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by Bill Seng

Reason 9) Inspiration

“And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as a to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” – 2 Peter 1:19-21

The Bible claims to be the inspired Word of God and openly admits that it was penned by human authors. This means that the people who wrote the Bible were real people who did not claim to be handed Scriptures from some other-worldly being, but who penned words that were given to them by God Himself. The only exception, of course, would be when Moses was given the Law at Mt. Sinai when God wrote his own words in stone. Why is it so important that God’s Word be communicated through human agents?

It seems as though God has been accomplishing the transmission of his Word through human agents even from the beginning of time. Take Adam and Eve for example. Upon a close reading of Genesis 2, it will be noted that God commanded Adam not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and that Eve was created after this command was given. One could speculate that Adam relayed this message to Eve on God’s behalf. Moving forward to Mt. Sinai, God could have directly communicated his message to the people at the foot of the mountain, but instead chose Moses to be his prophet. There seemed to be an impassable barrier between the majority of God’s people and God himself throughout the majority of history.

That is, until Jesus: “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe” (Hebrews 1:1-2). What is seen here is a dramatic transition between the way that God used to communicate to people through people. The former way was by appointing a prophet to communicate the message of God. The current way is through Jesus Christ, who has imparted us with the Holy Spirit who reveals the truth to those who believe. God uses people who can relate to other people as his vessels to communicate his message. In this way God communicates very intimately to the human race.

Second Timothy states that “All Scripture is God-breathed,” which some versions translate as inspired (although it literally means breathed out). The image that is given here is the same image in Genesis 2 when God breathes life into Adam. God breathes his Word, directly from his being into the believer. Not only is this incredible from a theological perspective, it is incredible historically, as well. Moses (possibly the first human author of the Bible) was a verifiably real person. So were Joshua, Solomon, Peter, Paul, etc. We know they existed and professed their faith in the living God. This in itself is an incredible testimony to the Scriptures they obediently wrote.