writes in Evangelical Hermeneutics concerning illumination, “Divine revelation and inspiration lie behind the writings of Scripture, and divine illumination functions in connection with man’s ability to understand what is written.”

Every Christian should be aware that in a single short passage, all three of these important theological words are found and distinguished from one another (parentheses added below):

ESV 1 Corinthians 2:9-13 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”– 10 these things God has revealed (revelation) to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand (illumination) the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit (inspiration), interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

Of the three Persons of the Trinity, it is the third Person, the Holy Spirit, who most rightly should be seen as the author of Scripture. That Scripture did not originate with men, but with God is again unmistakably shown form another verse, 2 Peter 1:21 where he Holy Spirit is identified the divine Agent of prophecy. This strategic verse, a corollary or counterpart to 2 Timothy 3:16, underscores the human reception only of divine inspiration:

ESV 2 Peter 1:21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Yet, this verse also supports the legitimacy of “dual authorship.” Man did indeed play a crucial role in the transmission of revelation, though not as its originator. While it is, as noted above, incorrect to hold that the human authors were inspired, 1 Peter 1:21 shows that they were moved or borne along by the Holy Spirt, as a ship might be by the wind (“carried along” is the Greek word φέρω (fe-ro), which the BDAG lexicon contextually defines, “to cause to follow a certain course in direction or conduct, move out of position, drive, the pass-(ive – TAR) can be variously rendered: be moved, be driven, let oneself be moved.”

With 2 Peter 1:21 in mind, a brief discussion of a question regularly posed by those who for one reason or another have a problem with simply accepting the biblical doctrine of inspiration. The question has to do with the alleged errors in Scripture: “How can the Bible claim to God- breathed and inerrant when there are obvious errors?” the argument goes. Although it must be acknowledged that this is a reasonable question, it should be quickly answered with the assured, scientific response that the vast majority of these so-called “errors” can be satisfactorily explained, mainly through textual criticism. Textual criticism may be defined as the study of the copies of a written composition where the original is not in known existence. If the autograph was present, there would be no need for textual criticism.

Textual criticism is a wide and complex subject and will be the focus of a future blog, but for now, the following can briefly be said about it. When textual criticism is properly administered, it may objectively be concluded that the vast majority of the alleged errors are not errors at all but merely differences in spelling and style in the original languages. “Variants” is an exceedingly more accurate word than “errors.” A variant is a difference in an ancient manuscript due to unintentional or intentional mistakes of the scribes copying the manuscript. Intentional errors surely will cause some eyebrows to rise. “Intentional errors,” when studied, are revealed as corrections by scribes of previous scribes, corrections the like of minor additions for clarity, such as historical details. In no way in any of these variants is the truth of Scripture compromised.

Textual scholars have estimated that the N.T. is approximately 99.5% textually pure. The great Greek scholar A.T. Robertson is on record as saying that the real concern of textual criticism is of a thousandth part of the entire work.

Geisler & Nix, in their acclaimed A General Introduction to the Bible, say, “Westcott and Hort estimated that only about one-eighth of all the variants had any weight, as most of them are merely mechanical matters such as spelling or style. On the whole, then, only about one-sixtieth rise above ‘trivialities,’ or in any sense can be called ‘substantial variations.’” I would argue that when context is carefully studied, even those “substantial variations” are shown to be insignificant, in that they alter nothing of the orthodox message of the Bible.

It should here be emphasized that the Bible is the most important manuscript known to man and that the New Testament is the most authenticated piece of literature in existence. Sadly, these two facts are rarely present in the arguments of the critics of inspiration and inerrancy.

Another determinative question arises as soon as someone doubts the easily understandable words of 2 Timothy 3:16. If Paul’s counsel to Timothy is not accepted as final truth, then several erroneous norms are automatically put forth, all of which elevate man and diminish the Word of God. If the Word of God alone is not believed sufficient, then these alternatives are dogmatically claimed by naysayers to be valid: experience (which would include emotion), tradition (including church history or authority, a position held by the Catholic Church), or philosophy (defined here in the negative sense of human knowledge being assumed superior to God). When Scripture is rejected as being less than the revealed will of God, the door is wide open for practically any substitution put forth by man.

