7 Things I Wish Christians Knew About the BibleSample

WHAT "INSPIRATION" MEANS

Given that Scripture is frequently described as the “word of God,” it would make sense that much of what we have observed about God’s word coming upon a prophet would also apply to how the Spirit moved the biblical authors to write Holy Scripture...

Paul invents a new word, “God-breathed” (theopneustos in Greek), to explain how God communicates a message through the written medium. While we could discuss several possibilities to cut to the chase, the point is that Scripture is God’s word breathed into human authors who composed written texts. This means that Scripture is a product of God’s creative and communicative work in human authors, which is so effective that what they wrote under the divine influence is considered to be divinely authored. Because of this God-given origin, Scripture is useful for teaching the truth, pointing out an error, correcting wrong behavior, and instructing in the disciplines of godliness and holiness.

Then we have another remarkable statement in 2 Peter about how authors were moved to write a message from God.

The prophetic word of Scripture is not based on a vague and loose interpretation of events. No prophecy, and no Scripture for that matter, originates in the human imagination. Rather, the prophets—and we might just as well add apostles and evangelists here too—spoke from God as they were “carried along by the Holy Spirit.” To be “carried along” does not mean a mechanical and overpowering sense, but more like being carried to the point of awareness and understanding. Whether spoken or written, the prophetic word is not a feat of the human invention but is attributed to the Spirit’s power infused into the personality of the speaker or author.

Scripture itself is a revelation since God inspired His word into human subjects who were carried along by the Holy Spirit’s influence to write a divinely given message. God’s word consists of divine testimony to the truth, infused into people and then inscribed onto pages.