Because the Scriptures are the inspired Word of God, we can conclude that they are also inerrant and authoritative. A correct view of God will lead us to a correct view of His Word. Because God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and completely perfect, His Word will by its very nature have the same characteristics.
2 Peter 1:21: “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
(1) The Bible is a “more certain” Word (v. 19). This means ‘firm’, ‘reliable’, ‘trustworthy’. The reference is to the Old Testament, but what is true there is also true of the New Testament. If this were not so – look up Psalm 11:3.
(2) The Bible is a light in a dark place (v. 19). The world is a dark place, with no ray of light anywhere, no divine revelation – except in the Bible. Apart from God’s Word we know nothing about the meaning of life, about death or about eternity (Psalm 119:105). The Bible throws light on the Christian’s path (last part of v. 19).
(3) The Bible is one organic whole (v. 20), which means that no scripture is to be interpreted by itself – that is, apart from other scriptures. The word is to be “correctly handled” (2 Timothy 2:15); the books of the Bible form a unity, and therefore one part of scripture must be interpreted in the light of every other part.
(4) The Bible was written by holy men. God chose about forty human writers and He used these to write the sixty-six books of the Bible. But we must notice that they did not write according to “the will of man” (v. 21). What they wrote was not a concoction of their own ideas, nor the result of human imagination, insight, speculation or desire.
(5) The Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit (v. 21). He is the divine Author and He inspired the writers. They were “carried along” by the Holy Spirit as they wrote.
The use of the word ‘inspiration’ has different meanings:
(1) We do not mean natural inspiration, which is no more than human genius. Artists, poets, musicians are inspired, but by natural inspiration.
(2) We do not mean simply that the Book is inspiring. It inspires all those who read it, of course it does! But we mean much more than this.
(3) We do not mean partial inspiration – that we can rely on parts which are inspired, and regard other parts as unreliable.
(4) We do not mean progressive inspiration – in that there is a progressive revelation where there is much fuller truth in the New Testament than is revealed in the Old Testament.
(5) We do not mean the inspiration of the thoughts and general axioms only. To deny the reliability of the specific words is to deny the integrity of the overall message.
What are the positive answers to the question, “What is Inspiration”?
(1) We believe the Bible is inspired by God and not by man; it is of divine (not human) origin. 2 Timothy 3:16 literally reads, “All scripture is God-breathed.”
(2) We believe the whole Bible is equally inspired by God – from Genesis to Revelation. We believe in the plenary inspiration of the Bible – a full, complete inspiration. (The word ‘plenary’ means ‘passing through all its stages’).
(3) We believe the inspiration of the Bible extends to every book, chapter, sentence and word in the original documents. This is verbal inspiration, meaning that it extends to the very words used in the original writings.
There is a very necessary and valuable critical scholarship of the biblical manuscripts, but error results when those who bring their scholarship to the scriptures reject all that they cannot understand and refuse to accept by faith what God has revealed. They substitute human speculation and reasoning for divine revelation. The whole Bible is inspired by God and is therefore reliable. But how do we substantiate this claim?
(1) If the Bible is God’s Book, if He is the Author who inspired its writings, then such inspiration must extend to the whole Book. God would not have given an imperfect revelation of Himself. All His ways and His acts are perfect.
(2) If the whole Bible is inspired, then the words must be inspired as well as the ideas and thoughts. Otherwise, there can be no accuracy; thoughts cannot be expressed without words, and they cannot be accurately expressed without carefully chosen and precise words.
(3) The Scriptures themselves claim this full and complete inspiration extending to the words. If Peter’s words in v. 21 are right, it must be so – see Psalm 19:7; Psalm 119:89; John 10:35 and 1 Corinthians 2:12-13.
(4) Our Lord Jesus Christ accepted the full inspiration of the Old Testament Scriptures. His own words were inspired, they were God-given (Matthew 5:18; Matthew 24:35; John 6:63; John 8:26,28,40; and John 12:49-50).
(5) The Bible is therefore fully inspired, accurate, authoritative and reliable, and it demands that we “pay attention” to what God says in His Word – that is, to read it, believe it, love it, obey it, learn it, spread it and thank God for it!
Without a doubt the Bible is what it claims to be—the undeniable, authoritative, Word of God to humanity.
Conclusion: Will I commit to reading and applying God’s to my life?
