Inspiration

Inspiration

Inspiration: God the Holy Spirit so supernaturally directed the human writers of Scripture, that without waiving their human intelligence, individuality, literary style, personal feelings or any other human factor, His own complete and coherent message to man was recorded in perfect accuracy in the original languages of Scripture, the very words bearing the authority of divine authorship.

This is called the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Scripture.

“Verbal” means that the Bible in its original words, from first to last, is the exact record of the mind and will of God as He intended it to be.

“Plenary” means that the entire text is equally from God, but not necessarily equally important or equally indispensable. For example, the Bible quotes human and Satanic lies, and erroneous views of false prophets.

Therefore, inspiration guarantees the accuracy of what is there, but it does not condone or sponsor errors, evils, or falsehood; it merely explains them in detail.

Man is the instrument, but not the author, of the Word of God.

2 Pet. 1:21, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were move by the Holy spirit.”

2 Tim .3:16a, “All Scripture is God-breathed, and is profitable”

The Holy Spirit communicated to the human author God’s complete and coherent message to that generation and all future generations of history.

2 Sam. 23:2-3; Isa. 59:21; Jer. 1:9; Matt. 22:42-43; Mark 12:36; Acts 4:24-25, 28:25.

The human writer wrote down in his own language and within the framework of his own personality, the divine message to man. God used the writers’ vocabulary, intelligence, personality, feeling and individuality.

Inspiration guarantees that the Bible is accurate.

Apostles and Prophets

The Old Testament writers were all prophets. There were three categories of prophets.

Moses was a unique prophet. He wrote the first five books of the Old Testament, called the TORAH. He was unique because he had both the gift and office of prophet. Moses received all his information by dialogue directly from God.

There were those with the office of prophet, called the NEBI’IM. These men include Joshua, Samuel (Judges and Samuel), Nathan and Gad (parts of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets: Hosea, Habakkuk, Zechariah, Malachi, Amos, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, and Haggai.

There were those with the gift, but not the office, of prophecy (they did something else by profession). They wrote the KETHUBIM, which means the writings. They include David, Solomon, Job, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Chronicles.

Every extant book of an acknowledged messenger of the Lord who was commissioned by God to make known His will was accepted immediately as the Word of God in the formation of the Old Testament Canon.

The formation of the Old Testament was closed in the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus I (465-425 BC). Ezra came to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes I; Nehemiah came in the twentieth year of his reign. These were the two last writers of the Old Testament.

The New Testament was written primarily in Koine (common) Greek. Prior to Koine, there were three major branches of Greek language in classical times: Aeolic, Doric, and Ionic (Attic). The conquest of Alexander led to the formation of a common Greek language, Koine, which became the lingua franca from around BC 300 until 500 AD

New Testament writers were those with the gift of apostleship or who were closely associated with an apostle (Mark with Peter; Luke with Paul).

Only Luke and Paul break out in Attic Greek at times, showing their higher classical education. Most of the New Testament is in Koine Greek so that the Word of God could be understood by the common man.

Biblical Descriptions for the Canon of Scripture.

Heb. 4:12, “The Word of God.”

1 Cor. 2:16, “The mind of Christ.”

Heb. 3:7, “The voice of the Spirit.”

Jer. 1:9, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.”

Mark 12:36; Psalm 51:4; Heb. 10:35-36.

Acts 28:28, “The Holy Spirit rightfully spoke to Isaiah…”

Psalm 138:2, “For You have exalted above all things Your person and Your doctrine.” God has placed the highest possible value on the Scripture.

Rom 3:3, “You have become justified in your sayings …”