The doctrine of inspiration

1. The principle of inspiration is found in a Greek noun, qeopneutoj. It means “God-breathed.” 2 Timothy 3:16 should be translated, “All scripture is God-breathed ...” Breathing involves two factors: inhale and exhale. The inhale is God the Holy Spirit communicating to human authors, like Paul and the other apostles, God’s complete and coherent message under the doctrine of the mysteries. In the case of the Old Testament of the Holy Spirit communicated to the prophets His complete and coherent message, exactly what he wanted them to communicate. The passages that deal with the inhale concept, from the Holy Spirit to the human writers — 2 Samuel 23:2,3; Isaiah 59:21; Jeremiah 1:9; Matthew 22:42,43; Mark 12:36; Acts 4:24,25; 28:25. The exhale: the human writers took the information, the doctrine, and they comunicated it in writing. They thought in a language, they wrote in that language. The human writers of scripture so wrote that without waiving their human intelligence, their vocabulary, their personality, their individuality, their personal feelings, God’s complete message to man was permanently recorded in writing with perfect accuracy in the original languages of scripture.

2. The origin of scripture is not human viewpoint but God the Holy Spirit using human agency and human language — 2 Peter 1:20,21.

3. Remember that the Bible as we have it is the mind of Christ. Therefore the Bible is an absolute criterion for believers. Psalm 138:2; 1 Corinthians 2:16.

4. Consequently, the Bible as the mind of Christ existed in eternity past prior to its being reduced to writing — Proverbs chapter eight.

5. Pre-canon revelation from God occurred through the Holy Spirit. Before Moses there was no Bible, so God the Holy Spirit and God the Son communicated directly with people. For example, the Lord Jesus Christ communicated with Adam and the woman in the garden — Bible class every evening. The Lord Jesus Christ appeared in theophanies to communicate. Angels were used to communicate. 2 Samuel 23:2; Ezekiel 2:2; 8:3; 11:1,24; Micah 3:8; Hebrews 3:7.

6. There are four categories of Old Testament revelation. a) The spoken word: “Thus saith the Lord.” These we might classify as dictation directly from God; b) Dreams. God revealed Himself in dreams in Genesis 15:12; 31:10-13; Numbers 12:6; Daniel 10:9. However, it must be pointed out that once the canon is completed there are no more dreams for divine revelation; c) Visions — Isaiah 1:1; 6:1; 1 Kings 22:19; d) Angelic teaching — Deuteronomy 33:2; Psalm 68:17; Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19. Eventually there was also writing.

7. The extent of inspiration in the canon.

a) The unknown past. The Bible portrays past history and details unknown to man, unconfirmed by human records. E.g. the first eleven chapters of Genesis. God the Holy Spirit provided this information to Moses so that we have what God intends for us to have about early history.

b) Ancient history. The Bible is not an historical textbook but it does mention portions of history. So the Bible contains historical citations which are accurate and form the basis and the background for communication of certain doctrines. We call this principle in hermeneutics the principle of isagogics, the principle of interpreting scripture from its historical background.

c) Objective-type law. The Bible contains many laws for individual, social and national life. These laws perfectly express the essence of God. They contain His will for the people to whom they are given. Repetition of these laws and subsequent recording of them demonstrates application to other generations.

d) Dictation. Some portions of the scriptures contain direct quotation from God. Genesis 2:17. The doctrine of inspiration guarantees that such commands or quotations are recorded exactly as they were heard by the individual to whom they were recorded.

e) Devotional literature - like the Psalms, Song of Solomon. God uses the problems, the pressures, the prosperity, the failures, the successes of certain individuals to reveal principles of grace and His divine provision for life.

f) We have a lot of things that are false in the Bible: statements and things that are not true. Certain parts of Ecclesiastes are not true, they simply represent what Solomon was thinking in reversionism. But inspiration does not guarantee that something that is not true is true because it is found in the Bible, it simply guarantees that this is what he thought, this is the wrong thinking that he had, this is the lie that he spoke. Inspiration guarantees the accuracy of the lie, the accuracy of pseudo thinking.

g) Prophecy. Inspiration involves both the selection of prophetic materials and their complete accuracy. Some of these things in the Old Testament have been fulfilled, other will not be fulfilled until the Tribulation, second advent, or the Millennium.

