Author : C.G. “Colly” Caldwell
reprinted by permission from The Preceptor, September 1988.
God gave the Bible to us! The Bible is not the result of human reasoning. It is Divine in origin. Jehovah had several reasons for causing this Book to be written: a) to reveal Himself to man; b) to explain His plan for our salvation in His Son; and c) to make known His will for our lives.
God gave the Scriptures (the Bible) by “inspiration.” our purpose is to consider some basic truths about the inspiration of the Scriptures.
A. It Is Inspired.
All Scripture is giving 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 (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
“All” (every) scripture is given by inspiration of God. The Scriptures are fully inspired … that is, all Biblical statements are inspired including those dealing with scientific, historical, geographical, and chronological data. The inspiration of the Bible is “plenary” in scope and extent. “Plenary inspiration” is a phrase used to express the idea that the Holy Spirit revealed all that is in the Bible (every section, every passage, and every statement) (see Mark 7:8-13; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Romans 15:4).
“Scripture.” This word comes from the Greek word graphe which means, a “writing.” Our word “graphics” comes from this Greek word. In the New Testament, the word is used 51 times to refer to the authoritative, written statements of God in the Bible (see 1 Timothy 5:18, for example.
“Inspiration.” Literally the original word meant “breathed by God.” Inspiration is the extraordinary, supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit which He used when He guided the human authors to write the Bible. The Holy Spirit used their personalities and styles of writing in choosing the words for writing without error the exact revelation of God to man.
“Profitable.” The Scriptures provide all things spiritually necessary to our salvation and all of it is good for us. God’s word is stated clearly and with proper study we can understand it well enough to do what God wants us to do to be saved (Psalm 119:105, 130; Ephesians 3:1-5).
“Complete.” The Scriptures make possible our being spiritually complete and whole. If something makes one complete or perfect, it must also be complete and perfect. If the Bible makes us “perfect,” the Bible must be perfect itself.
B. The Writers of Scripture Spoke as They Were Moved by the Holy Spirit.
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21).
Peter’s phrases are important:
“Private Interpretation.” The writers of Scripture did not interpret their religious thoughts and then write them according to their own reasoning. They received prophecy from God.
“Not by the will of man.” The men who penned the Scripture did not write according to “devised fables” (verse 16) or in keeping with their own wishes. The origin of Scripture is the divine Holy Spirit, not man.
“Spake from God” – What they said was divine, not human. The Divine source (the Holy Spirit) used human beings to write the words on paper, but the words are God’s words.
“Moved by the Holy Spirit” Benjamin Warfield has said:
The men who spoke from God are here declared, therefore, to have been taken up by the Holy Spirit and brought by His power to the goal of His choosing. The things which they spoke under this operation of the Spirit were therefore His things, not theirs. And that is the reason which is assigned why ‘the prophetic word’ is so sure (Warfield, “Inspiration,” International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 3.1475).
C. The Very Words Were Given by God
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. (1 Corinthians 2:10-13).
The word “revealed” means “brought to light,” or “uncovered.” God exposed His thinking to man by sending the Holy Spirit to communicate with the apostles and prophets.
Here is the part important to our study. Paul said that this communication was “not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth.” The Spirit provided not only the ideas but the expression of those ideas … controlling both thoughts and words. Paul wrote down God’s revelation in words taught by the power of the Spirit (verse 1-4).
We sometimes use the phrase “verbal inspiration.” That means that God so guided the writing of the books of the Bible that the words are His words in the style of the writers. Verbal Inspiration is the opposite of Inspired Concepts. “Inspired Concepts” is the idea that God gave thoughts to the writers of the Bible but He did not give the words. Such would make the words subject to error because the choices of words by the writers may be faulty.
Never forget this one truth: The Bible is God’s Word In God’s Words (Matthew 4:4; 2 Samuel 23:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; John 3:34; 17:8). To the extent that man is permitted to choose the words of Scripture, he is allowing for error in the Bible, because man can make bad choices where God will not.
D. Every Detail Is Perfect
Jesus said, “Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18). A “jot” was the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet (pronounced “yod” by the Jews). A “tittle” was a distinguishing extension of a letter, as the crossing of a “t”. Every detail of what He originally said to the inspired writers, down the smallest letter, is perfect and held sacred by God.
We, therefore, speak of the “infallibility of scripture.” The Bible is without error. There is no deception or mistaken in the facts it affirms. It is reliable in every way and certain in all details (Isaiah 45:19; Proverbs 30:5-6).
E. God Has Made It Binding and Authoritative
Scripture cannot be “broken” (John 10:35; see also Isaiah 6:9-10; Hosea 4:1-11). To try to “break” Scripture would be to rob it of binding authority by saying it is not necessary to do what it says. (The men to whom the word of God came were called “gods”: that is, they spoke with authority as God speaks with authority. That being true the could not say that Jesus was blaspheming to call Himself the Son of God.)
The Word spoken by Christ will judge in the last day (John 12:48). We are, therefore, not free to decide for ourselves what we will believe and do. Neither are we free to interpret the Bible just any way we choose. We must seek to know what God wants us to do then do that. Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
