THE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION

Biblical Descriptions of Inspiration

2 Timothy 3:16 NASB

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for

reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;…”

“For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets,

though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the

Holy Spirit.”

2 Peter 1:21 NIV

So in literal biblical terminology, inspiration is the process by which Spirit-moved writers recorded God-breathed writings.

Hence, when inspiration is viewed as a total process, it includes both the writer and the writings, but when it is seen as a product (as in 2 Timothy 3:16), it relates only to the writings (graphe).

The whole process of inspiration begins with

the matter of divine revelation

Theological Definition of Inspiration

God’s Causality The prime mover in inspiration is God In other words, God moved and the prophet

mouthed these truths; God revealed and man recorded His word.

The Bible is God’s word in the sense that it originates with Him and is authorized by Him, even though it is articulated by men.

The Prophetic Agency The prophet played an important role in the overall process of inspiration; he was the means through which God spoke. The Word of God was written by men of God. In inspiration, then, God is the efficient cause, and the prophets are the instrumental causes.

“By it [inspiration], the Spirit of God, flowing confluently with the providentially and graciously determined work of men, spontaneously producing under the Divine directions the writings appointed them, gives the product a Divine quality unattainable by human powers alone”

B.B. Warfield, “Inspiration and Authority of the Bible”

Scriptural Authority It is the final product of God’s causality

and the Prophetic agency – a divinely authoritative book.

The cause of the inspiration is God, the means is the men of God and the end result is the word of God in the

language of men.

OUR WORKING DEFINITION

Inspiration is that mysterious process by which the divine causality worked through the human prophets without destroying their individual personalities and styles, to produce divinely authoritative writings.

Inspiration as distinguished from

Revelation and Illumination

Revelation concerns the origin and giving of truth

The Hebrew word for revelation, “galah” which means “to uncover” and the Greek word,

“apocalypto”, meaning “to unveil” both refer to a DIVINE DISCLOSURE. It may be a disclosure of the person (Christ) or propositions (Scriptures) but in the ultimate sense, only God can give a revelation or disclosure of truth.

Inspiration relates to the reception and recording of truth

Inspiration is the means God used to achieve His revelation in the Bible. It involves man in an active sense, whereas revelation is solely the activity of God. Inspiration then includes both the person of the

prophet and the product of his pen.

Illumination focuses on the apprehension and understanding of truth

Whereas revelation is an objective disclosure and inspiration is a subjective discovery of the truth God is communicating, illumination emphasizes the apprehension and understanding of truth. In revelation God unveils, in illumination man

understands it, but both are acts of God.

The Three necessary links in the chain “from God to us”

Revelation is the act of divine communication Inspiration is the means of divine communication Illumination is the gift of understanding

that divine communication.

Inspiration Discussed

What is inspired, the writer or his writings?

It must be held that the person as well as his pen is under the direction of the Holy Spirit in the total process of inspiration. Nevertheless, the New Testament reserves the word “inspiration” only for the product of that process, that is the writings or ‘graphe’ (2 Tim. 3:16).

TWO EXTREMES TO AVOID Every translation is inspired in the same sense as the original. Only the autographs are inspired, not the translations.

What is inspired, the Autographs or the copies?

Textual Criticism – also called “lower criticism”. It is the attempt to ascertain the original wording of the text.

Two kinds of errors in copying1. Unintentional errors

A. Errors of the eye (Romans 6:5)B. Errors of the ear (Revelations 1:5)

2. Intentional errorsA. Harmonization (Luke 23:38)B. Doctrinal consideration (Mk. 9:29)

Alexandrian Family

Western Family

Syrian/Byzantine

Family

Caesarian Family

Egypt Codex Semiticus Vaticanus NIV, NASB Very reliable Too little intentional errors

North Africa /Western Europe Omission, insertion For personal agenda Intentional errors

Antioch Syria Harmonization and other intentional errors Used by KJV

Philippi Lacks changes found in Western texts Reliable also

While the autographs were actually inspired, good copies are virtually inspired

It must be asserted that a good copy or translation of the autographs is ‘for all practical purposes’ the inspired word of God.

Meaning, good copies captured the full message of God.

Inspiration merely vouches for the truth of the record, no matter how valuable that particular record may be to the

individual’s edification or even to the overall picture of redemption. The Bible is a record completely true in the

context for which God intended it.

How much of the autographs is inspired?

THEORIES OF INSPIRATION

The Liberal Views:The Bible contains the

Word of God

The Right Wing:The Illumination View

Illumination view of inspiration claim that scripture contains the noble insights of great people of faith. It equates

illumination to inspiration. It claim divine inspiration for only certain

portions of the Bible that the writers could not have known naturally.

This view holds that the writers were inspired only in the sense that from time to time their natural religious insight and genius were deepened and heightened to discover “divine truths”.

