Introduction
There is considerable contradiction about how the Bible is understood as God’s word, given that human beings wrote it. Modern critics have questioned the authority of Scripture as a literary work inspired by God, attacking its veracity both academically and spiritually. The Scripture helps Christians to know God and believe in the Supernatural presence, which guides their actions and life. At the same time, Scripture dictates God’s will to humanity and salvation for believers who walk according to His demands. Therefore, understanding the source of the biblical literature as words inspired by God is critical to Christianity and the interpretation of God’s will on earth.
Modern critics and Christians require evidence that God inspired the Scripture, despite its human authorship, to establish that the Bible is God’s word. Believers must recognize that the authority and authorship of Scripture are distinct, where God is the author and man the scribe of the dictated words. Thus, this paper explains the Scripture as God’s inspired word through special revelation and the scope of man’s authority in authorship to accomplish God’s purpose in conveying His message to man effectively.
The Human Authorship of Inspired Scripture
Background of Biblical Literature
The biblical literature comprises sixty-six books, including the Old Testament and the New Testament. Each book contains different messages, authorship, length, background, genre, and purpose. Contextually, the scriptures were written to address various aspects of human life that were taking place at the time, foreshadowing modern-day events. For instance, scriptures are written during periods of war, joy, peace, exile, and intense experiences of pain among God’s people. The biblical authors used different languages to write the Scripture, such as Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic, among the ancient universal languages.
Regardless of the period, purpose, authorship, and language of the biblical literature, the contents of the scriptures are God’s word, conveyed through both general and special revelation. Carter states that the scriptures contain a detailed account of God’s purpose for man and the plan for salvation for those who live by the written word. Similarly, Paul declares that God inspires all Scripture to promote the doctrine, which can be used for correction, instruction, and reproof of bad behavior. Hence, against the diverse background of biblical scriptures, the word is an inspiration from God, and the authors wrote under God’s authority through special and general revelation.
Special Revelation
Ecclesiastical scholars often refer to God as a supreme and hidden Entity. Theologically, the hidden nature of God is referred to as Deus Absconditus. Since God is concealed from humankind, He makes Himself known through divine revelations using His creation, human nature, inspired words written as scriptures, the life and ministry of Jesus, and events such as wars, drought, plagues, and harvests.
God has revealed Himself to humanity since the beginning of creation, when He formed the first human beings, Adam and Eve, in His image and likeness. The book of Genesis states, “So God created mankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them”. Although God is hidden, creating human beings in His image reveals His physical nature and communicates the purpose of humanity as a reflection of His supreme being over other creatures. Thus, through revelation, God guided the biblical authors to declare His message and effectively accomplish His purpose for humanity, such as guiding Christians on the path of righteousness and giving hope for salvation.
The revelations were either general or given to specific persons on particular occasions, classified as general and special revelations. General revelation is God’s way of disclosing his intention to all people in a general manner, such as using nature to communicate his intentions. Theologians sometimes interchange the term with natural revelation, as it reveals God’s purpose through created things to the general public.
The revelation is usually self-explanatory without complex or hidden meanings that require divine interpretation. An example of general revelation can be seen in the book of Psalms 19:1-6, where the author uses nature to praise God and portray his glory. Thus, creation becomes God’s medium for revealing His general intentions to His people.
Contrary to general revelation, special revelation is specific and delivered on a particular occasion to a specific person. Special revelation has taken many forms throughout history, including dreams, visions, and prophecies. Messengers of this revelation include prophets, angels, priests, kings, and Jesus Christ, who reveals much of God’s nature and purpose in the New Testament. The message was presented orally or in written form, leading to the writing of the scriptures, which is God’s word through divine revelation.
According to Wright and Francis, the Bible is God’s special revelation, consigned to written form to be available to both believers and non-believers. In the Old Testament, God used prophets to reveal special messages to specific people at particular events. The message contained threats of judgment and special warnings to specific people, such as kings. For instance, King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream foretold his downfall, which Daniel interpreted through divine inspiration.
Unlike the Old Testament, special revelations in the New Testament are characterized by hope and the promise of salvation. Most New Testament revelations are the works of Jesus, through which God reveals His nature and intentions to His appointed heir. The gospel scriptures bring good news, while the authoritative letters have fair warnings and promise of salvation for those who repent in the name of Jesus. John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”. Thus, the purpose of God is accomplished efficaciously through special revelation, which was interpreted and written to endure permanence in the world.
The Biblical Authors
The Scripture was written by various authors at different times, declaring specific messages from God. Many believe that biblical authors were spiritual giants and intellectuals chosen for their exceptional spiritual prowess and profound knowledge. However, biblical authors were ordinary men from diverse backgrounds, such as shepherds, priests, and fishermen.
