Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God. But, what does that really mean? To understand this, we must look into the Bible itself. “All scripture is inspired by God,” says Paul in his letter to Timothy (2 Tim 3:16). However, the Greek word θεόπνευστος (theopneustos), used by Paul here, is a ‘hapax legomenon’ or in other words, ‘a word which occurs only once in the entire New Testament.’ This causes a great problem in ascertaining the exact meaning of what is meant by inspiration and has given rise to different theories regarding the same. A brief survey of these theories will be useful.
- Natural Inspiration: According to this theory, the authors of the biblical books were naturally inspired like the authors of any other piece of literature. This denies divine inspiration and attributes the writings to the natural intelligence of the human authors. However, this view is neither biblical nor Christian. It is unbiblical because the word θεόπνευστος contains the concept of θεος (God) in it. It is unchristian because this view denies any divine aspect from the Bible.
- The Dictation Theory: This is another extreme position. According to this theory, the entire Bible was dictated by God and human authors were mere stenographers. Some of the reformers, including John Calvin, and protestant theologians held this view. According to this theory, there can be no sorts of any mistakes in Bible. It holds for an absolute biblical inerrancy in every aspect. However, the biblical studies have shown this to be a false assertion. There are, for example, historical errors in bible.[1] Moreover, the studies have shown the interdependence of the Bible with various other ancient books and traditions. However, there are some parts of the bible which are claimed to be dictated by God himself. The description of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) is an example of this. However, the Bible also contains human prayers to God, their sorrows, fears, hopes, etc (e.g., Ps 51). Considering all these factors, a dictation theory for the entire bible is mostly rejected by many of the scholars.
- Dynamic Inspiration: If both the above theories were extreme positions, there is a middle way. This theory holds the view that God provided the concept or thought to the human authors and enabled them to write it down. So, while the human used their own intelligence, vocabulary, culture, education, literary style, etc. to write down the books of the Bible, God was the dynamic force behind it. Thus, the human authors, with their own personalities and historical circumstances, could transmit the message of God fully and exactly as God desired. This theory explains the multi-faceted and dynamic literary style of Bible as well as the authorial short-comings. In short, we can say that the Bible is a human work as well as a divine book.
Close to the above position is the view of the verbal and plenary inspiration of the Scripture. By “verbal” is meant the divine guidance in the very choice of the words used[2] and by “plenary” is meant that the inspiration extends equally to every portion of the Scripture and that all parts of it, therefore, are equally infallible and equally authoritative within the limitations of the context.[3] But, is it necessary to hold these views to explain the biblical inspiration? To understand that we need to look into the meaning of the word θεόπνευστος and its explanation in the Bible itself.
As already said, the word θεόπνευστος is a hapax legomenon, i.e., it is used only once in the entire Bible. As a hapax legomenon it is difficult to ascertain the meaning of it. However, the word θεόπνευστος, a term probably coined by Paul himself, is a combination of two other Greek words, θεός and πνέω. By θεός is meant God and by πνέω is meant “to blow/breath.” Therefore, the word θεόπνευστος etymologically mean “God-breathed.” The English word inspiration comes from the Latin word inspiration, referring to ‘the act of breathing in’. As such, the idea of θεόπνευστος refers to the Scripture as that which was ‘breathed out by God’ and was ‘breathed in by the human authors.’
To make this more understandable, a careful study of 2 Timothy 3:15-17 is necessary. The verses say, “that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God (θεόπνευστος) and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Paul is clearly not speaking about all the books or writings which were already written at his time, but about the writings which were considered sacred at that time. He also mentions the following usefulness of every sacred scripture being inspired by God.
- It makes one wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
- It is profitable – for teaching, for reproof, for correction, (and) for training – in righteousness
- It makes the man of God complete, equipped for every good work.
It is in this sense that we have to understand the infallibility or inerrancy of the Bible. It is not a book which speaks about the natural sciences, but a book which enables one to lead a life of righteousness and good work and able to lead one in the path of salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Therefore, while there may be scientific errors in the Bible, there is no error or failure as far as the salvific and moral precepts are concerned. The scientific, historic, grammatic or literary errors in the Bible is a result of the intellectual limitations of the human authors. It does not mean that Bible is merely an ethical book or a pious homily. It gives a glimpse of the philosophy and scholarly world of its time, which is valid even today. The human authors of the bible were without doubt the people of their times, culture, society and scholarly world. These factors have surely influenced them. That is why one should not expect a detailed explanation of the scientific progresses of the 21st century in the Bible. In contrast, even after 2000-3000 years, the moral precepts and the salvific truths of the Bible are still highly desirable. This is what constitutes the biblical inerrancy. And this inerrancy is the result of the biblical inspiration by God, in other words θεόπνευστος.
Another passage which is often used to explain the biblical inspiration is 2 Pet 1:20-21. “First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” However, this passage speaks only about the prophecy of scripture. And a faithful reader of the bible will easily recognize that the prophetical Scriptures are often coming directly from God. It also often uses the phrase, “God said,…” or “the Word of God came to me…” etc.
In short, the God who created man and breathed into his nostrils to give him life also breathed into the human authors to inspire them to write the Sacred Scripture. The same God still breathes his Word into the faithful readers of this Scripture, thus speaking to them and inspiring them to remain in the path of righteousness and salvation, equipping them for every good work. So while the Bible is written by different human authors, its principal authority comes from God. Thus, God is the principal author of the Sacred Scripture. Thus, Vatican Council II in its Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum)declares,[4]
Those divinely revealed realities which are contained and presented in Sacred Scripture have been committed to writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For holy mother Church, relying on the belief of the Apostles (see John 20:31; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-20, 3:15-16), holds that the books of both the Old and New Testaments in their entirety, with all their parts, are sacred and canonical because written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church herself.(1) In composing the sacred books, God chose men and while employed by Him (2) they made use of their powers and abilities, so that with Him acting in them and through them, (3) they, as true authors, consigned to writing everything and only those things which He wanted. (4)
Therefore, since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings (5) for the sake of salvation. Therefore “all Scripture is divinely inspired and has its use for teaching the truth and refuting error, for reformation of manners and discipline in right living, so that the man who belongs to God may be efficient and equipped for good work of every kind” (2 Tim. 3:16-17, Greek text)
Dei Verbum 11
This is, then, how we
should understand the Biblical Inspiration.
[1] An example of this could be the Markan description of Abiathar as the high priest when David entered the house of God and ate the sacred bread (Mark 2:25-26). However, the description of this incident in 1 Samuel 21:1-17 has Ahimelech as the high priest. Further, Ahimelech is described as the son of Ahitub and the father of Abiathar in 1 Samuel 22:20-23, but as the son of Abiathar in 2 Samuel 8:17.
[2] “God so supernaturally directed the writers of Scripture that without excluding their human intelligence, their individuality, their literary style, their personal feelings, or any other human factor, His own complete and coherent message to man was recorded in perfect accuracy, the very words of Scripture bearing the authority of divine authorship.” (John F. Walvoord, The Holy Spirit: A Comprehensive Study of the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, Zondervan, 1991, 59-60.)
[3] By the word “plenary” is meant “full.”
Bibin Madathil
bibspaces 