We are continuing our study of Great Bible Doctrines. Tonight we are going to look at what the Bible has to say about its own inspiration, the Inspiration of the Scriptures.
The Bible teaches that our faith as Christians rests upon the authority of Jesus Christ. On one occasion, some Jews asked Jesus, “By what authority do You do the things You do, and Who gave You that authority?” Matthew 21, verse 23. [“Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are You doing these things? And Who gave You this authority?’”] While on that specific occasion Jesus didn’t directly answer His inquirers, at a later time, after His resurrection, He would claim all authority in Heaven and on the earth. In Matthew 28, verse 18, it says, “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.’”
On the Day of Pentecost, Peter, to some degree, claimed the authority of Jesus Christ when he addressed that crowd of Jews in the first Gospel sermon that was preached and declared, “God has made this Jesus, Whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ,” Acts 2, verse 36. [“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, Whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”]
Likewise, the Hebrew writer also stated the authority of Jesus for us today when he wrote these words: “God, Who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, Whom He has appointed heir of all things, through Whom also He made the worlds,” Hebrews 1, verses 1 and 2.
And as if this was not enough, there was the occasion at the transfiguration of Jesus, recorded by Matthew 17, verses 1 through 5. On that occasion, God’s voice boomed from Heaven and He declared in no uncertain terms, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” [Matthew 17:5] [“Now after six after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!’”]
On the occasion of the transfiguration, God left no doubt in anyone’s mind regarding Who was His spokesman or Who had authority. There was another thing demonstrated on the occasion of the transfiguration: Having those two great Old Testament characters there with Him showed Jesus’ superiority even over them! So Jesus is to be heard, He is to be listened to, and the things that He says need to be obeyed.
Well, Jesus is not around to speak to us directly today. In fact, He hasn’t been around on the earth for some 2,000 years. So how is it that we can hear Him today? How is it that we can observe that injunction of God Himself when He said, “Hear Him!”
As we saw in our study of the Holy Spirit over the past two weeks, Jesus had promised to send His Holy Spirit. In John 16, verse 13, we read, “However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all Truth; for He will not speak on His Own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” Now, of course, this was not directed at us, but these are Words of Jesus directed to His apostles, to those specially selected men, those whom He would send and who would carry on after His departure. Also, in John 14, verses 25 and 26, Jesus is speaking once again: “These things I have spoken to you while being present with 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 things that I said to you.” The Holy Spirit did come, just as Jesus promised, and those whom He inspired wrote down His words. Remember, the Holy Spirit would call to mind the things that Jesus had taught them. So, in effect, they were writing down those things that Jesus had shown them already.
Now, over in John 20, verses 30 and 31, we read,HimHiH“And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His Name.” This is illustrating and pointing out this “writing down,” those things being recorded. As John says, “these are written.”
Peter will say in 2 Peter, chapter 1, verses 3 and 4, that we have been given “All things that pertain to life and Godliness, through the knowledge of Him”—through the knowledge of Christ. And these things written down, these things recorded, all pertaining to life and to Godliness, were given by the inspiration of God. [“As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him Who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”]
And a very familiar text, 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verses 16 and 17: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Jude will say that these things were “once for all delivered,” thus, no other Scriptures are needed after the New Testament was completed in about 95 A.D. [Jude, verse 3: “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”]
Thus, there are warnings within the Scriptures which say that nothing should be added to, that nothing should be taken away, that the Scriptures should not be changed in any way. Some of those include Galatians, chapter 1, verses 6 through 10 [“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him Who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.”]; 2 John, verse 9 [“Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.”]; 1 Peter 4, verse 11 [“If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to Whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”]; John 12, verse 48 [“He who rejects Me, and does not receive My Words, has that which judges him?the Word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.”]; and Revelation 22, beginning with verse 18, “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
That is an overview of the authority of Jesus, and that authority being extended through the Holy Spirit to inspired writers who wrote down and recorded those things that Jesus had said, as well as other things that the Holy Spirit had revealed to them. They are contained for us in this book that we call the Bible. We should not—we must not alter it or change it in any fashion!
All that is well and good, but someone might say, “Okay, so what? What does all that mean?”
