The Inspired Word

by Sands, A. P. | Category: A Centenary View Of Major Themes | Jan 1988

For a century now in God's goodness, a precious heritage of truths has been expounded in Needed Truth, and we intend, God willing, to review some of these vital issues in this series.

The sure foundation of all our exposition has been the total reliability of Holy Scripture, and this journal "for the teaching of the Word of God" has consistently upheld the Bible's claim to be nothing less than God's infallible, inspired word from Genesis to Revelation. It is therefore appropriate that at the outset we re-examine the foundation of our faith and doctrine.

The Fact of Inspiration

In the launch issue of Needed Truth (October 1888) the first article entitled "The Word of God" made reference to 2 Timothy 3:16 with these words:

in contrast to human devised theories the character given to the Word of God is, "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God". What a contrast! Theories from the brain of man, Truth from the mouth of God (W. Laing).

Many subsequent articles dealt with this theme, and some will be quoted as we proceed. Meantime let us compare the above quotation from the Authorised Version with the relevant clause from two other versions:

Every Scripture is inspired of God... (RVM)

All Scripture is God-breathed (NIV)

So whether we view the "all" (AV, NIV) as the totality of the Sacred Writings, or place the emphasis on each and "every Scripture" (RV), our conclusion is the same: our entire Bible is unique, towering above the finest books of godly men, for it alone is completely inspired of God.

The Product of Inspiration

The Bible contains many instances of God speaking directly to individuals. For example, "the LORD said unto Moses ... Go, return into Egypt" (Ex. 4:19). But mainly God has spoken to people through other men. "God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets" (Heb. 1:1). So when these prophets spoke what God intended they were in fact uttering the very words of God. He assured Jeremiah of this: "I have put My words in thy mouth" (Jer. 1:9). We cannot stress this Scripture too much; it is the key to inspiration.

Although the prophets of both the Old and New Testament have died, the word of God uttered by them "is living and active", so we cannot restrict our consideration to the uttered word only the same word is also the written word. See for example 2 Peter 1:20,21; "no prophecy of Scripture (writing)... ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God". Thus when men wrote their original manuscripts, copies of which made up the canon of Holy Scripture, they were in fact producing on earth, word for word, what God had planned in eternity, never to be amended. We are assured of this in Psalm 119:89: "For ever, 0 LORD, Thy Word is settled in heaven".

This divine, eternal Word has been communicated to us then through the writings of more than forty individuals scattered across a period of sixteen hundred years. The Biblical doctrine of inspiration applies to the original Scriptures they wrote; these were the very product of inspiration.

The Nature of Inspiration

The term inspiration is also used in relation to great works of men, or the men themselves, such as poets and composers who have produced outstanding works with their God given talents. However, in 2 Timothy 3:16 we have a quite different thought. The term "inspired of God" is a translation of theopneustos which literally means "God-breathed". The latter part of this word occurs elsewhere in Scripture and implies to breathe hard, or blow, as for example "a south wind blowing" (Luke 12:55). So the Scriptures themselves are breathed-out by God: it is not the writers themselves who were so inspired. Nor did God breathe into what they had already written. Neither was it that only the thoughts were inspired, with men using their own words. No, it was verbal inspiration; the precise language was God-breathed, so that men wrote what God had breathed out. The NIV translation is therefore clearer in this instance.

Let us now hear two voices from the past:

The process ... we cannot explain, but we know the Scriptures are God-breathed ... every word is charged with divine power, and is living, like seed, wherein is life (F. McCormick N.T. 1954 p86).

The Scriptures are God-breathed produced by the creative breath of the Almighty - not a breathing into the Scriptures (TM. Hyland, quoting Warfield N.T. 1966 p.21).

The Need for Inspiration

Because men are sinners their best works are fallible. How then could God give us an infallible message through words written by men? Man's eternal salvation was at stake - there could be no room for error. It was only by God Himself breathing out the very words which men penned that this was achieved. So that the Bible, far from being a collection of man's impressions of God, is in fact God's flawless revelation of Himself - not total - but the complete revealing of all that we need to know.

