Definition Of Inspiration

DEFINITION OF INSPIRATION
What it is Not.

We have all heard people speak of how they were watching a beautiful golden sunset and were inspired to paint a picture or to write a poem. This is not inspiration in the theological sense. Inspiration is not a feeling or a wonderment or an excitement or even a sense of creative energy.

What it Is.

It is the truth that God has moved certain men to write in such a way that the result of that writing, the Scriptures, are the very word of God.

Contrast of Revelation versus Inspiration.

Inspiration is a narrower term than revelation. Inspiration relates to God's revelation of Himself as it is found in the pages of the Scriptures. Although all Scripture is inspired by God and all Scripture is therefore revelation from God, not all of revelation is Scripture. We have already noted how God has revealed Himself at many different times and in many different ways. The Scriptures are therefore only one of the many ways in which God has revealed Himself.

Revelation|Inspiration|
God has revealed Himself|God in-breathed the Scriptures|
Involves both general as well as special revelation|Confined to the Bible|