MEMORY VERSES: 1 Corinthians 10:11;
1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy
3:16-17
The Divine Inspiration of the Bible
The Bible was written by prophets that were chosen of God. They wrote the
words that God gave them. This is called “divine
inspiration.” Consider two major passages that teach this:
1 Timothy 3:13-17
This is the key passage on the inspiration of the Scriptures, and it teaches
many important truths.
a.
The Bible is set apart from all other books (2 Tim. 3:15). Here the
Scriptures are called “holy.” This means “set apart, different.” The Bible
alone is God’s divine Word to
mankind.
b.
The Bible is from God (“given by inspiration of God,”
2 Tim. 3:16). This verse literally says the Scriptures are God-breathed. Though written by men,
the Bible was breathed out by God. This is the Bible’s claim for itself. If it
contains mistakes and myths, it would
be proven to be a lie. When discussing its own inspiration the Scripture does not focus on the mechanics of inspiration but on the product. God
spoke in many diverse ways (by dreams, visions, angels, directly as on Mt. Sinai, etc.) but the result in all cases was
that the writings were divinely inspired.
c.
The Bible is from God in its entirety (“all
scripture,” 2 Tim. 3:16). All Scripture is said to have come from God. The word
for Scripture here, graphe, means
“writing” or “book.” This refers to “plenary inspiration,” which means full,
complete, entire.
d.
The Bible is from God in its smallest detail (2 Tim.
3:15). The word for Scripture here is gramma,
referring to a letter. Thus,
even the smallest
details of the Bible are from God. This is called “verbal inspiration.”
e.
The Bible is one book with an all-encompassing theme, which is salvation
in Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 3:15). The Bible is not just a group of disconnected
religious writings. It is a unified Book planned by God to reveal Himself, the
way of salvation, and His plan for the ages. Each part of the Bible has an
important place in the whole.
f.
The Bible can protect believers from error (2 Tim.
3:13-15). If the Bible contains myths, mistakes, and untrue claims concerning
authorship, miracles, and prophecies, it would not be absolutely authoritative
and would not provide protection from false teachings!
g.
The Bible is sufficient to make the Christian complete
and mature (2 Tim. 3:17). An imperfect, incomplete book could not produce
perfection, and since the Bible is able to make the man of God perfect it is
obvious that nothing else is needed.
The Scripture is thus the sole authority for faith and practice in the
individual believer’s life and in the church.
2 Peter 1:19-21
This is another major passage on the inspiration of the Bible.
a.
The Scripture is a light
shining in a dark place
(2 Pet. 1:19).
The dark place is
the world. Though containing some truth mixed with error, the world is
pictured as dark because man is not able to know spiritual truth without
revelation from God. The Bible is that revelation which is shining in the midst of the darkness.
b.
The Bible is not a product of man’s will (2 Pet.
1:21). Other books are products of the will of the human author, but not the
Bible. God chose certain men and moved in them to deliver His message. As the
Holy Spirit moved, the chosen men spoke and wrote the words of God.
c.
This passage explains the method whereby the Bible was
given. God used men, but He used them in such a way that what they wrote was
God’s Word. When the Bible touches on inspiration and revelation, it focuses on
God. We are told very little about the actual mechanism. The method of inspiration is an unrevealed mystery. It was
accomplished mysteriously by the Holy Spirit.
We are not supposed to worry about the method of inspiration; we are supposed to
believe God’s testimony that it happened and to exercise faith in the finished product,
the Bible. Modern scholars typically do just the opposite of this. They focus on man’s part rather than upon God’s. This is because most modern scholars do not
operate by the principle of faith. They are operating
by their own intellect and human scholarship. No man can know the perfect Word of God in this manner, for “without faith it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:6).
d.
The phrase “private interpretation” refers to the
writers of the Bible (2 Pet. 1:20). In the context, this refers to the giving
of revelation rather than to the understanding of it. The Bible writers did not
interpret God’s revelation to mankind through their own thinking; they were
given God’s revelation by the Holy Spirit. They did not always even understand
what they were writing (1 Peter 1:10-12).
The Canonization of the Bible
The canon of the Bible refers
to the authoritative list of the 66 books that
comprise the Old and New Testaments. The word canon means
“a reed,” referring to a
measuring stick. It describes the process of testing something by a set rule or standard.
The canonization of Scripture is something that must be accepted by faith,
because the historical record of exactly how it was accomplished does not exist. The God who
gave the Scripture led His people in determining which books to include.
The Old Testament was collected by the Jews. It was to the Jews that God assigned the task of preserving the Hebrew
Scripture (Romans 3:1-2). Even though they did not always obey the Scripture, the Jews held it
in reverence and believed that each jot and tittle was the inspired Word of
God. The Dead Sea Scrolls, which date to at least 100 years before Christ,
contained the same books
of the Old Testament that we have in our Bibles today. Every one of the 39
books were found in the Qumran caves except Esther, but we know that Esther was already included in the Jewish Canon.
The New Testament was collected
by the early churches. This process was led
by the Spirit of God. Jesus promised that the Spirit would guide the apostles
into all truth (John 16:13; 1 John
2:20). The early churches received the inspired writings as the Word of God.
See 1 Thessalonians 2:13.
Canonization was not the haphazard process that is described in most contemporary books on the history of the Bible. Though its exact history
is hidden behind the mists of time, we know by faith that the Spirit of
God guided the believers precisely in this matter.
By the second century we have evidence that the entire New Testament was
commonly recognized as Scripture by the believers. Even some modernistic
textual critics have concluded that the New Testament in its current 27-book
canon existed in Greek no later than the middle of the 2nd century. (See David Trobisch,
The First Edition of the New Testament, Oxford/New York: Oxford
University Press, 2000.) From the second century we have evidence that it was
customary for each church to have its own copy of the writings of the apostles
that they might read and preach from them. Justin Martyr, a preacher who lived
then, wrote, “And on the day called Sunday there is a meeting in one place of
those who live in cities or the country, and the memoirs of the apostles
or the writings of the prophets are read as long as time
permits. When the reader has finished,
the president in a discourse
urges and invites us to the imitation of
these noble things” (Justin Martyr, Apology).
(For more on inspiration and canonization see Faith vs. the Modern Bible Versions, which is available
from Way of Life Literature.)
REVIEW QUESTIONS ON THE BIBLE PART 2
1. What does "divine inspiration" mean?
2.
What verse teaches that all Scripture was given by inspiration from God?
3.
What does "given by inspiration of God" mean?
4.
What are four ways that God spoke His Word to men?
5.
What is the meaning of "plenary inspiration"?
6.
What is the meaning of "verbal inspiration"?
7.
What is the major theme of the Bible?
8. The Scripture is able to make the man of God ,
furnished unto good
works.
9.
The Scripture is the authority for faith and practice.
10. The Scripture is a shining in a place.
11. 2 Peter
1:20 says the Scripture is not "of any private interpretation." What
does this mean?
12. What does 2
Peter 1:21 mean when it says that the prophecy came not by the will of man?
13. What does the word "canon" refer to?
14. What passage says that God committed
the Old Testament to the Jews?
15. In what
verse did Jesus promise that the Holy Spirit would guide the apostles into all
truth?
16. What verse
says the church at Thessalonica received the epistle of Paul as the "word
of God"?
