#101 – Divine inspiration

We look at some of the common ways that believers [mis]understand this, and share some other perspectives on the how’s, who’s and what’s behind it.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Is the Bible divinely-inspired?

Often the first thing that Evangelicals will do when asked that question  — after voicing a very vigorous “YES!”  — is quote 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which begins with “All scripture is God-breathed …”

The problem is, that’s not the question that was asked.

To begin with, Paul is NOT talking here about the Bible! He’s writing this before the Bible as we know it even existed: before the Gospels or any of the non-Pauline books (from Peter, James, Luke, and one or more Johns) had even been written, and hundreds of years before a number of books were selected out of a large pile of sacred writings circulating at the time and collated into what we call “the Bible”.

He’s probably referring in part to the Old Testament books, but who’s to say he wasn’t also referring to yet other books? He uses a phrase which in the original Greek means “sacred writings” and which is translated in our modern English into “all scripture”. The Old Testament itself endorses many other ancient Hebrew books — “sacred writings” — that are not in our modern Bibles:

• the Annals of Samuel the Seer (1 Chronicles 29:29)
• the Records of Nathan the prophet (1 Chronicles 29:29; 2 Chronicles 9:29)
• the Records of Gad the Seer (1 Chronicles 29:29)
• the Visions of Iddo the Seer (2 Chronicles 9:29 and 12:15)
• the Records of Shemaiah the prophet (2 Chronicles 12:15)
• the Book of the Wars of the Lord (Numbers 21:14)
• the Book of Jashar (Joshua 10:13)
• the Annals of the Acts of Solomon (1 Kings 11:41)
• Annals of the Kings of Judah (1 Kings 14:29). 

Paul would also have been studying from other Hebrew religious books which were available to him. Some of these are collated into what we call the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha: you may have heard of the Book of Enoch, the four Books of Maccabees, and dozens of other ones.

And if modern day Fundamentalists hang their hats on the words “all scripture” — as in “ALL scripture” — then what does one do about other “sacred writings” and “scripture” that Paul would have known about? He would have known about the religious “sacred writings” of the Greeks and Romans (in fact, he quoted from a couple Greek philosophers), and that their slaves and business partners might have had their own “sacred writings” or “scripture” from yet other religions.

And then there’s the strange word that Paul uses: a compound word that literally means “God-breathed”. It’s only used once in the Bible, and only a few times in other Greek literature, so scholars really don’t know what to do with it. Does it mean “dictated”? Most translators and scholars have opted for the translation “inspired by God”. But even that: what does that mean? How does that work? Did God put images in the heads of the writers? Did he actually fire the neurons in their brains?

We look at a number of the “how’s” that likely played into that inspiration:

• the zeitgeist …. worldview … of the cultures they lived in
• circumstances and events in their personal lives and in the world around them
• the way humans are wired … our tendencies and mental peculiarities that we inherited through evolution (or through creation?)
• our emotions and values

We also looked at “who” might have been behind these subtle forms of inspiration: the agent behind that inspiration. It all depends on how you define “God”. We don’t all agree on this!

And finally, we look at the object of that inspiration. Do we have to say that only the Bible is divinely-inspired? That it’s uniquely inspired? Why not also those other ancient Hebrew books that aren’t in the Bible? Why not some of the Greek philosophical writings that were circulating at the time, and which completely re-shaped human thinking and was incorporated into Christian thinking? What about modern authors (I would nominate NT Wright, Philip Yancey, Peter Enns, and Brian MacLaren)? What about certain songs on the radio, poems, classical literature that really get you thinking deeper thoughts, asking existential questions, and re-organizing your life? I even think modern science and medicine are divinely-inspired: God motivating humans to search for truth and to apply that knowledge to the betterment of humanity.

As always, tell us what you think about what we had to say about this …

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