Inspiration (Part 2)

Review

Turn to 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

When we began the subject of inspiration last week, we saw that the Word of God is the high mark of God’s revelation. Unlike creation and unlike people, it doesn’t change. It is final and complete. Unlike our personal experiences, it is objective. You can read for yourself what God has declared in the Scriptures. God has said everything that He has intended to say about the past, about the present, and about the future.

Introduction

One of the simplest childhood games ever invented is, “the telephone game.” Chances are, you’ve played it, although you may have called it something different.

Imagine with me that seven children are sitting in a circle.

The first child whispers to the child sitting beside them, “The cat caught a fish!”

The second child smiles and nods knowingly. He’s confident he heard the message clearly and then he whispers to the third child, “The cat bought a fish!”

And so the chain continues. As the message is passed from one child to the next, there are many different expressions: confusion, amusement, hesitation, or confidence. Some cup their ear, others whisper with exaggerated gestures.

At the end, the final child stands up, smiling awkwardly, and declares:

“The hat fought a dish!”

“Every link in the chain of communication matters.” Misunderstand one link, and the message changes completely.

Read slowly:

Inspiration is the first “link in the chain of communication ‘from God to us.’”

A General Introduction to the Bible, “Definitions of Revelation and Inspiration”

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Inspiration: "The process whereby the Holy Spirit influenced the writers of the Scripture to accurately record His Words, the product being the inspired Word of God." - Strouse

Read 2 Timothy 3:16a.

Four key terms:

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All: Every, all

The fact that God included this word here is critical. It makes this verse an absolute statement. It is an “all or nothing” equation.

It does not say “Some Scripture…”

It says, “All Scripture”. Clearly, the idea in context is that the whole or the entire Scripture is inspired.

There is a false theory of inspiration that is pretty popular out there that teaches that “the Bible is not the word of God, it only ‘contains’ the word of God.” This theory denies the supernatural in Scripture. It teaches that Scripture is authoritative only when it speaks to you. In other words, it is authoritative only when you feel it. It makes you the judge and jury of what is Scripture. That theory is in complete contradiction of this word.

All Scripture is inspired.

Not some.

Not most.

All Scripture is inspired.

Likewise, “every” Scripture is inspired. Both translations of the Greek word are true.

A General Introduction to the Bible, Revised and Expanded Biblical Description of Inspiration

that is, the Bible in part or in whole is the Word of God

If I quote you a single verse of Scripture, it is the Word of God as much as if I was to quote you the whole Bible. “All” Scripture is inspired. “Every” Scripture is inspired.

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Scripture: writing, written document

The writers were not inspired. The words were inspired. What they wrote on paper was exactly what God intended for them to write.

In Paul and Timothy’s day, the Old Testament was their Scriptures. The New Testament was being written. As we’ve seen before, Peter would equate Paul’s writings with Scripture in 2 Peter 3:16. The New Testament writers certainly understood that God was writing Scripture through them also.

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Inspiration: “given by inspiration of God”

That entire phrase in the English is derived from one word in the Greek.

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Inspiration: breathed out by God

More simply, “God-breathed”

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θεόπνευστος: “God-breathed”

Although Jesus didn’t use this particular word, He expressed the same idea in Matthew 4:4.

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Matthew 4:4 KJV 1900

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

The Word of God was breathed out by God, and because of that, it is...

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Profitable: useful

Because Scripture is breathed out of God, it is useful in every way to make a man or woman of God mature and fully equipped.

Scripture is able to bring about changed lives because Scripture was breathed out by God.

No other book in all the world has that kind of power.

When God breathed out His Word, [He] exercised control even though He used the individual personality, background, intellect, vocabulary, and writing style of the chosen men…

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The Spirit of God so powerfully influenced the penmen that the words they chose to write were exactly the words that God intended for them to write, thereby the words were God-breathed. The result was inspired writings that were without error, trustworthy, and authoritative in every respect.

We will look at the human aspect of this more next week.