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What does it mean to say that the Bible is "inspired"?

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Today, when we use the word “inspire” or “inspiration,” it has the idea of something challenging to the human heart. We speak of a person giving an “inspiring performance” or someone looking for “inspiration” to begin a new project.

Yet when we talk of the Bible being inspired, we are speaking of an entirely different matter. Though millions of books have been written through the ages, and many of them have inspired the human heart, there was only one book that has been written by divine inspiration or with divine authority: the Bible. In this sense of the term, “inspiration” means divinely given or divinely guided.

It Is A God-Breathed Work

We use the English word “inspiration” in the since of “divinely given” because of a verse in Second Timothy. The King James Version translates this verse.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness .
(2 Timothy 3:16)

“Inspiration” is a translation of the Greek word theopneustos. Theopneustos literally means “God-breathed.” This translation was derived from the Latin Vulgate Bible where the word inspiro is used in 2 Timothy 3:16 to translate the word theopneustos. The emphasis is that Scripture has been breathed out by God.

Inspiration May Not Be the Best Term

The term “inspiration” is an unfortunate term to use when talking about the Bible’s authority. The modern meaning of the word does not convey the idea of God’s divine authority.

The problem is that the term inspiration has taken upon itself a specific meaning in Christian circles based upon its continued usage for the last hundred years.

As we have noted, the proper English term is “God-breathed,” not inspiration. Because the word “inspiration” has been used for a long time to refer to the authority of Scripture we will still employ it, when necessary. However, we will put the word “divine” in front of it to emphasize that we are not speaking about inspiration in the normal sense of the term. At the same time we acknowledge that it is not the best term to use. It is much more proper to speak of the Bible’s divine authority the Bible being authoritative, the Bible being “God-breathed, or the Bible being, “God’s Words.”

How God Guided The Writing Of Scripture

God guided the writing of Scripture through the inward working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people whom He chose to infallibly write the books of the Bible. This guaranteed that the final result would be exactly what God intended. Thus, the Bible is the written Word of God to humanity, and, when originally written, was without error. It is the final authority for all matters of faith and practice.

There are several elements that need to be expanded upon.

1. Divine Inspiration Started With God

The divine inspiration of Scripture starts with God. The words of the Bible were not self-initiated by the writers. Peter wrote:

Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow
(1 Peter 1:10-11).

Sometimes the writers of Scripture did not understand all that God told them to write.

2. God Guided The Entire Process

God guided with the human authors of Scripture in the various things that they wrote or the sources that they used. The author was guided to go where God wanted him to go, not where he wanted to go. Thus the Spirit of God guaranteed the accuracy of every thing that was written. This process extended until the time the document was written. The divine author of Scripture is God the Holy Spirit. Exactly how this process worked is a mystery. Scripture asserts that this did happen without explaining exactly how it happened.

In addition, the Lord divinely selected the writers of Scripture – there was no volunteering for the job.

3. The Writers Composed The Text

While all Scripture is God-breathed, it is proper to say that the Bible is a book that is both human and divine. Its ultimate source is God the Holy Spirit, yet God used human instruments to compose the books. When one reads the Scriptures, it immediately becomes apparent that the various authors employed different writing styles and different vocabularies. This gives evidence of the human side of Scripture.

The writers of the Old and New Testament were not merely stenographers who mindlessly wrote what God dictated to them. Their own experiences and personalities were involved when the various books were being composed. Ultimately, however, the final result was supernaturally guided by God.

The Bible has all the features of a book written by human beings. However it also has features like no other book.

Therefore, it is proper to say that the divine inspiration of the Bible has its source in God but that human instruments were used in writing and recording God’s Word. This is the biblical teaching on the subject.

4. The Text Is Without Error

The Bible itself claims to be true regarding every thing that it records. Jesus said, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17).

The psalmist wrote, “The sum of Your word is truth; and every one of your righteous ordinances is everlasting” (Psalm 119:160).

The result of divine inspiration is that the Bible is the very Word of God. This includes the works, the ideas, and the specific vocabulary of Scripture. Therefore everything written in Scripture is correct—there are no errors of any kind since the ultimate source is God. This means that there are no errors of fact.

5. Only The Original Manuscripts Are Error-Free

The authority of Scripture only extends to the original manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments—it does not extend to any translations or any manuscript copies. Having said that, good translations of Scripture are, for all intents and purposes, the authoritative Word of God since they faithfully represent what the text says and means. The point here is that if an error is found in copying, or in some mistranslation in a particular version, it does not mean that the original was in error.

