2.2 Biblical Inspiration

We have considered God’s spirit as His power, thoughts and disposition, which He reveals through the actions which His spirit performs. We mentioned in the previous section how God’s spirit was seen at work in the creation: “By his spirit he has created the heavens” (Job 26:13) - the spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters to bring about the present creation (Gen. 1:2). Yet we also read that “by the word of the Lord” the world was made (Ps. 33:6), as shown by the Genesis narrative recording that “God said” things were to be created, and it happened. God’s spirit, therefore, is very much reflected in His word. Likewise our words express our inner thoughts and desires - the real ‘us’ - very accurately. Jesus wisely pointed out: “Out of the abundance of the heart (the mind) the mouth speaks” (Mt. 12:34). So if we would control our words, we must firstly work on our thoughts. God’s Word, then, is a reflection of His spirit, or thoughts. It is such a blessing that in the Bible we have God’s words written down so that we might understand God’s spirit or mind. David spoke of how God’s word and “own heart” are parallel (2 Sam. 7:21); God’s mind/spirit is expressed in His Word. God achieved this miracle of expressing His spirit in written words by the process of INSPIRATION. This term is based around the word “spirit”.

IN-SPIRIT-ATION.

“Spirit” means “breath” or breathing, “Inspiration” means “in-breathing”. This means that the words which men wrote while under “inspiration” from God were the words of God’s spirit. Paul encouraged Timothy not to let his familiarity with the Bible lead him to forget the wonder of the fact that it is the words of God’s spirit, and therefore provides all that we need in order to have a true knowledge of God.

“From a child you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is useful for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:15-17).

If the inspired Scriptures can provide such a totality of knowledge, then there is no need for some ‘inner light’ to show us the truth about God. But how many times do people speak of their personal feelings and experiences as being the source of their knowledge of God! If an acceptance in faith of God’s inspired Word is enough to equip completely someone in the Christian life, there is no need for any other power of righteousness in our lives. If there is such a need, then God’s Word has not completely equipped us, as Paul promises it will. To hold the Bible in our hands and believe that it really is the Word of God’s spirit takes quite some faith. The Israelites were reasonably interested in what God’s Word had to say, as are many today. We all need to carefully reflect on Heb. 4:2.

“Unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them (Israel in the wilderness): but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it”.

This unwillingness to accept the huge spiritual power which is in God’s word has led many to question whether all the Scriptures are fully inspired by God. They have suggested that much of what we read in the Bible was just the personal opinions of the writers. But Peter effectively disposes of such woolly reasoning:

“We have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it...above all, you must understand (this is vital!) that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:19-21 N.I.V.).

We must “above all” believe that the Bible is inspired. The doctrine of inspiration is so often emphasised in the Bible text (e.g. Mt. 15:4; Mk. 12:36; Acts 1:16; 28:25; Heb. 3:7; 9:8; 10:15).

The Writers Of The Bible

A solid belief in the total inspiration of the Scriptures is therefore vital. The men who wrote the Bible were irresistibly carried along by the spirit which inspired them, so that their words were not their own. The Word of God being the truth (Jn. 17:17) and providing rebuke and correction (2 Tim. 3:16,17), it is not surprising that with many people it is unpopular - for truth hurts. The prophet Jeremiah suffered much opposition for speaking forth the words God inspired him with, and so he determined not to record or publicise the words which he was given. But because the writing of God’s Word is a result of God’s will rather than human desire, he was “carried along by the Holy Spirit” so that he had no choice in the matter. “I am in derision daily, every one mocks me...Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with holding it back” (Jer. 20:7,9). Peter describes this idea of the Bible writers being ‘carried along’ with the same Greek word used in Acts 27:17,27 about a ship being ‘driven’ by the wind, out of control. Mic. 2:7 comments that truly inspired prophets can’t be stopped from speaking forth God’s word, because God’s Spirit controlling them can’t be constrained. Those mean were truly ‘carried along’.

Likewise when Balaam was determined to curse Israel, the spirit of God made him speak out a blessing on them instead (Num. 24:1-13 cf. Dt. 23:5). He could not ‘escape from’ God’s word (Num. 22:12 Heb.). Jude says that he intended to write a letter about a totally different theme to the one he ended up writing about, because “I was constrained to write…” (Jude 3 RV)- by the Holy Spirit inspi ring him.

A surprising number of the men whom God inspired to speak His word went through periods of reluctance to do so. The list is impressive.