In this argument for the legitimacy of inspiration I do not at all wish to appear as glib or unkind. Having studied and taught Hebrew and Greek and biblical theology for almost four decades, I am acutely aware of the real challenges we all – believers and unbelievers alike – face in trying to figure out the deep and complicated things of God. Certainly, I thank God that the message of salvation is simple enough to be grasped by children, but the fact remains that God and His Word are the deepest subjects imaginable. A child can swim on the surface of an ocean thousands of feet deep.

On the basis of what has been presented above, it is not difficult to see that 2 Timothy 3:16 is nothing less than a theological fork in the road for all Christians. Without either trivializing or exaggerating the choices, one direction leads to acceptance of God authority over one’s life and the other does not. In the former, the reality is absolute, unconditional, and eternal; in the later, it is relative, conditional, and temporal. In the former, God is the judge; in the latter, man is the judge.

I think you can see that it all comes down to whether or not you believe the Bible is the Word of God. There is a mountain of reliable evidence to support a positive response to God’s revelation and but a molehill of negative opposition that could even remotely be considered to be justifiable. In seriously pondering the question of why some people rebel at the idea of the Scripture actually being the inspired Word of God Almighty, I have come to believe the answer may be found in the word “authority.” It is my studied belief that doubters of inspiration tacitly recognize admitting to inspiration means submitting to the Bible’s authority.

Often when I preached, in the momentary aftermath of a particularly exquisite observation drawn from Scripture about the Lord Jesus, I would pause and rhetorically remark, “How could anyone ever deny the most loving, forgiving, incredible Being who ever lived?” I believe the answer lies in the word “authority.” Just as acknowledging the truth of inspiration means you must come under the authority of God’s Word, so comprehending coming to Jesus by faith means He becomes Lord over your life (not an endorsement of “Lordship Salvation”). To put it mildly, the idea of relinquishing control of your life to God is not an easy thing to do for most people.

That 2 Timothy 3:16 is a major verse in the Bible can hardly be denied. I believe that fact is underscored by v. 17:

ESV  2 Timothy 3:17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

I often say to my Greek students that it is possible the most revealing word in the N.T. is the Greek subordinate conjunction ἵνα (hee-na), which is used to introduce a subordinate clause. ἵνα means “that,” “in order that,” or “for the purpose that.” Second Timothy 3:17 is a purpose clause introduced by the subordinate conjunction ἵνα. Verse 17, therefore, gives the purpose or reason for v. 16. It could be rightly said that the purpose of inspiration is “that the man of God may be complete (or adequate or capable), equipped for every good work.”

Without the inspired Word of God, the believer is highly unlikely to be equipped for the work of God. Even though some will surely disagree, I would suggest that without belief in the Scriptures being inspired, being truly God’s Word, it is all but impossible to know God. Apart from the objective truth of God, man is left to subjectively determine “truth” through experience and emotion.

In one of the scenes from the Academy Award winning movie, “Revenant,” Tom Hardy is loosely talking about someone who claimed to have had a mystical encounter with God. “Turns out God is a squirrel,” Hardy says.

Now, I know that is comical, and I also know some might criticize me for including such an absurd, even questionable illustration in a study on a serious biblical doctrine as inspiration, but in spite of these possible negatives, I ask you consider it the perfect setup for a profound conclusive point. The point is this: How do we know God is not a squirrel, or anything else contrary to Scripture someone wants to say he – or she – is? We know because of the holy Scriptures, the revealed, inerrant, and inspired Word of God. We cannot know for sure from feeling or experience, or dreams and visions (Hebrews 1:1-3). The Bible is the only way we can know for sure. The Bible is the only trustworthy source for godly matters. We must believe it is inspired.

NKJ  John 17:17 “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”

– Professor Thomas A. Rohm