INSPIRATION

INSPIRATION — a technical term for the Holy Spirit’s supernatural guidance of those who received special revelation from God as they wrote the books of the Bible. The end result of this inspiration is that the Bible conveys the truths that God wanted His people to know and to communicate to the world.

The primary purpose of the Bible is to lead people to a personal relationship with God as Savior. But everything taught by the Bible on any subject is helpful and instructive for the complete Christian life (2 Tim. 3:16–17). Because Christianity relates to the real world, the Bible’s declarations about the earth and history are completely trustworthy.

Two terms often used in discussion of the inspiration of the Bible are “plenary” and “verbal.” “Plenary,” a term meaning full or complete, means that each book, chapter, and paragraph of the Bible is equally derived from God. “Verbal” inspiration emphasizes the truth that the wording of the text, as well as the ideas conveyed, is supernaturally inspired by God through the Holy Spirit.

“Inerrancy” is a term used along with plenary verbal inspiration to convey the view that the Bible’s teaching is true on everything of which it speaks. The words of Scripture, in the original writings, teach the truth without any admixture of error. The Bible is not just a useful body of human ideas. It makes clear the mind of God Himself.

“Infallibility” is a term often used as a synonym for inerrancy. However, the root meaning of infallibility is “not liable to fail in achieving its purpose.” Truth, or inerrancy, is affirmed of the content of the Bible; infallibility refers to the effectiveness of the wording in conveying reliable ideas, as well as the effectiveness of those ideas when used by the all-powerful Holy Spirit (Is. 55:11).

Important as biblical infallibility is, it is not enough without inerrancy. The reason why the Spirit can use Scripture so effectively is that He directed its production from the beginning so that all of it is God’s reliable information.

Inspiration, then, is a statement about God’s greatness. God is intelligent and able to communicate with human beings, whom He created in His image. God knows everything about all reality in creation and is absolutely faithful and true (Rev. 3:7; 21:5). it follows that ideas communicated by divine revelation are true and conform to reality as God knows it. God overruled human limitations and sinful biases so that His human agents were able to write what He wanted written. God guided the thought conveyed so that it was without error, accomplishing the objectives He intended.

Exactly what role did the human writers of the Bible play in their transmission of God’s message? They were not totally passive as those whose hands move automatically in an unconscious state. Their distinctive ways of writing stand out, as in the four gospels, which describe the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Luke, the beloved physician, used many medical terms not found in Matthew, Mark, or John. Some biblical writers, like Moses and Paul, were highly educated; others were not.

Although some passages of Scripture may have been received by audible dictation (Ex. 4:12; 19:3–6; Num. 7:89), many were guided by a silent activity of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:1–4). To err is human, and the conscious participation of finite, sinful authors would have led to error if not for this supernatural guidance by the Spirit.

God gave these people the distinctive functions of prophets and apostles, originated what they wrote, and kept them from error in all the writing processes. All of Scripture has prophetic authority. None of it originated in the will of human beings. It came about through the will of God (2 Pet. 1:20–21). All Scripture was given by inspiration of God (2 Tim. 3:16).

Clear standards tested whether a person who claimed to speak for God was a true prophet or a false prophet (Deut. 13:1–5; 18:20–22). People who spoke out of their hearts and by their own independent wills were subject to the death penalty (Deut. 13:6–10). Genuine prophets were inspired by the Holy Spirit as authentic speakers for God.

Although the Bible does not tell exactly how God inspired its writers, it was certainly not in a mechanical way. God the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity who is working with persons. How does one person influence another person? Why do some have a more powerful impact upon people than others? Many factors are involved. We do know for certain that the Scriptures originated with God and that the writers were “moved” or carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:20–21) as they recorded God’s message.

The Holy Spirit’s work in the life of the Virgin Mary is a good example of how the Spirit worked with the biblical writers. A fully human, sinful woman bore a sinless child who would be called the Holy One, the Son of God (Luke 1:35). How could that be? The power of the Highest “overshadowed” her so that she conceived Jesus. Likewise, the power of the Highest “overshadowed” the biblical writers so that what they wrote could be called the Holy Bible, the Word of God.

Followers of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord will follow Him in His view of the Old Testament Scriptures and the entire Bible. He endorsed all three sections of the Hebrew Bible: the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Writings). He accepted as fact some of the most controversial historical details: Adam and Eve at the beginning of time (Matt. 19:4); Abel’s murder of Cain (Luke 11:51); Noah, the ark, and the Flood (Matt. 24:37–39); the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and of Lot’s wife (Luke 17:28–30); and Moses’ authorship of the Pentateuch (John 5:46). “All things must be fulfilled,” He said, “which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me” (Luke 24:44). People were mistaken, Jesus said, “not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Matt. 22:29). He expressed His concern for unbelievers: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25).

The view that God’s great mind had to accommodate itself to human errors in the production of the Bible does not fit the high view of Scripture that Jesus had. God certainly adapted His truth to a human level of understanding. But a person can adapt truth about the origin of human life to a child’s level of understanding without teaching errors about storks. In a similar way, God adapts His truth in part to our limited understandings, but neither He, nor His Son, nor His Spirit taught error in the name of God.

Belief in the Bible’s inerrancy and infallibility best fits the claims of Jesus about the Bible and the claims the Bible makes for itself. Salvation is the primary purpose of Scripture, but this is not its only function. It teaches truth about the world’s origins, history, and the future.

Those who believe all that the Bible affirms should live faithfully according to its instruction in all personal relationships. Central to the Bible’s teaching is love for God and love for neighbor. If believers in biblical inerrancy do not love God and their neighbors, their defense of scriptural authority will become “a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1, NIV).