All Scripture Given by Inspiration

The Bible is unique among all the countless books in this world. This uniqueness is not based on the fact that the Bible is the most widely read book in the world. But that it’s God’s book to us humans. The Bible is God’s word. He speaks to us through His Word. This is what makes the Bible unique. Who else but God could write a book that

• consists of 66 different books
• was written by about 40 authors
• was written over about 1600 years
• was originally written in three different languages, and yet simultaneously – without contradicting itself – forms a wonderful unity?

No human being could manage such a work. No, the Bible is the Book of God that He gives to us.

Are we surprised that it has always been Satan’s endeavor to attack this Book of God? In the centuries of the Middle Ages, he fought this Book as a roaring lion. He wanted to destroy it by force and to make it disappear from the face of the earth. But God has watched over His Word and preserved it for us to this day.

Satan’s goal has remained unchanged. He wants to destroy the Word of God. But his tactics have changed. Today, Satan uses cunning. He seeks to falsify the word of God to take away its authority. That is why he also attacks the truth of the divine inspiration of the Word of God. Even theologians today teach that the Bible is the work of man or that God inspired only parts of it. Against all these currents, we want to hold on to what God Himself tells us.

I want to use two passages from the New Testament to emphasize five points of divine inspiration in the Bible. They will give us a firm foundation:

“Every scripture is divinely inspired, and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, fully fitted to every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16).

“For prophecy was not ever uttered by the will of man, but holy men of God spake under the power of the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:21).

From these passages, we learn the following:

1. God is the origin of His Word: The Bible testifies that not men but God Himself is the author of His Word. Could human beings ever have conceived what God reveals to us in His Word? “Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart, which God has prepared for them that love Him, but God has revealed to us by His Spirit” (1 Cor 2:9,10). What a tremendous fact that the great God condescends to speak to us humans, to reveal that which has not entered any human heart – His own thoughts! No, the origin of the Bible is not human but divine. The foundation is: “All Scripture is inspired by God.”
2. God used “human” vessels to have His thoughts written down. The Bible did not come to us as a complete whole. God commissioned people over the centuries to write down His Word. These were “holy men of God” driven by the Holy Spirit. These people were completely different from one another. Among them were simple and high-ranking people, kings, prophets, shepherds and fishermen. They lived in different cultures and circumstances. God used their respective personalities to write down His thoughts. Because every author has their own style of writing and vocabulary. Nevertheless, these men could only write what God gave them to write.
3. God worked in these men through the Holy Spirit. The Bible writers were under the complete control of the Holy Spirit. This was the only way they could write what God wanted. For example, the prophets of the Old Testament sometimes did not even understand the real meaning of the words they wrote. Peter, for instance, writes: “Concerning which salvation prophets, who have prophesied of the grace towards you, sought out and searched out; searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them pointed out, testifying before of the sufferings which belonged to Christ, and the glories after these.” (1 Peter 1:10,11). Therefore, God’s Word could only be written under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
4. The divine inspiration of the Bible is all-encompassing. It is expressly stated: “All Scripture is inspired by God.” This refers to both the Old and the New Testament. We can never say that single parts are of divine origin while others are of human origin. Whether it is about history, prophecy, or doctrine, God inspires everything. If we begin to make concessions, we take away the authority of the Word of God. The Bible as a whole is an indestructible entity. No human is allowed to take anything away from its words or add anything to them. God already warned His people in the Old Testament: “Ye shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall ye take from it, that ye may keep the commandments of Jehovah your God which I command you.” (Deut 4:2; see also Prov 30:6; Rev 22:18,19).
5. The divine inspiration of the Bible is literal. God not only inspired the “holy men” with His thoughts, but He also gave them individual words. Paul writes to the Corinthians: “Which also we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, communicating spiritual things by spiritual means.” (1 Cor 2:13). How could people write down divine thoughts in their own words? No, thoughts and words are from God alone. Of course, this word-for-word input only refers to the text initially given by God. We recognize at this point how important it is that a Bible translation reproduces not only the meaning of the text but also the words of the text as accurately as possible.

Despite all the trends we are exposed to today, we want to stick to what the Bible teaches us in simplicity. The Bible is God’s Word. He has given it to us and will watch over it. “Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven.” (Ps 119:89).