§          Moses (Ex. 4:10)

§          Jeremiah (Jer. 1:6)

§          Ezekiel (Ez. 3:14)

§          Jonah (Jonah 1:2,3)

§          Paul (Acts 18:9)

§          Timothy (1 Tim. 4:6-14)

§          Balaam (Num. 22-24)

This all confirms what we learnt in 2 Pet. 1:19-21 - that God’s Word is not the personal opinion of men, but the result of men being inspired to write down what was revealed to them. The prophet Amos reflected: “The Lord God has spoken, who can but prophesy?” (Am. 3:8). At times Moses lost the sense of his own personality, so strong was his inspiration by God: “All these commandments, which the Lord has spoken unto Moses..” (Num. 15:22,23); these words were actually said by Moses (v. 17). Jeremiah spoke “from the mouth of the Lord” and yet the Lord spoke “by the mouth of Jeremiah” (2 Chron. 36:12,22) - this is how close was the relationship between God and the men He spoke through. Their mouth was His mouth. There are many times in the writings of the prophets where it is hard to determine whether the personal pronouns refer to God or the prophet (e.g. Jer. 17:13-15) - so close was the manifestation of God through them. “The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea” (Hos. 1:2) prefaces His command to tell Hosea to go and show God’s love towards faithless Israel by marrying and living with a worthless woman. Hosea was God’s Word to men, as supremely the Lord Jesus was “the word made flesh”, and we likewise must put into practice the spirit which is in God’s word.

Another strand of evidence for this is that the writers of the Bible realised that they did not fully understand the things which they wrote. They “searched” for the correct interpretation - “unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things” which they wrote (1 Pet. 1:9-12). The actual words they recorded were not their own but God’s and they wished to understand better the things they recorded for Him. The following provide obvious examples: Daniel (Dan. 12:8-10); Zechariah (Zech. 4:4-13); Peter (Acts 10:17). The child Samuel likewise didn’t know Yahweh but still spoke His word (1 Sam. 3:7).

If these men were only partly inspired, we do not have access to the true Word of God. If what they wrote really was the Word of God, then it follows that they had to be completely taken over by God’s spirit during the period of inspiration - otherwise the product would not have been God’s Word in purity. An acceptance that God’s Word is completely His, provides us with more motivation to read and obey it. “Your word is very pure: therefore your servant loves it” (Ps. 119:140).

The inspired writer of Psalm 45 says that his tongue is like the pen of a writer (Ps. 45:1). The writer is God. God was using the inspired person’s words as His pen, with which to communicate to men. Ezra likewise saw himself as a “scribe of the law of the God of heaven” (Ezra 7:21). The God who is in Heaven wrote through a scribe here on earth. That’s the idea of inspiration.

Thus the books of the Bible are the work of God through His spirit, rather than the literature of men. The truth of this is shown by considering how the New Testament refers to the Old Testament writings.

§          Mt. 2:5 (R.V. mg.) speaks of how it was “written through the prophets” - God was writing through them. The R.V. margin always uses the word “through” when describing how God wrote by the prophets.

§          Mt. 2:15 quotes from Micah, but says: “[that] which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet…”. Likewise Heb. 2:6: “one [actually David] in a certain place testified…”. The personality of the prophet is irrelevant compared to the fact that it is God’s word which He spake. There are other examples of where the name of the prophet is suppressed as if to show it is not so relevant (Mt. 1:22; 2:23; 21:4).

§          “The Holy Spirit by the mouth of David spoke...” (Acts 1:16). This is how Peter quoted from the Psalms ( cf. Heb. 3:7).

§          “Well did the Holy Spirit speak by Isaiah” (Acts 28:25 - this was how Paul quoted Isaiah). Lk. 3:4 speaks of “the book of the words of Isaiah” rather than just, ‘the book of Isaiah’.

§          God “by the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David…said…” (Acts 4:25 RV).

The human authors of the Bible were therefore relatively unimportant to the early Christians; it was the fact that their words had been inspired with the spirit of God which was important.

We will conclude this section with a list of verses which show that God’s spirit is revealed to us through His written word.

§          Jesus plainly stated, “The words that I speak...are spirit” (Jn. 6:63); He spoke under inspiration from God (Jn. 17:8; 14:10). “It is the Spirit that gives life...the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit” (Jn. 6:63) must be connected with Rom. 8:11, which speaks of the Spirit which dwells within us quickening the believer. It is the word of Jesus within us which is the root of the Spirit that quickens.

§          We are described as being re-born by both the spirit (Jn. 3:3-5) and the word of God (1 Pet. 1:23).

§          “The words which the Lord of hosts has sent in his spirit by the...prophets” (Zech. 7:12).

§          “I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you” (Prov. 1:23) associates a true understanding of God’s word with the action of His spirit upon us - reading the Book without understanding is of no avail, seeing that the spirit/mind of God is not being revealed to us.

§          There are parallels between God’s spirit and His word in many passages: “My spirit that is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth...” (Isa. 59:21); “For your word’s sake, and according to your own heart (spirit)” (2 Sam. 7:21); “I will put my spirit within you (your heart - see context)...”; “I will put my law... in their hearts” (Ez. 36:27; Jer. 31:33).

There are clear parallels between Col. 3:16 and Gal. 5:18,19: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;  teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual  songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord… but be filled with the  Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Clearly the Word of Christ is equated with being "filled with the Spirit". 