Inspiration Is Now Limited To Written Scripture

While divine Inspiration was both written and unwritten, today we only have the written part available to us. Scripture is that portion of divine revelation that God intended to be permanent and authoritative.

Summary

When the word “inspiration” is used in reference to the Bible it means more than “the Bible is inspiring literature.” It has the idea of God-breathed Scripture. This is the claim of Scripture itself; it is not something that humans have invented.

When we speak of the Bible being authoritative, it means that it is God’s accurate revelation of Himself to humanity. Though humans composed the various books of Scripture, the result was an error-free work in the original manuscripts. This is because all Scripture was God-breathed. God had His hand on the production in such a way that we can accept the entire Scripture as being trustworthy. Consequently, the Bible cannot be categorized with other literature that causes the human heart to be challenged or inspired.

It is much more than that. Scripture is God’s divine Word to humanity.

Comments

  1. I must strongly disagree with point 5 that only the original manuscripts are error-free. Not only did God inspire His Word, He also said He would preserve it.

    Psalm 12:6-7 “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.”

    Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

    If we say there can be errors in the Bible today, we say God’s promise to preserve His Word fell short. The Bible also becomes completely worthless, as we do not know what is of God and what is of man.

    Praise God that He both inspired and preserved His Word, such that the Bible is still holy today, 100% free of errors. We can trust it is still truth (John 17:17).

  2. Yeah, I have been taught that the KJV is the pure word of God.
    My question is If the KJV is pure? Why aren’t the names of God & Jesus correctly translated.
    For that matter i have never seen a version that does translate the names correctly. Note, no j sound in hebrew or greek?
    My conclusion is that God has preserved them. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us see John 1:14 also John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God
    I have never seen in God’s word where man has translated them perfectly. We are flawed even after being saved. Spirit & Soul saved not the flesh, Colossians 2:11-13
    I do believe however the KJV is the best translation for english speaking people. Jesus is the Word & The Father has preserved Him. Amen! I believe we will know The Word perfectly when we are face to face with him, or should i say my face on the ground in worship mode.

  3. Eric:

    There are many examples of changes from the original manuscripts committed by translators, for various reasons, i.e. to suit their particular dogma. I will give one: In the original manuscripts, the Name of the Father was written using the four Hebrew letters Yod Hay Waw Hay, also known as the Tetragrammaton almost 7,000 times. See the Dead Sea Scrolls. In English, you might see this spelling shown as YHWH and pronounced Yahweh or Yahuweh. Masoretic scribes starting around the 8th century began deleting The Name written in Holy Writ and substituting the NAME YHWH with the word Adon(ai) (Mighty One) to adhere to their belief that the Name should not be spoken because that could lead to a profane use of The Name, called the Ineffable Name doctrine. The King James religious scholar’s in turn translated The Name using titles God or LORD. This deletion is a blatant violation of The Word, as expressed in Exodus 20:7–“Thou shalt not bring the Name of YHWH your Elohim to vain emptiness; for YHWH will not hold him guiltless that brings His Name to vain emptiness.” And {Exodus 9:16}. His Holy Name, written almost 7,000 times in Holy Writ, was mistranslated to God or LORD.

    Because He instructs me in His Word to say His Name, to Profess His Name, I choose to Honor Him by doing so. Poor scriptural translations instruct me otherwise. Whom shall I follow, Father, or the traditions of men?

    If you study the Scriptures deep enough, asking to be lead by His Will, His Spirit, the scriptures will ALWAYS unerringly contradict that which is not true.

    His Word is also written in your Heart: Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10; 10:16. As you study His Word, as you pray to Him, Ask Him to quicken your spirit to His Truth. He will, Inerrantly, do so.

    Blessings,

    Kenneth

    Good References: Orthodox Jewish Bible; Aramaic English New Testament by Andrew Gabriel Roth.

  4. I agree completely with Eric. In Jeremiah 36:32, God preserves for us a story where the “original” was destroyed but the subsequent copy remained authoritative. “Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them”. Also, you have Joseph speaking to his brothers in Genesis 42…in that case, which was the “inspired” words…Joseph’s in Egyptian, the interpreter’s, or the Hebrew version of that conversation that Moses wrote? God promised and has preserved His Word through language and copy transitions.

    I also appreciate the work that went into this piece and I appreciate the work BLB has done to make so many resources available. I use BLB exclusively for all my study during the week to prepare for Sunday mornings. Thank you to the staff at BLB!