INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE AN EXAMINATION OF FIVE PRINCIPLES

1 Inspiration of Scriptures: An Examination of Five Principles This research paper will examine five principles of inspiration of Scriptures starting with and overview, the doctrine of Scriptures, perspectives of inspiration, and the extent of inspiration. These five principles support the Bible being undoubtedly inspired by God, as demonstrated by its cohesive message, historical accuracy, and profound impact on individuals throughout history. Overview of the Inspiration of Scripture The Fact of Inspiration The inspiration of the Scriptures is fundamental to the Christian belief that the Bible is God’s divine word. Although human authors spoke in ordinary human terms, an element factored into the writing of the Bible, it is necessary to understand that God’s superintendence asserted the writings through the workings of the Holy Spirit. Wayne Grudem asserts that: “God’s words of personal address, and God’s words spoken through the lips of humans being, we also find in Scripture several instances where God’s words were put in written form” 1 The Holy Spirit instructed or guided the human authors of the Bible to write God’s words and ensured that they accurately conveyed the messages of truth intended by God. Walter Elwell gives a description of inspiration: “Inspiration is a supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit on divinely chosen agents in consequence of which their writings become trustworthy and authoritative.” 2 1 Grudem, Wayne A. 2020. Systematic Theology, 2 nd ed.: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine . Vol. Second edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic. 33. 2 Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology . 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2013. 248.

4 The divine origin of inspiration supports the words of the Bible as originating from a direct source through a higher power. God is the source and the power that inspired or guided the authors of the Bible through their handwriting. Myk Habets mentions: “The triune God reveals himself to human beings, and the Bible is the creaturely auxiliary that God takes up into this process, speaking through it and effecting his own self-disclosure by means of a text with a contingent origin and history.” 10 The inspiration of Scripture sustains the idea that the Bible has its definitive source in God. It is not merely an assemblage of human ideas or opinions but is God's revelations to humanity. Reinhold Bernhardt mentions: “Calvin and all the other theologians who elaborated a doctrine of the inspiration of the Bible refer to a verse in the Second Epistle to Timothy, “All Scripture is breathed out by God (3:16).” 11 In addition, Bernhardt mentions that "Johannes Cocceius, a reformed theologian of the seventeenth century, stated that God himself led and directed the prophets and the biblical authors; thus they did not follow their own will but were driven by the Holy Spirit.” 12 The decisiveness of the inspiration of scripture underlines unequivocally that the Scriptures written by human authors are clearly identified to be the words of God. The Permanence of Scripture The idea of the permanence of Scripture is related to the doctrine of inspiration of the Scriptures. Stanley Horton provides interesting points primarily concerning the permanence of 10 Habets, Myk. “ Theological, Theological Interpretation of Scripture .” International Journal of Systematic Theology: IJST. 23, no. 2 (2021): 3. 11 Bernhardt, Reinhold. " Scriptural Authority: A Christian (Protestant) Perspective ." Buddhist - Christian Studies 30 (2010). 75. 12 Bernhardt, Scriptural Authority , 76.

7 was by inspiration through the influence of the Holy Spirit. Ryrie then states: “The entire Bible is God-breath. This expresses the means of inspiration.” 21 God is the source recognized the mean by which the authors wrote not according to their own words. God is the source recognized as how the authors did not write according to their own words. Ryrie mentions lastly: “The entire Bible is profitable. This expresses the purpose of inspiration.” 22 The purpose in which Scriptures serve is that they should and can be applied to daily lives. Ryrie finishes these ideas with: “To sum up: putting the three ideas of 2 Timothy 3:16 together, the verses teaches that the entire Bible came from God in order to show us how to live.” 23 Paul’s words in second Timothy provides proof that every single word of Scripture is God breathed. William Shedd suggests: “It is improbable that God would reveal a fact or doctrine to the human mind, and do nothing toward securing and accurate statement of it.” 24 The phenomena of Scriptures arrives to a fact that accentuates the immersion of the Holy Spirit in guiding the authors who penned the Holy Scriptures. Divine Human Authorship The Bible is inspired by God, making it explicitly both of divine and human authorship. The writers who penned God’s Words were guided by God in their writings, conveying His message. Gerald O'Collins states that: “In-spiration, understood broadly, describes a double agency, a ‘spiritual’ influence from God that empowers human beings to 21 Ryrie, Basic Theology , 1996, 69. 22 Ryrie, Basic Theology , 1996, 69. 23 Ryrie, Basic Theology , 1996, 69. 24 Shedd, William. Dogmatic Theology: By William G. T. Shedd . Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1888. 89.

