The Bible is Different
Men have always stood in awe of creative power. We think of it as a gift bestowed on exceptional people. We call their work 'inspired' because it inspires us, and because the artist himself somehow feels his work comes from beyond himself. It is more than just the result of his own conscious activity.
So when we say the Bible is 'inspired' this is how many people understand the word. But when we look at what the Bible claims for itself, we find its 'inspiration' lies deeper than this. It is inspired in a different sense from other works of art.
THE 'INSPIRED' MESSAGE
(Hosea 1:1-Joel 1:1-2 Peter 1:21-1 Peter 1:10-12-Jeremiah 23:28-29
The Bible does of course speak of its message as coming to men from beyond themselves. The words of the prophets are 'the word of the Lord (that) came to 'X'. Indeed, Peter clearly affirms that 'no prophecy ever came by the impulse of men, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God'.
Not surprisingly, he also shows that the prophets were unable fully to understand all the implications of their own teaching. The source of their utterance lay beyond themselves; it was in fact 'the spirit of Christ within them… predicting the suffering of Christ and the subsequent glory'.
Naturally, Gods message produces a remarkable response in the hearers. To borrow Jeremiahs phrases, when the prophet speaks the word of God and not his own ideas, then men are fed (it is wheat to them) or shattered by its impact (it is a hammer). This has led some to conclude that the Bibles inspiration lies in its impact on them-on the fact that it inspires them. But they are wrong. Admittedly such an experience points to the fact that the Bible is inspired. It may lead a man to study the Bible closely to see how it explains its own power. But the fact of its inspiration in on way depends on its being received by men. For at this point we are compelled to take note of what the Bible claims for itself. This must be our starting-point.
The biblical use of the word 'inspired'-a term used only once, in Paul's second letter to timothy-shows that inspiration is grounded not in the response of the hearers, nor in the subjective experience of the writers, but in the fact that 'all Scripture is God-breathed'. This is the literal meaning of the word translated 'inspired'. The point is not that some of the scripture are inspired and that these alone are useful in the ways listed there. It is a statement about 'scripture' in general, claiming not that it is inspiring in some general way, nor even that it was written by inspired men, but that the scripture itself is reathed out by God. 2 Timothy 3:16
THE NEW TESTAMENT ATTITUDE TO THE OLD
Acts 4:25; 28:25 Romans 9:17; Galatians 3:8 Amos 3:7-8; Jeremiah 20:9; Ezekiel 2:7 See John 16:12-15
Corinthians 2:13 Galatians 1:12 1 Corinthians 14:37
Clearly the New Testament writers treat the Old Testament as if they believed this. They do not argue the case, but simply take it for granted. For example, they speak of what the psalmist and prophet wrote as what God said by his Holy Spirit. 'Scripture says', for Paul, means the same as 'God says'. In doing this the New Testament writers are following the example and precept of Jesus himself. For them the Old Testament is far more than a series of 'stories with a meaning'.
God has chosen to convey his message to men through the medium of words, and the New Testament writers therefore take the actual words used seriously This is not to say that they take the words in isolation, as if it were possible to communicate in words apart from phrases, sentences and paragraphs. But their example is sufficient to warn us against a casual, pick-and-choose attitude to the actual God-given words of Scripture.
The New Testament attitude to the Old is paralleled by what the Old Testament says about itself. More than 3,800 times words are introduced by such formulae as 'The Lord spoke', 'Thus says the Lord' and 'The word of the Lord came'. Amos and Jeremiah claimed that they were compelled to speak for God; Ezekiel is under orders to give his people the divine message whatever the consequences.
In the nature of the case, the New Testament says little about its own inspiration. Generally the fact that it is backed by the apostles' own authority is in itself sufficient guarantee. But Paul clearly says he is taught by the Holy Spirit and supports the gospel he preached by saving that it was revealed to him by Jesus Christ. In 1 John 1:5 the writer affirms that the message he is writing came from Christ himself. Elsewhere, Paul says he judges a man's spiritual insight by the way he responds to the contents of his letters. And he clearly believed that he and the apostles were empowered to reveal truth beyond anything previously made known. Most explicitly of all, Peter brackets together the letters of Paul with 'the other scriptures'. This last phrase almost certainly refers to the Old Testament and implies that at this time Paul's letters were being read in public worship with the same authority as the Old Testament. Ephesians 3:3-5 2 Peter 3:15-16
A STUPENDOUS CLAIM
There can thus be little doubt what the Bible teaches about its own inspiration. The words originally written by the human writers were the words of God. This is a very different matter from general 'artistic' inspiration. Certainly God the Creator is the one who by his Holy Spirit gives all men made in his image the power to create beauty In just the same way he enables them to care for their children and to govern wisely But this grace given to all men, even those who hate God, is not to be confused with the saving power that is seen at work when God ensures that men can see and hear his words. In something of the same way it is true that God's image may be seen in all men, but that only one man, Jesus Christ, displays the divine likeness without distortion.