God is His spirit (Jn. 4:24), and God is His Word (“the word was God”); it evidently follows that His words therefore reflect His spirit. Our attitude to God’s Word is our attitude to Him. Because that word is pure, therefore we love it (Ps. 119:140); when we break commandments, we are despising God’s Word (Am. 2:4). This is where belief in inspiration has a powerful practical effect.

The Power Of God’s Word

As God’s spirit refers not only to His mind/disposition but also to the power by which He expresses those thoughts, it is to be expected that His spirit-word is not just a statement of His mind; there is also a dynamic power in that word.

A true appreciation of that power should make us eager to make use of it; any feelings of embarrassment associated with doing so should be overcome by our knowledge that obedience to God’s word will give us the power which we need to accelerate out of the small things of this life, towards salvation. Out of much experience of this, Paul wrote:-

“I am not ashamed of the Gospel (the word) of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16).

Lk. 1:37 (R.V.) harps on the same theme: “No word of God shall be void of power (spirit)”.

Bible study and applying it to our lives is therefore a dynamic process. It is quite unrelated to any spirit of cold, academic theology; and also to a ‘feel-good Christianity’, whereby a few passages are briefly quoted, but no effort made to understand or apply them. “The word of God is quick (living) and powerful”; “the word of His (God’s) power” (Heb. 4:12; 1:3). “The word of God... dynamically works also in you that believe” (1 Thes. 2:13). Through the Word, God is actively at work in the minds of true believers, every hour of the day.

The Gospel which you are learning is therefore the true power of God; if you allow it to do so, it can work in your life to change you into a child of God, showing the spirit/mind of God to some degree in this life, preparing you for the change to God’s spiritual nature which will come at Christ’s return (2 Pet. 1:4). Paul’s preaching was “in demonstration of the spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 2:4).

Our approach is mocked by the world (“You don’t believe it like that, do you?!”), and so was that of Paul and his band of preachers: “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18).

Bearing all this in mind, can’t we each hold the Bible in our hands with an ever greater measure of respect, and read it with ever more eagerness to understand and obey?

The Attitude of God’s People to His Word

A sensitive reading of the Biblical record indicates that the Bible writers not only recognised that they were inspired, but they also treated other Bible writers as inspired. The Lord Jesus is pre-eminent in this. When Jesus quoted from the Psalms of David, he prefaced this with the words, “David in spirit...” (Mt. 22:43), showing his recognition of the fact that David’s words were inspired. Jesus also spoke of Moses’ “writings” (Jn. 5:45-47), showing that he believed Moses to have literally written the Pentateuch. Some Bible critics have doubted whether Moses could write, but the attitude of Christ clearly contradicts their approach. He called Moses’ writings “the commandment of God” (Mk. 7:8,9). It is also claimed that much of the Old Testament is myth, but Jesus and Paul never treat them as such. Jesus spoke of the Queen of Sheba as an accepted historical fact (Mt. 12:42); he did not say, ‘As the story goes about the Queen of Sheba...’.

The attitude of the Apostles was identical to that of their Lord. It is epitomised by Peter who said that his personal experience of hearing Christ’s words with his own ears was eclipsed by the “more sure word of prophecy” (2 Pet. 1:19-21). Peter believed that Paul’s letters were “Scripture” as much as the “other Scriptures”, a phrase normally used about the Old Testament writings. Thus Peter saw Paul’s letters as being as authoritative as the Old Testament.

There are many allusions in Acts, the Epistles and Revelation to the Gospels (e.g. cf. Acts 13:51; Mt. 10:14), indicating not only that they were all inspired by the same spirit, but that the Gospel records were treated as inspired by the New Testament writers. Paul in 1 Tim. 5:18 quotes both Dt. 25:4 (in the Old Testament) and Lk. 10:7 as “Scripture”. Paul hammers home the point that his message was from Christ, not himself (Gal. 1:11,12; 1 Cor. 2:13; 11:23; 15:3). This was recognised by the other apostles; thus James 4:5 quotes Paul’s words of Gal. 5:17 as “Scripture”.

God “has spoken” to us in Christ; there is therefore no need for any further revelation (Heb. 1:2). It can be observed that the Bible alludes to other writings which are now not available (e.g. the book of Jasher, the writings of Nathan, Elijah, Paul to Corinth), and John’s third Epistle implies that John had written an unpreserved letter to the church which Diotrephes had refused to obey. Why have these writings not been preserved for us? Evidently because they were not relevant to us. We can therefore rest assured that God has preserved all that is relevant for us.

It is sometimes claimed that the New Testament books were gradually accepted as being inspired, but the fact that the Apostles treated each other’s writings as inspired surely disproves this. There was a miraculous spirit gift available to test whether letters and words which claimed to be inspired really were so (1 Cor. 14:37; 1 Jn. 4:1; Rev. 2:2). This means that the inspired letters were immediately accepted as inspired. If there was any unguided human selection of what went into our Bible, then the book would have no authority.