It is human intuition rather than divine revelation.

The Left Wing:The Intuition View

Objections to the Liberal Views Man is the most active, if not the only agent actively involved in the process of the discovery of divine truth. It makes human reason or feeling the final judge of determining which part of the Bible is divine and which part is human. It is not biblical. It neglects what the Bible says

about itself.

The Neo-Orthodox Views:The Bible becomes the

Word of God

The Bible as a means of a personal encounter by God with man in an act of revelation and the meaningless ink blots on the pages leap from the Bible to speak concretely and meaningfully. At this “moment of meaning”, the Bible becomes the word of God to the individual.

The Right Wing:The Existential View

This view holds that the Bible must be stripped and divested of religious myth in order to get at the real message of God’s self-giving love in Christ. Hence, the Bible becomes a revelation when proper demythological interpretation is done.

The Left Wing:The Demythologizing View

The Neo-Orthodox View, like the Liberal View, is naturalistic. It sets aside the supernatural nature of the Bible.

The locus of revelation is too subjective. Depends on the human agent. It is certainly unbiblical. It failed to consider what the Bible said about itself. “God-breathed” writings.

Objections to the Neo-Orthodox Views

The Conservative Views:The Bible is the Word of

God

Every word of the Bible was given, according to this view, to the prophet who served as a secretary for the dictation of God. The illustration of Moses is sometimes cited as the modus operandi of inspiration (Exodus 24:4), which amount to mechanical dictation.

The Right Wing:The Verbal Dictation View

This view suggested that it is not the words but the thoughts or ideas that God inspired. To them, God gave the thought and the prophet

was ‘free’ to record it ‘in his own words.’ It explains the obvious personality and literary differences but maintain it to be God’s word because the message came from God.

The Left Wing:The Dynamic View

Verbal Dictation View It does not accord with what the Bible teaches that God used human agents not as passive receptors but as active contributors in its writing. It denies the presence of differences in personality, literary styles, etc. which are obvious in every book of the Bible.

Objections to the Conservative Views

Dynamic View It explains the Bible’s humanity but in so

doing weakens its divinity. The Verbal dictation deifies the human

aspect of the Bible while the Dynamic view humanizes the divine.

The Biblical View:The Verbal Plenary

Inspiration View

The alternative, and the one that is biblical, is that ALL THE WORDS (verbal) which are written are God-breathed (pasa graphe Theopneustos – 2 Tim. 3:16). God gave FULL (plenary) expression to His thought in the words of the biblical record. He guided in the very choice of the words used within the personality and the cultural complex of the writers so that, in some inscrutable manner, the Bible is the word of God while being the words of men.

EVIDENCES FOR THE INSPIRATION

OF THE BIBLE

Supporting claims for the inspiration of Old Testament books

1. The majority of the Old Testament books contain an explicit declaration that the book is inspired (Ex. 20:1, 32:16; Lev. 1:1)2. However, there are books in the Old Testament with no explicit claim of inspiration. (I & II Kings; Ezra; Nehemiah)3. Those books that lack a claim of inspiration are all still found in the three-fold division of the Old Testament, which includes the Law, Prophets, and the Writings.

4. The phrase “thus says the Lord”, or its equivalent is used over 400 times in the Old Testament.

5. Certain prophets bore witness to the inspired nature of earlier prophets and their writings (IIChron. 36:22; Ezra 1:1; Dan. 9:2)

6. New Testament references, which cite Old Testament passages and reference their authority (Matt. 19:4-5 quotes Genesis; James 4:6 quotes Proverbs 3:34.)

7. The Old Testament is referred to as the Word of God or Oracles of God (Jn. 10:35; Rom. 3:2)

Specific claims for the inspiration of New Testament books

1. Jesus promised that the New Testament writers would be instructed by the Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:26, 16:1302. Paul confirmed that the Holy Spirit had revealed the truth of God to him and other inspired authors, who recorded that truth using specific words (I Cor. 2:13)3. John is classed with the Old Testament prophets, and the book of Revelation is classed as a prophecy, inspired words of God (Rev. 22:9,18-19)

4. Peter recognized Paul’s writings as Scripture (II Pet. 3:16)

5. Verbal inspiration was accepted by the early church fathers, which acceptance largely continued until the rise of deism, rationalism, and higher criticism during the 17th-19th centuries AD.

6. In fact, it is estimated that the seven leading church fathers cited the New Testament as authoritative some 36,000 times.

External evidences for the inspiration of the Bible

1. Fulfilled prophecy.2. Confirmation of the text by archaeology.3. Preservation and restoration of the Biblical text; there is not a writing in ancient literature that enjoys such a wealth of textual attestation as the New Testament does.4. The Bible was written over a span of 1500 years, by men from every walk of life, living in different parts of the world, and yet has a completely consistent message.5. Believers that testify to the life-changing power of the Bible.