Let’s look first of all at the BIBLE’S CLAIM OF INSPIRATION. As we know and as we have seen, the Bible claims to be the inspired Word of God. If that claim is true, then I submit to you that it must be accepted as the final authority in religion today. If the Bible’s claim to be the inspired Word of God is true, then that’s all we need. We don’t need anything else. We don’t need any manuals, we don’t need any catechisms, we don’t need anything else to supplement—to go along with—the Word of God. On the other hand, if it is not true (and many claim that it is not true that the Bible is the inspired Word of God), then it ought to be rejected on its face, not partially accepted, not accepted in some areas and rejected in others. If it is not the inspired Word of God, then it ought to be rejected, along with other works of men. If it is not of God, then it must be of men.
Therefore, it is imperative that we be able to verify that the Bible is, in fact, the inspired Word of God. The word “inspired” comes from two Latin words: “in spiro”—“in” meaning “in” and “spiro” meaning “breath.” “In breath.” The word was translated into the Latin vulgate from the original Greek, the Greek word being “Theopneustos,” which is formed from two separate Greek words: “Theo” meaning “God,” and “pneo” meaning “to breathe.” Thus, the word “inspiration,” as we just read from 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16, literally means “God-breathed.”
Think about that. As we read the Scriptures, we often say it is God speaking to us. Some might ask, “How can that be?” Well, here it is. These Words are “God’s breath.” It is as if God’s breath is upon us. The action of speaking is the moving of air across our vocal cords. As we speak, we are exhaling air. Think about that image. The Words that we have in the Bible are God’s breath on us.
The word “inspiration” refers to the process by which the Scriptures were originally given through those who wrote the words down. Those were the apostles, the prophets, and others who were selected to write. They did this by the guidance and the direction of the Holy Spirit. This process of inspiration has all Truth originating with God, thus making Him the primary source of the Scriptures. If inspiration means “God breathed”—“God’s breath on us,” then indeed, He is the source of Truth.
Now this Truth was passed to men by the authority of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. As Peter wrote, “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved along by the Holy Spirit,” 2 Peter 1, verse 21. [“for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”] I like the way Bro. Hugo McCord translates that passage in his translation. He says, “For no prophecy was ever born by the will of man, but men being borne,” (that’s “b-o-r-n-e” or “carried”) “but men borne by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.“ Well that says it, doesn’t it? Listen again: “For no prophecy was ever born by the will of man, but men being borne by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
The Holy Spirit, then, guided these men to write down both the Old Testament as well as the New Testament Scriptures, Ephesians 3, verses 1 through 5 [“For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles—if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets…”]. And these Scriptures have been compiled into a collection of books that are called The Bible. So we are able to read, to study, to understand these writings, and, thereby, know the Will of God—know the Mind of God—have God’s breath on us.
This process of “inspiration” is easy to talk about, it is important to talk about it, and it’s important for us to understand as much as we can about it. But I submit to you that it is difficult for us to comprehend the exact “how.” The Bible tells us how it was done and describes the process to us: “inspiration”—“in breath”—“God’s breath.” But it does not reveal the exact way it was done or how it was accomplished.
Some would suggest that the Holy Spirit just took over the mind of the writer, that information was just assimilated into the mind directly and then it flowed out through the hand. Others might say that it was really a thoughtless process on the part of the writer because the Holy Spirit just guided that hand and it followed the direction of the Holy Spirit. Well, I’m not sure about that, but I think the process of inspiration is a little bit more subtle, and is more involved than just the Holy Spirit infusing His thoughts, word for word, into the writer’s mind, or the Holy Spirit seizing the writer’s hand.
The reason I say that is because, while he was guided and directed, while he was inspired of the Holy Spirit, the writer’s personality was still able to come through. His own writing style was able to come through. That’s one way that scholars believe that they can identify that Hebrews was written by the apostle Paul, because of the “style” of Paul’s writing and some of the phraseology that are common to the epistles that we know Paul wrote. Well, how could Paul have a style of his own if his hand had been seized and he was just following whatever the Holy Spirit directed him to do? With that in mind, don’t let me leave you with the impression that these men were on their own. Certainly not! I’m saying that the process is a very intricate one, and one that I don’t fully understand. Maybe you do. In some way, God’s Word was written down just exactly the way He wanted it to be written. But yet there was the ability on the part of the writer for his personality and style to come through.