10 Scripture so that what they wrote was absolutely true, even if some of it was beyond their own understanding.” 29 Without the divine aid and guidance of God’s essence, the Holy Spirit, the manuscripts we have today would not be in existence, or if there were writings produced, they would not hold any godly truths or principles. William Cooke summarizes: “Inspiration is a supernatural gift. The inspiration we claim in the Bible is such divine influence or agency upon minds of sacred writers as rendered them the penmen of the Holy Ghost; so that through them God speaks to mankind, revealing truths which reason could never discover, predicting events which reason could never foresee, announcing promises which none but himself can fulfil, enforcing duties of imperative obligation, because required by His own authority, and narrating events for the illustration of His own character, and instruction of His people.” 30 It was imperative that God inspired His writers to authenticate His word for the world so that it would provide the second chapter of Timothy for the understanding and outline of how effective the God breathed word is necessary for the lives of the believers. The Extent of Inspiration Degrees of Inspiration The extent of inspiration deals with the setting or degree to which the authors of Scripture were inspired by the Holy Spirit in writing God's Word. However, the extent of inspiration included a broad arrangement of guidance for its writers; for instance, the Holy Spirit fired them 29 Chafer, Walvoord, Campbell and Zuck, Systematic Theology , 68. 30 Cooke, William. The Inspiration and Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures . Pamphlets. John Bakewell, 1846. https://jstor.org/stable/60202623 . 3.

13 The term God-Breathed refers to the belief of divine inspiration associated with the Scriptures. God directly influenced and guided biblical writers through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Jeremy Begbie states: “Accordingly, the Bible is not simply a record of, or witness to revelation: it is revelation.” 37 The fact that the Scriptures are the infallible Words of God spoken by Himself through the influence upon the biblical writers inspired by the Holy Spirit is an exceptional truth. B.B. Warfield alludes to it thusly: “Inspiration is that extraordinary, supernatural influence (or passively, the result of it) exerted by the Holy Ghost on the writers’ words were rendered also the words of God, and, therefore, perfectly infallible.” 38 Basically, the term God-Breathed points to Scripture not being just words that humans composed but being infused with the very breath and Spirit of God, supplying the authors in writing to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the Scripture. God used human mouthpieces through whom he could speak and reveal Himself and His word. Throughout the Old Testament, this is seen in Scriptures that reference “God has said.” Erickson writes: “The same thought, that God spoke by the mouth of the prophets, is found in Acts 3:18, 21, and 4:25. The kerygma, then, identifies “it is written in the scripture” with “God has said it.” 39 One fact that can be gathered from the inspiration of Scripture is that we can hear God's voice in Scripture because God breathed His words into the biblical authors for His 37 Begbie, Jeremy. " Who is this God? Biblical inspiration revisited ."   Tyndale Bulletin   43, no. 2 (1992). 2. 38 Warfield, Benjamin Breckinridge, Samuel G. Craig, and Cornelius Van Til.   The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible . Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1948. 319. 39 Erickson, Christian Theology , 171.

16 Clark, Samuel. The Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures Asserted in Two Discourses the Former Shewing the Nature and Extent of the Inspiration Vouchsaf’t by the Holy Ghost to the Penmen of the Scriptures: To Which Is Added, A Discourse Concerning the Testimony of the Spirit on Rom. 8. 16. London: Printed for Jonathan Robinson ..., 1699.  Cooke, William. The Inspiration and Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures . Pamphlets. John Bakewell, 1846. https://jstor.org/stable/60202623 .    Costello, Charles Joseph, 1899. St. Augustine's Doctrine on the Inspiration and Canonicity of Scripture . by the Rev. Charles Joseph Costello . District of Columbia: The Catholic University of America, 1930, 1930.  Decker, Rodney J. "Verbal-Plenary Inspiration and Translation." Journal of Ministry and Theology 8 (2004).    Doody, John, Alexander R. Eodice, and Kim Paffenroth. Augustine and Wittgenstein . Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2018.  Geisler, Norman L., and Roach, William C. Defending inerrancy: Affirming the accuracy of Scripture for a new generation . Baker Books, 2012.    Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology . Third; 3; ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2013.  Grech, Prosper. “Further Reflections on Biblical Inspiration and Truth.” Biblical Theology Bulletin. 42, no. 2 (2012).  Grudem, Wayne A. 2020. Systematic Theology, Second Edition: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine . Vol. Second edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic.    Horton, Stanley. Systematic Theology: Revised Edition . Ashland: Logion Press, 2012.     Macleod, John. " Inspiration of the Scriptures, the." Evangelical Quarterly 7, (1935).   Habets, Myk. “Theological, Theological Interpretation of Scripture.” International Journal of Systematic Theology: IJST. 23, no. 2 (2021)  McDowell, Josh. God-Breathed: The Undeniable Power and Reliability of Scripture . Uhrichsville: Barbour Publishing, Inc., 2015.  Murray, John. " The Inspiration of the Scripture ." Westminster Theological Journal (1940)   O’Collins, Gerald. Inspiration: Towards a Christian Interpretation of Biblical Inspiration . First edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.  Palmer, Ian S. " The Authority and Doctrine of Scripture in the thought of John Calvin ." Evangelical Quarterly 49 (1977).  Ryrie, Charles Caldwell, Wesley R. Willis, and Charles Caldwell Ryrie. Basic Theology . Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996.