So through the miracle of inspiration God sends a perfect communication through imperfect human messengers. This profound mystery, God showing Himself through human agency, is only surpassed by the supreme miracle of the Incarnation, when God and Perfect Humanity became One for our salvation. Again we quote:

The Divine and human elements are blended in a way we cannot fathom. We can no more analyse the process of Inspiration than we can analyse the process of Incarnation (T.M. Hyland, N.T. 1952 p.37).

The Mode of Inspiration

As with other miracles, God does not explain precisely how inspiration took place, but rather tells us what we need to know and can accept in faith. In 1 Peter 1:11 He says of the prophets "the Spirit of Christ... was in them", and again, "no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Pet. 1:21). So not only did God's Spirit come into the human authors of Scripture, but He "moved" them in a special sense in order to control precisely what they wrote. The Greek word phero which is here translated "moved" is represented by various English words in the New Testament, but always it indicates that control lies beyond the person or thing

that moved. For example, the Lord told Peter, "when thou shalt be old

another shall... carry thee whither thou wouldest not" (John 21:18). And again, the description of a shipwreck reads, "when the ship... could not face the wind, we gave way to it, and were driven" (Acts 27:15). Clearly then, the Scripture writers were well and truly directed and controlled as they wrote.

Some may say that such inspiration is rigid dictation, but they would be quite wrong. We know that the writers of Scripture had different experiences. Some, like Samuel for example, heard God speaking personally in a unique way: "the LORD came, and stood, and called ... Samuel, Samuel" (1 Sam. 3:10). Others wrote from the depth of suffering, and were poetic, yet they were moved by the Spirit of Christ to describe far more than they had known; like David who wrote, "they pierced my hands and my feet" (Ps. 22:16). Others researched carefully; for example,"... it seemed good to me... having traced the course of things accurately... to write..." (Luke 1:3).

And in addition to these different experiences, the writers were of course different characters. It is quite clear from Scripture that their cultures and circumstances, their training and temperaments all played their part; so that their writings were their own, and in some cases, were beaten out on the anvil of hard experience. But always their words were God's words, precisely as He ordained.

We cannot fathom the "how" of inspiration, but bow to God in thankfulness for it. Here is how another contributor described it:

The process ... was not mechanical. The men were not robots. They were living agents. The minds and personalities of the human writers were fully employed and their natural talents were sanctified. By the leading of the Spirit of God they were preserved from error, and their writings were authoritative (D.T. Hyland, N.T. 1980 p.77).

"Proofs" of Inspiration

Space only permits brief references to some of the many evidences of inspiration, such as:

a)Many fulfilled prophecies the pattern of Bible prophecy and the vast number of detailed prophecies which have already been fulfilled with perfect precision provide overwhelming evidence of the divine origin of the Scriptures.

b)Oneness of Theme - Sixty-six books from different authors and times miraculously combine to present Christ. Thus "He interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself' (Luke 24:27).

c)Archaeology - Texts denied by sceptics have often been proved accurate by the spade.

d) Changed lives - The Bible's ability to be always relevant, to give life, and to sustain the soul are proofs that it is "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" by which alone man shall live (Mat. 4:4).

e)The Testimony of Christ - Our Lord's many references to the Scriptures and His unqualified acceptance of them are all the proof the disciple needs. The final authority for Him was, "It is written".

The Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest teacher the world has ever known, believed and loved the Sacred Writings. He believed they were from the very mouth of God (W.H. Stewart, N.T. 1954 p.16).

Response to Inspiration

We conclude by again quoting the late T.M. Hyland:

We are in possession of the priceless treasure of... completed Scripture ... Does it have in my life and yours the response its authority demands? We may be familiar with its contents and be able to discuss its doctrine intelligently, but do we accept without question its testimony and bow unreservedly to its demands?

(N.T. 1966 p.8).

Sands, A. P. | Jan 1988
A Centenary View Of Major Themes