Inspired by God (2315) (theopneustos from Theos = God + pneo = to breathe or blow) means divinely breathed or given by inspiration of God and it nicely sums up Peter's parallel teaching in 2Pe 1:21-note. (See J C Ryle Inspiration; A W Pink's Divine Inspiration of the Scriptures) The Latin Vulgate renders it "divinitus inspirata". Every single word of Scripture is God breathed. The rabbis taught that the Spirit of God rested on and in the prophets and spoke through them so that their words did not come from themselves, but from the very mouth of God which is in accord with Peter's declaration that... "no (absolute negation = absolutely none - and placed first in the Greek for emphasis) prophecy was ever made by an act of human will (no prophet starts a prophecy by himself because he wanted to - the Scriptures are not the product of human effort), but (on the contrary which presents a strong antithesis to the idea that prophecy originated from the mind & will of men) men (the human instruments who "transcribed" as it were the the Words of God) moved by the Holy Spirit (were continually carried or borne along by the Spirit a beautiful figurative use of the verb Luke uses to describe a sailing vessel being carried along by the wind) spoke from God" (2Pe 1:21-note) It is not surprising then that in the OT alone, the human writers refer to their writings as the words of God over 3800 times! The early church was in entire agreement with this view. As discussed above the ASV rendering of 2Timothy 3:16 (“All Scripture inspired by God is...”) leaves open the possibility that some Scripture is not inspired by Him and ultimately would make the Bible worthless as a reliable guide to divine truth. Who would determine which part of it is inspired by God and which is not? And so we see that the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture is not optional but is vitally important, and thus not surprisingly is a doctrine Satan has attacked from the beginning asking Eve... “Indeed, has God said?” (Ge 3:1, 2, 3, 4, 5) The Scriptures are the voice of God to the soul of man. It is inconceivable that God would give His people a book they could not trust. He is the God of truth (KJV Dt 32:4); Jesus is “the truth” (Jn 14:6); and the Holy Spirit is the “Spirit is truth” (1Jn 5:7). Jesus said of the Scriptures, “Thy Word is truth” (Jn 17:17). “ The greater Presbyterian preacher Donald Grey Barnhouse explained inspiration this way... Just as the Holy Spirit came upon the womb of Mary, so He came upon the brain of a Moses, a David, an Isaiah, a Paul, a John and the rest of the writers of the divine library. The power of the Highest overshadowed them, therefore that holy thing which was born of their minds is called the Holy Bible, the word of God. The writing of Luke will, of course, have the vocabulary of Luke and the work of Paul will bear the stamp of Paul’s mind. However, this is only in the same manner that the Lord Jesus might have had eyes like his mother’s or hair that was the same color and texture as hers. He did not inherit her sins because the Holy Spirit has come upon her. If we ask, how could this be, the answer is God says so. And the writings of men of the Book did not inherit the errors of their carnal minds because their writings were conceived by the Holy Spirit and born out of their personalities without partaking of their fallen nature. If we ask, how could this be, again the answer is God says so. ><> ><> ><> The Real "Three R's" The Bible is relevant because it is revealed. It is always a return to reality. ><> ><> ><> Richard DeHaan writes the following devotional that humorously illustrates "divine inspiration": The story is told about a young boy named Timothy who was planning to give his grandmother a Bible for Christmas. He wanted to write something special on the flyleaf but wasn't sure what to say. So he decided to copy what he had seen in a book his father had received from a friend. Christmas morning came and Grandmother opened her gift. She was not only pleased to receive the Bible, but she was amused by the inscription Timothy had put in it. It read: "To Grandma, with compliments of the author." Even though that boy was unaware of it, he had suggested a unique fact about the Bible. It came to us from its Author -- God. Knowing who wrote a book often determines whether we'll pick it up and read it. The Bible, with its divine origin, not only ought to be read, but it demands our respect, our trust, and our obedience. It comes "with compliments of the Author." (R De Haan) (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved) Your thoughts are here, my God, Expressed in words divine, The utterance of heavenly lips In every sacred line.