God's breath
GOD’S BREATH
God’s Word tells all mankind what He expects from everyone. The attack on the inspiration of the Bible by liberals today and in the past puts God’s words on the level of man’s words. The Inspiration of the whole Bible can be proved by internal and external proofs, but the Old Testament has some unique proofs of its inspiration from within the Bible. Clear passages from scripture prove that the Old Testament is inspired by God.
The New Testament gives Christians clear passages that prove the inspiration of the Old Testament. God spoke to the patriarchs by the prophets just like God now speaks to those who are in the New Testament by His Son, according to Hebrews 1:1-2. I Peter 1:10-11 exclaims that what the prophets told the fathers was communicated by the Spirit of Christ that was in them. They were prophesying about salvation, grace and Messiah. They did not understand all about these things, but they took them by faith.
These prophecies were not given to individuals, but rather they were given to all men. II Peter 1:20-21 affirms that no prophecy that was written down is of any private interpretation. God was the only one who wanted these prophecies written down. Men did not want to give these prophecies, but these men spoke when they felt prompted by the Spirit. The Scriptures that came through men were direct impulses from God.
Paul expands this thought in II Timothy 3:16 by saying that all scripture is given by God’s inspiration and it is profitable. God works through the writers, but only the Bible is inspired not the writers. Everything that is breathed out by God is profitable and cannot be broken. In John 10:34-35 Jesus said that the scriptures cannot be broken. When a book is called scripture it is perfect and cannot be broken or taken back. This deals with the scriptures down to the detail of the jot and title, as it says in Matthew 5:18. God is concerned with every letter of His Word and the Bible should be mastered by all Christians.
The Old Testament proves the inspiration by God’s commands, what biblical authors and prophets knew, and by what the Old Testament said itself. God commanded men to write down his words both in Exodus 17:14 and Jeremiah 30:2. God knew that when something was written down it would then be remembered. David on his death bead in II Samuel 23 said that he knew that God had told him things to write and his son Solomon said that the words were from one shepherd. That one shepherd could only be an everlasting being that could tell men what to write who lived generations before. The prophets like Micah knew when the Spirit of the Lord was upon them telling them what to write. In the Prophetic writings over two thousand times it says “Thus saith the Lord”. Only the Spirit would prompt a prophet to make such a bold statement. And lastly, the Old Testament itself refers to the writings of other authors as the Words of God. Joshua says that Moses’ books were the Word of God and Daniel said that Jeremiah had written the Words of God also.
The New Testament proves the inspiration of the Law and the Prophets and the Writings. The law is referred to as the scripture in Matthew 19, Romans 9, and Galatians 3. The prophets have writings that are called the word of God in Act 18, Luke 1:70, and Romans 9:25. David’s words are referred to as the words of god in Matthew 22:43, Mark 12:35-37, Acts 1:16, and Acts 4:25. The Psalms are referred to as the Word of God and David as a prophet in Acts 2:29-30 and Asaph is quoted as the Word of God in Matthew 13:35. In John and Romans various sections of the Old Testament are quoted as the word of God. The terms of law and prophets were sometimes used interchangeably with the fuller expression of law, prophets, and writings like in Luke 24:25-27, 44-45. If the New Testament authors wrote under the influence of the Spirit of God and they claimed that the Law, Prophets, and Writings were Scripture than they must be the Word of God.
The most important proof is the proofs found in the New Testament. When Jesus, Paul, Peter, and others quote the Old Testament as the Word of God they were under the control of the Holy Spirit. They may not have known the writers of the Old Testament books personally, but they knew the author of all the Scriptures, Christ. Their quoting of the Old Testament put the Old Testament on the same level as the New Testament.
The Bible shows many clear instances where it either directly or indirectly refers to the Old Testament as Scriptures. The writers knew that the Spirit was telling them what to write, and the writers quoted other writings as the Word of God. God’s Word is perfect and directly given by Him. The inspiration of the Bible puts the Bible on a level above all other books.