Inspired by Inspiration

God spoke directly to His people and He also caused His Word to be written.

That is the critical importance of the Bible -- it is God's Word written -- written for people of all languages and of all generations to read (and hear).

Since it is God's Word, His Message, to mankind, it is important to know what the Bible says about itself and its origin.

We look to the Bible for teaching on the Sovereignty of God, on salvation, on eternal life, on the divinity of Jesus, and many other foundational doctrines.

But above all, we have to come to grips with what it says about itself.

All Scripture is given 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 we read in 2 Timothy 3:16.

That covers a lot: ALL Scripture...to be used for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction...So His people can live godly lives in this perverse and profane world...and so bring glory to Him.

What does "inspiration of God" mean?

Here the New Testament is speaking about Hebrew Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament.

The English phrase "is inspired by" or "inspiration of God" has come into our traditional versions from an older Latin translation, the Vulgate.

But scholars tell us that the Greek word does not mean "inspired."  It literally means "God-breathed."

And it is translated that way in our NIV (New International Version):

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God maybe thoroughly equipped for every good work.

God-breathed is a much larger concept than inspired.

The Scriptures are the direct result of the breathing out of God.

Another important verse is 2 Peter 1:20-21:

Above all, you must understand 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. (NIV)

Older translations say, "....men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."


According to James Boice in Foundations of the Christian Faith:

    The word translated "moved" is significant. It was
    used by Luke to describe the coming of the Holy
    Spirit at Pentecost as the rush of a mighty wind
    (Acts 2:2)

     Later Luke once again employs the word in the
    dramatic account of the Mediterranean storm that
    ultimately destroyed the ship taking Paul to Rome.

     Luke writes that the ship was carried along by the
    wind:


      'When the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we
      gave way to it and were driven' (Acts 27:15); 'they lowered
      the gear, and so were driven' (verse 17).


    Luke was saying that the ship was at the mercy of
    the storm. It did not cease to be a ship, but lost
    its control over its course and destination.

         -- James Montgomery Boice


And so Peter is teaching us that the writers of the Bible were borne along in their writing to produce the words God intended to be recorded.

[Another image might be of a leaf being carried along with the current in a flowing stream.]

They wrote as people, differing in personalities and style and culture, but as people moved by the Holy Spirit.


The books of the New Testament had not been collected into a final, authoritative volume during the lifetime of its writers.

Nevertheless, an several occasions the New Testament writers do speak of their writings as the words of God.

In some cases, when a New Testament book was written late enough to know of other New Testament writings, the later book speaks of the earlier ones in the same terms that Christians and Jews used to refer to the Old Testament.