Here’s something else people think about: The Holy Spirit just dumped all this knowledge into the mind of the writer and that was it. It was there! But think about the fact that Luke states in the first chapter of his Gospel that he had done his own investigation of what he was about to write. He had done some research, some “digging,” so to speak, Luke, chapter 1, verse 3 [“It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus.”] Even though that was the case, he still wasn’t on his own. He didn’t gather facts and then assimilate them and put them together as his own will. Whatever he found, whatever he did to confirm the information that he had been told (remember, he was not an eyewitness to the things that the others were), everything was completely accurate, done just perfectly, even though he had done his own investigation.
So the Bible, indeed, makes a claim to be inspired!
Now, there are some FALSE THEORIES OF INSPIRATION. There are some who would talk about a Natural Inspiration. That is the idea that the Bible writers, such men as Luke, or Paul, or whomever, were inspired indeed. But they were inspired in much the same manner as a poet, or a writer of literature, or maybe an artist. So this false theory is that those who wrote Holy Scripture were inspired in the same way as, let’s say, William Shakespeare, Robert Frost, Longfellow, and others.
Well this theory obviously contradicts the Bible’s claim that it comes from the Mind of God. This theory of Natural Inspiration would allow for human errors and inaccuracies, if this were the case. Those who are inspired in this Natural Inspiration are not inspired of God. The Bible claims that the writers who wrote the Scriptures were inspired.
Another False Theory of Inspiration is something called Degrees of Inspiration and, one that is very similar to that, Partial Inspiration. Degrees of Inspiration puts forth the theory that certain parts of the Bible are inspired to different degrees. In other words, maybe the words of Jesus are inspired, but the other words are not. So if you have a red-letter edition, then you can look and see that those words in red were inspired and all the others were not. Well, again, that’s in contradiction to what the Bible says. The Partial Inspiration suggests that only parts of the Bible are inspired. Now the challenge in either one of these theories is, who gets to decide what parts are inspired and what parts are not? I think that maybe a good bit of that is going on in this day and time. Maybe they don’t call it that, but in this sort of “cafeteria minded” world that we live in, a person says, “I’ll take this part, but I’ll reject that part.” The unspoken idea here is that some things are inspired, while others are not.
Also, there is the Inspired Concepts Theory. That theory is basically that God furnished the idea, the concept, and then He left the writers on their own, basically to develop that idea or concept. This theory would have an infallible God introducing an infallible thought and giving it to a fallible man with a fallible mind. What would the result of that be? It certainly would not be divinely inspired Scripture!
The last of these False Theories is the Illumination or Universal Christian Inspiration Theory. This comes from the Quakers’ idea of an inner-light being given to every believer making each person—each “Christian”—able to speak the words of the Spirit. Well, there is no basis for this in the Bible at all, but it seems that this is being practiced by many today because there are so many claiming to receive direct revelation from God. You commonly hear among a number of groups of people someone talking about the fact that he or she received a “word from God.” Well, it’s puzzling that God is so confused and so contradictory about the things that are revealed to so many people, if, in fact, that is what He is doing! We know that is not what He is doing!
TRUE INSPIRATION is called “Plenary Inspiration,” or “Full Verbal Inspiration.” “Plenary” means that every word in the Bible is inspired of God, as it was given originally, whether in the Hebrew language or in the Greek language. Of course, the Hebrew language was the language of the Old Testament; the Greek was the language of the New Testament. [See 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”]
Let’s now look at some INTERNAL EVIDENCES OF INSPIRATION. As we’ve already seen, the Bible claims to be inspired. Some, though, would perhaps take an attitude saying something like, “Well, that’s fine, the Bible makes that claim. But does that make it so?” Somebody said one time, “A piece of paper will lay still and let you write anything on it.” So, they could “just write anything” is the implication. But there are many things in and about the Bible which confirm its legitimacy beyond its own claims, and support its claims for inspiration.
