What is Biblical…
inspiration
also known as: inspiration of Scripture
Inspiration is that extraordinary or supernatural divine influence provided to those who wrote the Holy Scriptures, rendering their writings infallible.
All Scripture is inspired by God [literally: God-breathed] and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; —2 Tim. 3:16 NASB
This is true of all the “sacred writings,” not in the sense of their being works of genius or of supernatural insight, but as “theopneustic,” i.e., “breathed into by God” in such a sense that the writers were supernaturally guided to express exactly what God intended them to express as a revelation of his mind and will.
The testimony of the sacred writers themselves abundantly demonstrates this truth; and if they are infallible as teachers of doctrine, then the doctrine of plenary inspiration must be accepted. There are no errors in the Bible as it came from God, none have been proved to exist.
Difficulties and phenomena we cannot explain are not errors. All these books of the Old and New Testaments are inspired. We do not say that they contain, but that they are, the Word of God. The gift of inspiration rendered the writers the organs of God, for the infallible communication of his mind and will, in the very manner and words in which it was originally given.
As to the nature of inspiration, we have no information. This only we know, it rendered the writers infallible. They were all equally inspired, and are all equally infallible. The inspiration of the sacred writers did not change their characters. They retained all their individual peculiarities as thinkers or writers.
See BIBLE and the WORD OF GOD
- INFALLIBILITY—How can the Bible be infallible if it is written by fallible humans? Answer
- When we say that the Bible is the Word of God, does that imply that it is completely accurate, or does it contain insignificant inaccuracies in details of history and science? Answer
- How do we know the Bible is true? Answer
- Canon
- Apocrypha
- Bible
- Scripture
- Word of God
- What is Divine REVELATION? Answer
- Answers to supposed Bible “contradictions” and puzzles
- Is the Bible truth or tabloid? Answer
- INTERNAL HARMONY—Answers to a skeptic’s questions about whether the Bible’s internal harmony is truly evidence of its divine inspiration—Read
- Bible and science
- Bible archaeology
- Biblical prophecies
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