The human authors understood their position as God’s agents to speak, write, and act as God commands. The writer’s spiritual wisdom and expression of God’s knowledge came from inspired speech, which made them unique and their message believable. The book of Acts declares, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished, and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. The apostles, John and Peter, had received the Holy Spirit, which guided them through special revelation to proclaim the word of God.
Among the authors of the Scripture, the people considered Apostle Paul knowledgeable due to his academic training and personal attributes. However, the apostle dismissed the claims as “garbage” because God inspired the wisdom in his speech. Although he had the wisdom to impart to the people, he proclaims that God inspired his eloquence. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he states that his messages “were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,” showing that God was the source of his messages.
Likewise, the people of Corinth stated that Paul’s letters were “weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive, and his speaking amounts to nothing”. The two verses demonstrate the ordinary and uninspiring nature of the authors when they are uninspired. They lacked sufficient intelligence and spiritual knowledge, without God’s revelation and inspired speech. Therefore, the authors of the scriptures worked as God’s assistants to write His inspired word and efficaciously accomplish His purpose to man.
The Scope of Inspiration of the Scripture
Inspiration
Humans, believers, and non-believers need to understand that biblical literature is more than just a book. God inspired the Scriptures; all words are from God’s heart and mind. The scriptures are inspired because they contain messages from divine revelation. The authors of the Bible are referred to as inspired because the Holy Spirit breathed the message of God into them, making their words divinely authoritative and above human power.
The term “inspiration” has numerous explanations, depending on the context in which it is used. The word inspiration originates from the Latin spiro, meaning “to breathe in.” Thus, Wright and Francis define inspiration as a supernatural influence wielded by the biblical authors by God’s spirit, giving the scripture divine authority and trustworthiness. Theologians have a more straightforward meaning of inspiration, which states that it is the divine action that God used to impart his knowledge to the human mind. Since God inspires the Scripture as the sole author of thoughts and words, it creates a sense of God’s fullness, which the Latin refers to as plenary.
In the Old Testament, God tells Moses, “I will raise a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him”. The words of God to Moses align with the theologian’s definition of the word inspiration. The verse confirms that God is the author of the Scripture since He puts his word into the human mind and controls their speech to conform to His commands.
Consequently, God imparts his words to the apostles in the New Testament, who spread the good news of God’s kingdom following his demands. Biblical writers did not write their words but thoughts imparted by the Holy Spirit directly from God. Therefore, inspired scriptures mean that all written words came from God as a command and were inscribed by human beings to fulfill his purpose efficaciously.
The Scripture Is God-Breathed
Numerous evidence and explanations regarding the Bible as God’s inspired work exist. As indicated in the definition of inspiration, the Scripture is God-breathed words to the biblical authors who acted as His agents in transcribing the words. In the book of Timothy, Paul writes, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” When Paul asserts that the Scripture is God-breathed, he confirms that all biblical literature is God’s word through divine operation and carries higher authority than man’s.
God, the supreme being, speaks to His people through the Biblical message, and those who obey are in harmony with the Lord. Likewise, David declared, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth” in his psalms to show God’s revelation in nature. God’s breath symbolizes His almighty power and authority over all creation, and referring to the Scripture as God-breathed shows the significance and breadth of His inspiration in the Scripture.
The Scripture is God’s word because He directly participated in exceptional writings, particularly in the Old Testament. Some Biblical authors, such as the prophets, claimed to have spoken and interacted with God directly while receiving the message. For instance, in Jeremiah 1:9, he writes, “Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘I have put my words in your mouth. Likewise, Isaiah 51:15 shows that God put his words into the mouths of the authors, which inspired their speech and written message in the Scripture.
An exceptional occurrence occurs at Mt. Sinai, where God gives a hand-written command. God gives Moses the ten commandments, written on two tablets by “the finger of God”.The Bible states, “The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets”. He instructs Moses to write the words in a book for others to witness over time and recall His commandments as the Sovereign. Thus, regardless of the human author, God’s original inscriptions of the ten commandments were inscribed and documented in written Scripture by man.
Similarly, God directly instructs the prophet Isaiah to write His message on a tablet and a book for future reference and witness of his word. In Jeremiah 30:2, God tells the prophet to “Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you” when he decrees the restoration of the Israelites from captivity. Throughout the verses, Jeremiah used phrases like “declares the Lord” and “this is what the Lord says” to show that he was a messenger and that God inspired his speech.
Since the message was a special revelation, Jeremiah became the author of the Scripture as God chose him to pass His message to the people in captivity. During the life and ministry of Jesus, He refers to God as the Father and the author of the Scripture. Jesus declared that his words were from the Father, indicating that He came to fulfill God’s commands.
Before his crucifixion, Jesus prays for his disciples and asks God to “Sanctify them with the truth” because God’s “word is truth”. Jesus implies that God’s word has the ultimate authority over creation, controlling the actions of man and their well-being on earth. Jesus tells his disciples to wait upon God’s Spirit before embarking on the great commission of spreading the good news and converting people into Christianity. Although the disciples had interacted with Jesus and gained knowledge of God, His kingdom, and purpose for man, they did not possess enough authority to proclaim his word unless inspired by the giver of the word.
