Inspiration: Revelation versus Inspiration and Extent of Inspiration

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (NIV)

2 Timothy 3:16 Each and every portion of Scripture does possess, as an eternal spiritual truth the characteristic of being God-breathed. Consequently, it does possess, as an eternal spiritual truth the characteristic of being useful for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for training which is related to righteousness. 17 The purpose of which is that the person belonging to God (the Father) would possess the characteristic of being competent, specifically, by equipping for every kind of action which is divine good in quality and character. (Pastor’s translation)

The doctrine of inspiration contends that, God the Holy Spirit so supernaturally directed the human authors of Scripture, that without destroying their individuality, their literary style, their personal interests, and their vocabulary, God’s complete and connected thought towards man was recorded with perfect accuracy in the original languages of Scripture.

The original languages of Scripture contain the very words of God, and therefore, bear the authority of divine authorship.

Inspiration is God revealing Himself through the Word of God which is His mind whereas revelation is God using a vehicle.

Inspiration is the means God used to reveal Himself through the Bible whereas revelation is concerned with the divine origin of Scripture and the giving of truth to men.

Interpretation emphasizes the understanding of God’s revelation to man and through revelation, God reveals truth and by interpretation man understands this truth.

Interpretation deals with understanding the revelation provided in Scripture whereas illumination refers to the ministry of the Holy Spirit helping the believer to understand this revelation from God in the Scriptures.

In revelation we have the vertical reception of God’s truth while in inspiration we have the horizontal communication of that revelation accurately to others.

The word of God in its original languages is the vehicle by which God reveals Himself to mankind.

In other words, inspiration is the process by which God worked through the human authors without destroying their individual personalities, vocabularies and writing styles to produce divine authoritative and inerrant writings.

God reveals Himself to man in four ways: (1) by nature or creation (Psalm 19:1-6; Rom. 1:19-20). (2) Human conscience (Romans 2:14-15). (3) The Living Word, i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:18; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 Cor. 1:24; Heb. 1:1-3). (4) The Written Word, the Bible in its original languages.

God’s will, purpose and plan for your life can only be found in the written Word, not in nature since nature cannot: (1) Give information about God’s purpose for your life. (2) Give information about God’s will for your life. (3) Give information about God’s plan for your life. (4) Give the way of salvation.

God’s will, purpose, plan and way of salvation are revealed to us: (1) in the written Word of God, i.e., the Bible. (2) By the Living Word of God, i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ.

So the process goes like this: (1) revelation is the objective fact of God communicating to mankind (2) inspiration is the means by which God communicated to mankind (3) interpretation is the process of understanding what God has communicated.

The Holy Spirit is involved in every step.

He is the member of the Trinity responsible for this revelation since He guided and directed the human authors of Scripture to put down in the original autographs God’s complete and connected thought to mankind.

So the Spirit was the means by which God communicated His will to men and He is responsible for the inspiration of Scripture and He is also the one who guides the believer in the interpretation of this revelation and helps them to understand it so as to make application.

The expression “plenary” inspiration expresses the view of biblical inspiration that contends that God is the ultimate author of the Bible in its entirety.

This means that God’s superintending work in inspiration extends to the whole Bible and to each part of the Bible.

Plenary inspiration guarantees that all that the church has come to affirm as Scripture is both authoritative and helpful for Christian belief and practice.

The Bible portrays historical statements and details unknown to man and unconfirmed by human records (Gen. 1:11).

Inspiration guarantees the accuracy of these events (Isa. 14; Ezek. 28).

In Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, there are two accounts of Satan’s fall.

Satan existed long before man, yet we have in writing, with perfect accuracy, all that God wants us to know about Satan’s fall.

There are several accounts of the creation of the universe and these are found in the Scriptures from Genesis to Isaiah, and Colossians 1.

We would have no way of knowing these events were it not for the fact that God Himself provided the information through inspiration so that we might know about eternity past.

The Bible is not a history book but it does contain many historical accounts and all of these are necessary and are accurate and they form the basis and background for the communication of doctrine.

There have been many archeological discoveries which demonstrate the perfect accuracy of the Scriptures.

Some places in the Bible have direct quotations from God and sometimes, God would make known future events which man had no way of foreseeing or understanding at the time of their revelation.

Examples of prophecy: (1) Destruction of the powerful Edomites (Ezek. 25:12-14). (2) Fall of Tyre (3) Person and Work of Christ (Psa. 22; Isa. 53).

These prophecies were fulfilled perfectly and future prophecies for the Tribulation, Second Advent of Christ and the Millennium will be perfectly fulfilled also.

The record of human or Satanic lies in the Bible does mean that falsehood is truth and inspiration guarantees the accuracy of these lies such as the devil’s lies in Genesis 3:1-5.

The book of Ecclesiastes reveals human viewpoint.

God did not approve of Solomon’s human viewpoint but it was recorded to reveal the thinking of one who is out of fellowship with God.

So “verbal” signifies the words of the original languages of Scripture whereas “plenary” means “full” or “complete” as opposed to partial.

Thus, verbal plenary inspiration expresses the idea that each and every word in the original languages of Scripture are inspired by God who gave full expression to His thoughts in the original languages of Scripture.

He influenced the very choice of the words used within the personality and vocabulary of the writers so that the Bible is not only the Word of God but also the words of men.