What does it mean that the Bible is inspired?

Notice how inspiration is spoken of in verse 21. "Holy men of God" spake and wrote "moved by" or "borne along by" the Holy Ghost. They put their pens to paper under His power, hence He is the real Author of what they thus wrote.

Now here we learn that "prophecy was not ever uttered by the will of man, but holy men of God spake under the power of the Holy Spirit". This is one of the passages about the inspiration of the Word of God. Those who wrote the books of the Bible were holy men of God, acknowledged by Him as His instruments. Moses was such a man of God (Psa.90:1), just as Elijah, who could say, "The Lord ..., before whom I stand" (1 Ki.17:1). They stood before God, conscious of the fact that He constantly looked upon them. "Holy men of God", that is the character of those who wrote the books of the Old Testament - and also of the New Testament. But that is not all. Although believers in Old Testament times did not possess the Holy Spirit as we do, yet the holy writers were led by Him; they wrote in the power of the Holy Spirit. So what they penned were not human ideas, but things given to them by the power of the Holy Spirit.

But this is not all. Whilst there are notable phrases and words common to all,6 there are quite as notable differences7 in the mode of communication. Hence speculative minds are tempted to irreverent cutting of the knot they cannot untie;8 whilst unexercised souls fail to gather the profit intended of the Spirit through every shade of difference. For it is a perversion of the truth that the writers were inspired, but not the writings. If 2 Peter 1:21 warrants the former, still more explicit and distinctly applicable is the claim for the latter in 2 Tim. 3:16. In the verse preceding we have the "sacred" title of the Old Testament; but in verse 16 the Spirit of God pronounces for "every" thing that falls under the designation of "Scripture." It is not a question of human infirmity, but of God's power. Every Scripture is inspired by God (θεόπνευστος). Not only were the men inspired, but so, according to the Apostle Paul, is the result. Ordinarily their writing, like their words, would have been liable to the imperfections of human speech and the limitations of human thought; but every Scripture, every writing that comes under this category, is God-breathed, and in no way "left" to the mere accidents of human faculties. To mix up with inspiration the manifold errors of copyists in the lapse of ages is illicit and illogical, not to say dishonest, for this is quite another question. All we contend for is the Divine character of indisputable Scripture.

By inspiration we mean that which is God-breathed. We are told "all [or every], scripture is given by inspiration of God." It might be rendered "every scripture is God-breathed." (2 Tim. 3:16.) The scriptures are therefore a revelation from God; and their force or authority to our hearts and consciences flows from that fact. If scripture be not God's word, it has no more value to us than the writings of good men; but it is His word, hence it comes to us with the authority, love, wisdom and holiness of God. Though its pages run over thousands of years, take us back before time was, and lead our thoughts on to the eternal state, and some of its books were written more than three thousand years ago, it is unlike any other book, for it is always new. Take up an ordinary volume of human composition, written two or three hundred years ago, or even go back to one of the Fathers, and you will find you have scarcely patience to read a few pages; but scripture, as we have said, though old, is always new. It carries with it a freshness and power to the heart and conscience, as no other book does; and all the changes in the world and in mankind never seem to affect it. It warns us against "men" and their "philosophy," ritualism and its imposing ordinances, and of putting "tradition" in the place of authority instead of Christ. While addressing itself to the heart and conscience, it has always a voice of instruction and blessing to those who believe and receive its words from the mouth of God. Those who do not believe, cannot understand it, for "by faith we understand." Such only know its blessedness. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him," and we have "joy and peace in believing." To the rationalist scripture is inexplicable, to the ritualist it is confusion, to the infidel it abounds with mistakes, to the literary man there are inaccuracies and contradictions. Such, however, little know that God has said that "the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. 2:14.)

When we speak of Inspiration we refer to that second work of the Spirit of God by, which those men were enabled to set forth the revealed truth in words divinely chosen and therefore of divine fulness and precision, whether they spoke or whether they wrote them.

We are now, then, in a position to understand what Scripture means by inspiration as a special feature of the sacred writings. And the three different operations of the Spirit of God, all of which each New Testament vessel of inspiration was a subject, are distinctly made known to us. Between a revelation and an inspired writing or oral communication there was a great and important difference. By the former was communicated to a person from God something which he had not previously known; by the latter a person was divinely taught how to express what he had to say, so that it should be really the Word of God. Keeping this in mind, one can readily understand that there might be, as indeed there are, things and sayings recorded by inspiration which in themselves had not the Divine approval. Thus the words of the devil asserting that the authority and glory of all the kingdoms of the habitable earth were at his disposal were not true. But the record of those words in the gospel is an inspired record, the evangelist having written it in words taught him by the Spirit. So, again, the words of the Apostle Paul to Ananias calling him a "whited wall" (Acts 23:3) could not have been pleasing to God, yet they form part of the inspired history of the Acts of the Apostles. And this last instance illustrates a point, viz., that the operation of the Spirit of God by which the Apostles, and the teachers, and the writers communicated the words of God, was not necessarily continuous with them. Of this David at Nob (1 Sam. 21), Peter at Antioch (Gal. 2:11-14), and Paul at Jerusalem, are all proofs. We commonly speak of inspired men; Scripture treats of inspired communications, both oral and written.