Theological definition:

God so supernaturally directed the human writers of scripture so that without waiving their intelligence, their individuality, their literary style, their personal feelings or any other human factor, His complete and coherent message to mankind was recorded with perfect accuracy in the original languages of scripture, the very words bearing the authority of divine authorship.

The doctrine of inspiration

God so supernaturally directed the writers of scripture that without waving their human intelligence, their individuality, their literary style, their personal feelings, or any other human factor, his own complete and coherent message to man was recorded with perfect accuracy in the original languages of scripture, the very words bearing the authority of divine authorship.

2 Timothy 3:16, the Greek noun is qeopneustoj, and it doesn’t means “inspiration of God,” it means “all scripture is God-breathed.” All scripture is given by inspiration of God means inhale only, but in reality the doctrine of inspiration is inhale and exhale. The exhale comes from the human author, and he exhales it in writing and it becomes a part of the canon of scripture. The inhale: God the Holy Spirit communicates to human authors God’s complete and coherent message, both for that generation and all generations. While writers of scripture had many other messages for their own generation only what was pertinent to all generations was actually recorded and retained as a part of the canon.

There are certain passages that deal with the subject of the inhale only, 2 Sam. 3:2,3; Is. 59:21; Jer. 1:9; Matt. 22:42-43; Mark 12:36; Acts 4:24,25; 28:25. That is the inhale. God the Holy Spirit controls the subject matter. Sometimes angels were used in the Old Testament and part of the New Testament. There were visions, dreams, direct communication from the Holy Spirit, God the Father giving certain things that were quoted (quotes from the Trinity).

In the exhale the human writers of scripture wrote down in their own language of communication the divine message to man.

The Bible is actually described as the canon in three ways. It is called the Word of God in Hebrews

4:12, hence it is related to God the Father; it is called the mind of Christ in 1 Corinthians 2:16, and therefore it is related to God the Son; it is called the voice of the Spirit in Hebrews 3:7, and therefore it is related to God the Holy Spirit. God has placed the highest possible value on the scripture since the completion on the canon, and this was anticipated in Psalm 138:2 where He regards the canon above His name.

What is the extent of inspiration? How far does inspiration go? There are seven areas to which is extends.

1. Inspiration extends to the unknown past. The Bible portrays past history and details of pristine life totally unknown to history and unconfirmed by human records or documents. That would be Genesis 1-11 or any passage dealing with the prehistoric angelic conflict, like Isaiah 14 or Ezekiel 28.

2. Ancient history, before records were properly kept. The Bible is not an historical text book but it contains many historical citations related to doctrine or the policy of God. All of these historical records in the canon provide the background for the communication of doctrine under the principle of isagogics.

3. The objective type law. The Bible contains many laws for both individual and national life. The laws are part of God’s plan for Homo sapien and they perfectly represent God’s will for the preservation and the protection of human volition, human property, and human life. Repetition of these laws and subsequent recording of them, demonstrates the application to other generations.

4. Dictation. Some portions of the Word of God are simply dictated, they contain direct quotations from God. The doctrine of inspiration guarantees that such commands or quotations are properly recorded in the exact way that God wills them to be recorded.

5. Devotional literature, like the Psalms or Ecclesiastes. God uses the problems, the pressures, the property, the failure, the worship, the happiness, of certain individuals to reveal principles, provisions and blessings from the protocol system.

6. Prophecy. Inspiration involves both the selection of prophetic materials and their complete accuracy. We do not have details of prophecy. There are literally thousands of details that are not recorded in the Word, only those that are related to the principle that the Spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. Only those materials are included.

7. The recording of lies and what is false. Satan tells a lot of lies. Many of the things that are recorded are not true, so the scripture records lies, untrue statements, blasphemies, and inspiration does not sponsor these untrue statements. Inspiration does not sponsor falsehood or evil modus operandi but guarantees the accuracy of these lies and evil modus operandi.