--Bonar The Bible is a gift from the Author -- God. ><> ><> ><> A T Robertson once quipped that... The greatest proof that the Bible is inspired is that it has stood so much bad preaching. Augustine of Hippo said... Let us therefore yield ourselves and bow to the authority of the Holy Scriptures, which can neither err nor deceive. In the writing of the Jewish historian Josephus (Contra Apion, i.7) we find a statement that parallels 2Ti 3:16: “The Scripture of the prophets who were taught according to the inspiration of God." What the Bible says, God says. The Bible is the final authority, the veritable "Supreme Court" from which there is no appeal. It was on such a basis that Martin Luther took his historic stand. The moment of crisis came on April 18, 1521, at the Diet of Worms, when he was called on by Johann von Eck, Official General of the Archbishop of Trier to renounce his errors. Luther replied, "Unless I am convinced by testimonies of Scripture or by evident reason-for I believe neither the Pope nor Councils alone, since it is established that they have often erred and contradicted themselves-I am the prisoner of the Scriptures cited by me, and my conscience has been taken captive by the Word of God. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen." (Bolding added) The Greek word for "inspired" describes ships sails filled, being carried along over the seas. Paul says every Scripture is the product of the Spirit’s work. He filled the writers and carried them along producing His Words. And even though God's Word bears the mark or style of the writer’s personality, every Word is the true and sure word of God Himself. Next time you read the Word, stop for a moment and contemplate that the eternal, all knowing and all loving God is speaking to your heart and mind and soul and spirit and be amazed as such condescending mercy and grace. David affirms divine inspiration writing "The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue." (2Sa 23:2) And Jesus Himself reaffirms that the Spirit spoke through David stating that "David himself said in the Holy Spirit, 'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I PUT THINE ENEMIES BENEATH THY FEET." (Quoting from Psalm 110) (Mt 12:36) The author of Hebrews directly attributes Scripture to the Spirit of God "Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE." (Heb 3:7-note) Clearly, the Spirit of God used men of God to write the Word of God. The Spirit did not erase the natural characteristics of the writers. In fact, God in His providence prepared the writers for the task of writing the Scriptures. Each writer has his own distinctive style and vocabulary. Each book of the Bible grew out of a special set of circumstances. In His preparation of men, in His guiding of history, and in His working through the Spirit, God brought about the miracle of the Scriptures. The Westminster Confession states that... The authority of the holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man, or church; but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the author thereof: and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God. Westminster Confession Wiersbe has a cautionary explanation adding that... "We must not think of “inspiration” the way the world thinks when it says, “Shakespeare was certainly an inspired writer.” What we mean by biblical inspiration is the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit on the Bible’s writers, which guaranteed that what they wrote was accurate and trustworthy. Revelation means the communicating of truth to man by God; inspiration has to do with the recording of this communication in a way that is dependable. Whatever the Bible says about itself, man, God, life, death, history, science, and every other subject is true. This does not mean that every statement in the Bible is true, because the Bible records the lies of men and of Satan. But the record is true." (Bolding added) Hiebert comments that "inspiration is here not asserted of the authors of Scripture but of the writings themselves. But inspiration was not mechanical. The Holy Spirit did not destroy the personality and individual characteristics of the individual writers but rather so worked through the entire being of the writer that the very words used, although truly the words of the human author, were yet the very words the Spirit intended to be employed to express the divine truths being recorded." “Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself, but because it contradicts them.” The more you read the Bible, the more you love it; the more you love it, the more you read it. Read the Bible as if God were speaking to you. He is! Scripture is profitable for teaching (what is right), for reproof (what is not right), for correction (how to get right), and for training in righteousness (how to stay right). A common phrase used to describe "all Scripture" is that it is characterized by "VERBAL PLENARY INSPIRATION". Inspiration means that the text of Holy Scripture was "breathed-out" by the Holy Spirit and written down by holy men using their own gifts, words and personal style. Plenary means that inspiration extends to every part of the Bible. Webster defines "plenary" as "complete in every respect". In simple terms, this word conveys the idea that all the words of Scripture are God’s words. Verbal means that inspiration extends to the very words of the text. When the Bible speaks, God speaks. Regarding "verbal plenary inspiration", The Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms states that... God is the ultimate author of the Bible in its entirety. That is, 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. (Grenz, S., Guretzki, D., & Nordling, C. F. Pocket dictionary of theological terms. Page 91 . Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press) How important is a proper understanding of the truth of this verse for you? The question of the supreme authority of the Word of God is not just some ethereal debate but is the supreme issue. Until you've decided this issue and honestly answered this questions, you're going to be tossed to and fro. Nothing is "of equal value" with the Word of God. It stands supreme. It is the "Supreme Court" of the Christian faith. Tradition may be likened to a lower court, statements of faith to a higher court, councils to a court of appeal. But the Bible itself is the Supreme Court from which there is and can be no appeal. SOMETHING OLD. SOMETHING NEW: AFFIRMATIONS OF THE AUTHORITY & SUFFICIENCY OF SCRIPTURE AN ANCIENT CONFESSION: The Belgic Confession of Faith (1561): Article 7: We believe that [the] Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God, and that whatsoever man ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein ... Neither do we consider of equal value any writings of men, however holy these men may have been, with those divine Scriptures nor ought we to consider custom or the great multitude, or antiquity, or succession of times and persons, or councils, decrees or statutes, as of equal value with the truth of God ... Therefore, we reject with all our hearts whatsoever doth not agree with this infallible rule which the apostles have taught us, saying, Try the spirits whether they are of God. Likewise, if there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house. (Click full confession) A MODERN CONFESSION: Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (1978) Article 1: We affirm that the Holy Scriptures are to be received as the authoritative Word of God. We deny that the Scriptures receive their authority from the Church, tradition, or any other human source. Article 2: We affirm that the Scriptures are the Supreme Written Norm by which God binds the conscience, and that the authority of the Church is subordinate to that of Scripture. We deny that Church Creeds, councils, or declarations have authority greater than or equal to the authority of the Bible. Article 3: We affirm that the written Word in its entirety is revelation given by God. We deny that the Bible is merely a witness to revelation, or only becomes revelation in encounter, or depends on the responses of men for its validity. Article 6: We affirm that the whole of Scripture and all its parts, down to the very words of the original, were given by divine inspiration. We deny that the inspiration of Scripture can rightly be affirmed of the whole without the parts, or of some parts but not the whole. Article 7: We affirm that inspiration was the work in which God by His Spirit, through human writers, gave us His Word. The origin of Scripture is divine. The mode of divine inspiration remains largely a mystery to us. We deny that inspiration can be reduced to human insight, or to heightened states of consciousness of any kind. Article 8: We affirm that God in His work of inspiration utilized the distinctive personalities and literary styles of the writers whom He had chosen and prepared. We deny that God, in causing these writers to use the very words that He chose, overrode their personalities. (Click to read all 19 Articles of the Confession followed by an exposition of how the articles were derived: The subtopics include: A. Creation, Revelation and Inspiration B. Authority: Christ and the Bible C. Infallibility, Inerrancy, Interpretation D. Skepticism and Criticism E. Transmission and Translation F. Inerrancy and Authority- This is meaty reading but needful in these "PERILOUS" "LAST DAYS" when the fear of the LORD seems to be far removed from the thoughts of most of mankind including many in the "church".) This confession ends prayerfully with these wonderful words "We affirm that what Scripture says, God says. May He be glorified. Amen and Amen." And all God's children cry "Amen!" AND IS PROFITABLE: kai ophelimos: (Ps 19:7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 119:97, 98, 99;119:100, 101, 102 Ps 119:103, 104, 119:130 Mic 2:7; Acts 20:20; 20:27 1Co 12:7; Ep 4:11, 12, 4:13, 4:14, 4:15, 4:16) beneficial (ALT) useful" (Barclay)