The
process by which the Bible came from the mind of God to the mind of man
is
called revelation. The process by which it was written is
called inspiration.
In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Paul wrote, “All Scripture is given by
inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete,
thoroughly
equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16‑17 NKJV).
The phrase
“given by inspiration of God,” can also be accurately translated in
these
words, “is breathed out by God.” Paul taught the Corinthian brethren
that the
Holy Spirit searched the mind of Elohim and revealed his will
to the
writers of the Bible, and then helped them choose the appropriate words
in
which to express the ideas of God. (See: 1 Corinthians 2:1-14.) The
searching
of the mind of Elohim by the Holy Spirit and revealing the mind
of God
to the writers of the Bible was one part of the equation, the speaking,
or
writing, of those words in the words which the Holy Spirit taught was
the
second part of the equation, and it is his part that is called
inspiration. The
apostle Peter also spoke to this matter, especially regarding the work
of the
Old Testament prophets when he wrote, “And so we have the prophetic
word
confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark
place,
until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing
this
first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
for
prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as
they were
moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:19‑21). Hence, in both parts of
the
process of bringing the Bible into the world, the Holy Spirit did his
work in
both revealing and inspiring the Sacred Volume.
Inspiration does not mean
that the writers and speakers of the Bible merely felt
enthusiastic about what they were doing as did some of the great
artists and
writers of the earthly material like Handel when he composed his Messiah,
or Shakespeare when he produced the plays that have enthralled
audiences for
four hundred years. It means that God assured that his message came
accurately
to this earth by allowing the Holy Spirit, who is also God (Acts
5:3-4), and
third personality of Elohim, to do the work of getting this
marvelous
and sacred work to the earth. This was not entrusted to any heavenly
creature
such as angels, but this work was done by the Holy Spirit, God himself,
to
assure that all would be done precisely and correctly. That is why we
maintain
the Bible is reliable, indestructible, historical, factual,
scientifically
correct, inerrant and infallible. It is truly a product of heaven!
However,
since we can observe differences in wording, style and flow of thought
throughout the Bible, we must not think that God simply dictated the
Bible as
an executive dictates a letter to a secretary. The Holy Spirit did his
work in
such a way as to allow the different styles, word choice and
construction of
the writers to come through. Since, as we have pointed out the Holy
Spirit is
God, he had the power and ability to take the words, talents, styles
and
thought processes of the writers of the Bible and infallibly use them
in such
as way as to precisely write what God wanted his creatures to know. In
every
step of the process, God was involved. Nothing was left to mere human
wisdom
due to our penchant for making mistakes.
It is because the Holy Spirit operated in just
this way in producing the Bible that such evidences as writing styles,
wording,
etc. can be used to identify authors of various books, or assure that
those
claiming to be the authors are indeed, the authors. We do this all the
time in
the ordinary affairs of life, and there is no reason we should not do
the same
in matters of biblical understanding as well. The Bible is, then, a
combination
of human talent and the divine, with the divine overshadowing.
How the Bible Was
Written