Inspiration of the Bible
Clarence H. Benson
The inspiration of the Bible is of great importance, for all Christian doctrines are
developed from the Bible and rest upon it for authority. The conviction that the
eternal God has revealed Himself to man has always been central in the Christian
faith. Since man could never have discovered God by himself, Christians have
always held that God makes Himself known to man supernaturally. The books that
form the canon of the Old and New Testaments as originally written are fully
inspired and entirely free from error. These books constitute the written Word of
God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
To accept the inspiration of the Bible does not mean that every passage can be
explained or understood. There are depths in God’s Book that the mind of man
cannot fathom, but far from being indications of weakness or failure, they serve to
prove the Bible’s divine origin. If the intelligence of man could master the Bible from
beginning to end, it might be justifiable to question its divine origin. God has
revealed a sufficient knowledge of His love and grace for believers to have both
faith and hope in Him and to be assured that “if any man will do his will, he shall
know of the doctrine” (John 7:17). If Christians study the Bible, not with prejudice
and criticism, but with faith in and love for its Author, they will understand its
message.
There is a distinction between revelation and inspiration. Revelation is the record of
God’s communication through men. Inspiration is God’s power enabling man to
record correctly the truth revealed. The word inspiration, used only twice in the
English Bible (Job 32:8; 2 Tim. 3:16), means the“inbreathing” of God into man, so
that man spoke or wrote God’s revelation of truth with authority and accuracy (2
Pet. 1:21).
Not everything in the Bible has been directly revealed to men. The Bible contains
history in the language of men, even of wicked men, but there is no part that is not
inspired. The Spirit so directed and influenced the writers that they were kept from
any error of fact or doctrine.
However, inspiration does not mean God has given His approval to every recorded
statement. The Bible records the lies of Satan (for example, “Ye shall not surely
die”) and the misdeeds of many wicked people, some of whom God used to
communicate His message. For example, the book of Job contains the truths of
Jehovah, the words of Satan, the speech of Elihu, and the arguments of Job and
the three friends. Satan, Job, and his three friends did not speak by inspiration of
God. They spoke their own opinions. Inspiration means that no one of them is
misrepresented, but that each one spoke the words attributed to him in Scripture.
The fact that misdeeds like Saul’s slaughter of the priests, David’s numbering of the
people, and Herod’s massacre of the innocents are recorded in the Bible does not
imply that God approved of them, but the divine record vouches for the accuracy
of these facts.
The Extent of Inspiration
While the fact of inspiration is recognized by most churches, all do not agree on the
extent of inspiration. There are various theories of inspiration.
Natural Inspiration
This theory identifies inspiration with a high order of human ability. It denies
anything supernatural in the preparation of the Scriptures. It claims that the biblical
writers were no more inspired than Milton, Shakespeare, or Mohammed.
However, when David said, “The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was
in my tongue” (2 Sam. 23:2), he meant something more than human skill. When
Isaiah announced, “thus saith the Lord” (e.g., Isa. 43:1), he claimed something
higher than a great poet’s eloquence. When Paul said to the Corinthians, “Which
things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which
the Holy Ghost teacheth”
(1 Cor. 2:13), he used language for which no parallel can be found in mere human
ability.
When one compares the literature of the great secular authors with that of the
Bible, the difference between the two is not one simply of degree, but of kind. The
Bible is not only a higher plane of literature, but an environment that is altogether
different. If the qualifications of Bible writers were the same as those of great
secular writers, there would be nothing to assure the readers that Moses, David,
and Paul did not make human errors or teach human views of life. The theory of
natural inspiration discredits rather than supports the Word of God.
Mechanical Inspiration
This view ignores human instrumentality in the preparation of the Scriptures and
claims that the writers were like robots, as insensible to what they were doing as
are piano keys to a musician’s touch. But consider the stern Moses, the poetic
David, the lovable John, and the scholarly Paul. Careful study of the Scriptures
reveals that God used these writers’ individualities to reach all kinds of people.
Partial Inspiration
The theory of partial inspiration is held by some who have a superficial knowledge
of the Bible and who accept scientists’ theories as facts. In the face of apparent
discrepancies between scientific theories and Scripture, they conclude that the Bible
contains the Word of God, but that much of it is not the Word of God and
therefore not necessarily accurate. They can thus accept the theory of evolution
and reject as not inspired those portions of Scripture that refute it. If Jonah’s
experiences seem incompatible with scientific findings, or statements about the
total depravity of human nature and the eternal punishment of the wicked are
unacceptable, this theory of partial inspiration provides a convenient escape. But
who is to decide what is and what is not inspired? The theory of partial inspiration
leaves people in great uncertainty.