Let’s consider, first, the unity and consistency of the Bible. Think about somewhere around 40 separate writers, writing over a period of 1,500 years, yet there is a unity and a consistency that is to be found from Genesis 1 all the way to Revelation 22. There are many who will claim inconsistencies in the Bible, but they have yet to show them. I was having a conversation with someone just the other evening about someone saying, “Well, the Bible is just full of contradictions,” and I said that my response to a person like that is first of all, “Have you read the Bible?” That’s question number one and most of the time that person who makes that claim is going to say, “Well, not so much.” Then my second question is, “Show me!” I have yet to have anyone show me the contradictions! People make those statements not knowing what they are talking about!
Second, the candor of the writers, their frankness in both presenting the good and the evil—“the good, the bad and the ugly”—supports its [the Bible’s] claims.
Third, the universality of the Bible confirms and supports its claims. The Bible is applicable at all times, and at all places, to all men of every age.
Fourth, the very nature of the Bible message excites interest and attracts people.
Fifth, the loftiness of the ethics of the Bible.
Sixth, the miracles of the Bible.
And seventh, fulfilled prophesy from the Old Testament, as well as historical events in the New Testament. This is perhaps one of the most convincing proofs, or supports, of the inspiration of the Bible. As we look at the Old Testament and then look at the New Testament, we see the fulfillment of prophesy, the things that were written hundreds of years beforehand then being fulfilled just as they were prophesied.
Then there are some EXTERNAL EVIDENCES for the one who is still skeptical about the inspiration of the Bible.
For example, in the area of geography, everything in the Bible, the terms, the locations, the elevations, all of those things have been found to be completely accurate. If the Bible speaks about the “terrain going down to a place”—it’s accurate! If the Bible says that “one place is at a higher elevation than another,” and so on, it’s accurate!
Scientific factsare all in agreement with known facts. Here again is another “old wife’s tale” that would say, “Well, you know, it has been proven over and over again by discoveries that the Bible is wrong—that it’s false,” and so on. Not true! There isn’t anything that has been developed or anything that has been found in the area of science that supports this “tale.” In fact, science and the Bible support one another! There are some brethren who do some good work in that area—men like Burt Thompson, and others.
The historical accuracy of the Bible is another example. People, places, and events mentioned in the Bible have been verified in history. There have been a number of cases over the years where people have made fun of, or pointed to, the name of a city, or to the name of a king, or to a particular race of people, and claimed that there was no evidence of their existence. So they would say, “See, the Bible is wrong.” Well, guess what? As discoveries are found, these things that are “non-existent” have been proven historically accurate again and again and again. There is something that is found to verify that there was a people named “this,” or a king whose name was “this” and he reigned at such and such a particular time. The Bible is right every time!
This also ties into the final example of archeology. Again, the Bible has been right each and every time!
In summary, God Himself has supreme authority, as Creator and Sustainer of the universe and of man, Acts 5:29 [“But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: ’We ought to obey God rather than men.’”].
God has placed His authority in others during the course of human history. Today He has given His Son, Jesus Christ, all authority in Heaven and on the earth, Hebrews 1:1-2 [“God, Who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, Whom He has appointed heir of all things, through Whom also He made the worlds,”]; Matthew 17:1-5 [“Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!’”]; Matthew 28:18-19 [“And Jesus came 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 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’”].
Christ claimed all authority from God, John 3:2 [“This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’” ] and John 3:14-18 [“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ‘He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the Only Begotten Son of God.’”].
Christ placed His Will in His last testament, the New Testament Scriptures. Those Scriptures were written down by inspiration to give us God’s Will, John 20:30-31 [“And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His Name.”].
The New Testament is a definite body of Truth, Jude 3 [“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”]. It is able to make anyone complete and full grown as a Christian, if one follows it, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 [“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”].
We will be judged by its words, Revelation 20:12 [“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”]; John 12:48 [“He who rejects Me, and does not receive My Words, has that which judges him?the Word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.”].
It is not to be changed in any way, Galatians 1:6-10 [“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him Who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.”]; Revelation 22:18-19 [“For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”].
This Word will last forever, 1 Peter 1:24-25 [“Because ‘All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the Word of the LORD endures forever.’ Now this is the Word which by the Gospel was preached to you.”]. It is inspired of God.
So, the Bible “claims” Inspiration. Indeed, it IS the Inspired Word of God—God’s breath upon us!