Again, between the spiritual understanding of a revelation and inspiration we have also to mark the difference. Now the sacred writers, we learn, were not left to their understanding of things, nor to their memory, to record what they would as best they could. Had that been the case, there might have been varied degrees of intelligence, and therefore varied degrees of accuracy, in that which they set forth. All that however has been guarded against by teaching them the very words in which they were to express God's mind. Does the smile of incredulity pass over the countenance of any reader of these lines? We fearlessly ask such, What course should we as prudent rational people pursue? Whose judgment in the matter should we accept, that of those who confessedly have had no personal experience of inspiration, or that of those whose truthfulness none can challenge, and who distinctly assert that they spoke in words taught them by the Spirit of God?

We must never overlook the difference between revelation and inspiration. All Scripture is inspired of God, but not every word found therein is a revelation from God. When Solomon wrote, for instance, "There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink..." (Eccles. 2: 24), he was not uttering a revelation from God but rather his own foolishness- inspired to put it on record for our warning.

It is important to bear in mind, in reading every part of the word of God, that there is nothing brought in without the direct inspiration of the Holy Ghost. There is one particular passage in 1 Corinthians 7, where the apostle asserts expressly, that it was not the Lord, but himself, who gives a certain judgment about the natural relations of believers. But even the apostle did not write thus without the Holy Ghost. He was inspired to say it was not the Lord, but himself. Hence there is not the slightest contrariety, even in so exceptional a manner of speaking. Again, take the Book of Job, where you have Satan speaking, as well as elsewhere. But then, while no intelligent person would assert that what Satan said was inspired, yet the writer of the book was inspired to give it to us perfectly; the writer was thoroughly led of God to present just so much of what those concerned said, good or evil, man, Satan, or the Lord Himself, as would accomplish the divine object in that writing. Thus there is no exception whatever in the Bible to the grand truth that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God." This is not a mere deduction of man, but the positive doctrine of God Himself. Everything coming under the designation of "Scripture" (πᾶσα γραφή) is inspired of God. Such is the express statement of the Apostle Paul in his last epistle, (2 Tim.,) not limiting it, I apprehend, to what was already extant, but leaving room also for what was to be written; such as the Apocalypse. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God," etc. Whether what had been given, or the little that remained in order to close the canon of the Bible, all was equally from God; not all is equally lofty in its character, not all taking the form of doctrine, not even all revelation — for revelation and inspiration are two different things. In giving the account of our Lord's life, the writers occasionally, of course, reported what they themselves saw and heard. It was inspired, but a revelation is that which man never knew. When the Apostle Paul says, It is by the word of the Lord I declare unto you, that the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, that is not merely an inspired portion, but a revelation. So, of course, all prophecy is necessarily a revelation; and it was only in case of a positive revelation that there was any licence to hinder a person who might be speaking; no matter how important what he was communicating, if something was revealed to another who was sitting by, he was entitled to stop the speaker. This is necessarily, it seems to me, at an end now. Revelation being complete, any attempt to act upon it would be not only irregular and indecent, but a virtual pretension to a new revelation, which is positively false, and a dishonour to the old. When there was still a part of the mind of God yet to be imparted, God maintained the sovereign right of His Spirit to introduce a revelation. But when all the mind of God was thoroughly revealed in His word, such a line of conduct would naturally terminate. Accordingly, although a person might have what was most truly from God, it would be his duty to wait till the due time came; flesh, Satan, might hinder, but God is above all difficulties. I make these general remarks in reference to the verse which is about to come before us.

For man's will has had nothing to do with the prophecy of the word of God: and if man had no part in originating it, then certainly mere man is not the interpreter of it. But God laid hold of men, holy men set apart as those who loved good and hated evil. By the Holy Spirit He moved them to speak far above the measure of their understanding. They assumed no place of authority, but in lowliness of faith searched their own writings with desire to find God's interpretation as to them (1 Pet.1:10-12). God used the many various God-given abilities and capacities of men, yet guarding and guiding all they wrote in perfect accordance with His will.

Now it is such things as that we should look at and give them their proper weight when we take up God's word. Think of a book written in this way, written by authors so varied, and at times so distant one from another, all united and combined so to form one precious truth that the entire volume is as compacted together as any living organism could possibly be. Such is our Bible, God's book. I do not think of Moses, I do not think of the instrument save to wonder how God could take up such unlikely instruments and use them for His glory. For He had, if I may so speak, a twofold difficulty with such a man as Moses or as Paul. They had to unlearn, as well as learn. Again with such a man as Amos or Peter or John himself, you say the instrument is not fit, the mental endowment is not sufficient. Yet here He brings down the exalted one, He lifts up the lowly one, putting them on the one common plane using them as He finds them, making them the channels of His thoughts not their own thoughts yet with this remarkable fact that He never does violence to their individual character. Peter remains Peter and Moses remains Moses. Their abilities can be seen in their writings, their style is there, everything is there that speaks of the man, but there is nothing there that does not speak of God. How amazing how blessed that is.