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Answer
The concept of inspiration is the belief that the Bible is divinely inspired and therefore serves as our flawless guide for faith and conduct. If the Bible is merely a product of human creativity, then there is no compelling rationale to adhere to its teachings and ethical principles. The Bible itself asserts to be divinely inspired: “All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). In this verse, we observe two key points about Scripture: 1) it is “inspired by God,” and 2) it is “beneficial” for Christian living.
There are four perspectives on inspiration:
1. The neo-orthodox perspective on inspiration
2. The dictation perspective on inspiration
3. The perspective of limited inspiration
4. The perspective of plenary verbal inspiration
The neo-orthodox perspective on inspiration highlights the transcendence of God. Neo-orthodoxy asserts that God is so fundamentally different from us that the only way we can truly know Him is through direct revelation. This emphasis on God’s transcendence rejects the idea of natural theology (i.e., the belief that God can be understood through His creation). Additionally, neo-orthodoxy refutes the notion that the Bible is the literal Word of God. Instead, the Bible serves as a testimony or conduit to the Word of God, Jesus. According to the neo-orthodox theory of inspiration, the words in the Bible are not directly from God but are instead fallible words penned by fallible individuals. The Bible is considered “inspired” only in the sense that God can occasionally use the words to communicate with individuals.
The neo-orthodox theory of inspiration essentially negates true inspiration. If the Bible is the flawed creation of fallible humans, then it holds little to no significance, at least not more than any other literary work. God could just as easily communicate with us through other means.
The works of Dickens or Stevenson as one could through the Bible.
The dictation theory of inspiration sees God as the author of Scripture and the individual human agents as secretaries or amanuenses taking dictation. God spoke, and man wrote it down. This view has some merit, since we know there are portions of Scripture in which God essentially says, “Write this down” e.g., Jeremiah 30:2, but not all Scripture was created that way. The Pentateuch is essentially a chronicle of the Jewish people prior to settling in the Promised Land. While Moses is the primary author, much of the Pentateuch required editorial work on Moses’ part, as he undoubtedly compiled earlier records for some of the history. Luke states in the preamble to his gospel that he performed detailed research into the events of the life of Jesus before writing (Luke 1:1-4). Many of the prophetic books read like journals of the prophets’ lives. The bottom line is that the dictation theory only explains certain portions of Scripture, but not all of it or even most of it.
The theory of limited inspiration is the opposite view of the dictation theory. Whereas the latter sees Scripture as primarily God’s work with minimal human contribution, the former sees Scripture as primarily man’s work with limited help from God. The theory of limited inspiration says that God guided the human authors but allowed them freedom to express themselves in their works, even to the point of allowing factual and historical errors. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit prevented doctrinal errors. The problem with this view is that, if the Bible is prone to error in its historical accounts, then how can we trust it in doctrinal matters? With limited inspiration, the reliability of the Bible is called into doubt. This view also seems to ignore the fact that the Bible’s story of redemption from Genesis to Revelation is told against the backdrop of human history—the doctrine is woven within the his
Tory. We can’t arbitrarily say that the history is inaccurate and then state it contains a kernel of doctrinal truth.
The final view, and the perspective of orthodox Christianity, is the theory of plenary, verbal inspiration. The term plenary means “complete or full,” and verbal means “the very words of Scripture.” Therefore, plenary, verbal inspiration is the belief that every single word in the Bible is the very word of God. It’s not solely the ideas or thoughts that are inspired, but the words themselves. Second Timothy 3:16–17 uses a unique Greek term, theopneustos, which literally means “God-breathed.” Scripture is “breathed out” of the mouth of God. The words of the Bible are God’s words.
Furthermore, “Prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” «For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.», (2 Peter 1:21). This passage provides insight into how God inspired the human authors. Men spoke (or wrote) “as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The verb for “carried along” is used to describe a sail being filled with wind and carrying a boat along the water. When the human authors were putting pen to paper, the Holy Spirit “carried them along” so that what they wrote were the “breathed-out” words of God. Therefore, while the writings reflect the personality of the individual authors (Paul’s style is quite distinct from that of James or John or Peter), the words themselves are precisely what God intended to be written.
The correct perspective on biblical inspiration is the orthodox view of the church, which affirms that the Bible is the plenary, verbally inspired Word of God.