In the book of Peter, he states that the will and actions did not write the Scripture of man. God is the author through the Holy Spirit who filled biblical authors with the right words and eloquence of writing so that God’s purpose was known explicitly. The apostle argued that the scriptures originated after God’s inspiration, which moved men to proclaim the kingdom and the good news of Christ.
Fulfillment of Prophecies
Most of the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus found in the book of Psalms are fulfilled by Jesus’ birth, life, and crucifixion. 1 Samuel 23:1-2 states the last words of David, where he declares that his words and prophecies were inspired by the “most high,” and the spirit of the Lord spoke through him to utter the words. According to Grudem, David’s last words refer to the prophecy of the coming of Jesus, which comes to pass in the New Testament, proving the Scripture is God’s word, which He is bound to fulfill as the Sovereign.
Peter affirms this argument when he tells the other disciples, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as a guide for those who arrested Jesus. The disciples were grieving the death of Jesus and blaming Judas for the betrayal. Nevertheless, Peter tells them it was written and must be fulfilled as God commanded.
In the same book, Peter tells of Judas’ demise as David foretold in his Psalms. The prophecy stated that the place of Judas will never be habitable by humans or nature and that another person will replace him in the Discipleship. Thus, Judas dies in his ill-begotten fields, which are deserted because of his death, and Mathias replaces him as God’s disciple.
Although David and other prophets foretold the coming of Jesus, they were in awe of the message because it seemed impossible. However, since God’s authority inspired the word, the coming of Jesus fulfills the prophecy where God’s purpose is accomplished efficaciously through man. Thus, the Gospel gives complete assurance to the doubtful that God inspired the Bible since His word comes through as promised.
The Inerrancy and Accuracy of Scripture
The contents of the Scripture are accurate without any errors. Carter argues that God is perfect, and His work is flawless. On the other hand, God’s perfect nature does not extend to human beings, subject to errors and inaccuracies as God’s creations. If the Bible is flawless, God is the message’s source because he inspired the eloquence of speech and writing beyond human perfection.
At the same time, the ancient knowledge in the Bible passed to Christians through generations has an extensive breadth that man cannot accomplish writing in one lifetime. The fact that different authors wrote the Bible at different times illustrates the extensive knowledge from a great source. According to the scriptures, God knows everything and does not lie, making the scriptures accurate, trustworthy, and without errors. The Psalmist David wrote, “All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal,” which is confirmed by John 10:35, asserting that the Scripture is the Truth and cannot be ignored.
The Bible is the most translated book and has been passed around for generations. Nevertheless, the message has remained the same as the original authors transcribed, showing the accuracy of God’s word. Biblical literature has existed for centuries, and the message remains the same and relevant today. Numerous people and societies use the Bible in various ways, such as politics, music, art, ethical reproof, and law.
Society believes in the Bible as God’s word regardless of personal beliefs, such as in swearing oaths of command or court witness. In addition to preserving the same message, the scriptures have a specific structure and unity of writings. The moral and doctrinal utterances are consistent throughout the Bible, illustrating God’s authority. Thus, those who read the Bible are transformed through the consistent themes of morality and understanding of the true God who gives eternal life through Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
The Scripture is God’s word that inspired men to accomplish His purpose. Although human beings wrote the Scripture, God commanded the writings, resulting in a trustworthy and systematically written piece of literature. The Scripture is inerrant, infallible, fulfilling God’s promises to man throughout history.
Paul reminds Christians that God uses the Bible to reproof, correct, and teach men in the path of righteousness so they may be adequately equipped to perform God’s work. In this regard, all who proclaim their desire to love and obey God must follow the message in the Scripture because it is the word of God given for man’s benefit. For God says, whoever rejects His word, reject Him as the Lord and Sovereign being, and He will judge everyone on the final day according to their disobedience. Therefore, Christians must strive to be sincere and accept the Scripture as God’s word, live reverently by the Scripture, and follow God’s command.
Bibliography
Carter, Craig A. Interpreting Scripture with the Great Tradition. Baker Books, 2018.
Dockery, David S., and David P. Nelson. “Special Revelation”. In A Theology for the Church, 116-123. Daniel L. Akin and Peter R. Schemm Jr. Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Publishing Group, 2007.
Grudem, Wayne A. Systematic Theology. 38 De Montfort Street, Leicester LE1 7GP, Great Britain, and 5300 Patterson Avenue S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA: Inter-Varsity Press, and by Zondervan Publishing House. 1994.
The Holy Bible, New International Version. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1984.
Wright, William M, and Francis Martin. Encountering the Living God in Scripture. Baker Academic, 2019.