The Inspiration Of The Scriptures

The Scriptures are inspired. 2 Timothy 3:16

Some think a writing is inspired if it was written by someone with exceptional talent, and it is motivational.

	When the Bible claims to be inspired it claims to be God-breathed or to have originated with God. <br /><br />
	“No scripture is of any private interpretation.” 2 Peter 1:20 <br /><br />
	“It did not originate with the men who spoke “ (Jenkins). “It is not the result of human investigation into the nature of things, the product of the writers’ own thinking “ (Warfield). <br /><br />
	Holy men of God spoke as they were “moved” by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:21 <br /><br />
	“What is ‘borne’ is taken up by the ‘bearer,’ and conveyed by the bearer’s power, not its own, to the bearer’s goal, not its own” (Warfield). <br /><br />
	The Bible writers were moved, guided, or born by the Holy Spirit to say the very things God wanted said. 

	Evidences of the inspiration of the scriptures include: 

1) The unity of the Bible

	The Bible was written over a period of 1500 years and by more than 40 writers, yet their writings make a complete and harmonious whole. <br /><br />
	Examples of the harmony of the Bible: <br /><br />
	God is always the creator and man is always the creature. <br /><br />
	Sin is always bad; man always needs saving because of his sins, and God is the Savior. <br /><br />
	Adam and Eve are always the first people (Gen. 1,2; 1 Cor. 15; 1 Tim. 2) <br /><br />
	Murder is wrong (Gen. 9; Ex. 20; Mt. 5; Rev. 21:8) <br /><br /><strong>2) Fulfilled prophecy</strong> <br /><br />
	Man alone cannot accurately foretell the future, but there are many prophecies given by Bible writers that did accurately foretell future events. <br /><br />
	Examples: <br /><br />
	Before entering the promise land Israel was warned about captivity (Dt. 28:49,50). <br /><br />
	The Fall of Tyre was predicted (Ezk. 26:3-5,12,14). 

	The reign of Cyrus was foretold, and it was foretold that he would allow the children of Israel to return (Is. 44:28; Ezra 1:1,2). <br /><br />
	Numerous Messianic prophecies (Dan. 2; Micah 5:2; Psa. 22:15-18; Isa. 53:10,12). <br /><br /><strong>3) Foreknowledge of scientific facts</strong> <br /><br />
	“Scientific truths that were undiscovered by man with all his wisdom and resources are stated as facts hundreds of years in advance of the discovery of these truths by men.” (Wilson) <br /><br />
	Examples; <br /><br />
	Isa. 40:22 (the sphere of the earth) <br /><br />
	Lev. 17:11 (Life in the blood) <br /><br /><strong>4) The ethics of the Bible</strong> <br /><br />
	“How can the skeptic account for the fact that the world’s greatest literature and highest moral standard comes not from the geniuses of Rome, the philosophers of Greece, or the scholars and moralist of today but from the minds of a handful of Jewish fishermen who never went to college and never had another book published?” (Wilson). 

	The Bible is verbally inspired. 1 Corinthians 2:9-13 

	When speaking by inspiration, writers spoke not words which man’s wisdom taught, but words the Holy Spirit taught (v.13). <br /><br />
	Some of the proofs for verbal inspiration include: <br /><br />
	1) The minute details of some of the prophecies given. (Psalms 22:18; Matthew 27:35) <br /><br />
	2) Men wrote things that they did not fully understand. (Mark 16:15; Acts 10) <br /><br />
	3) The arguments made in the scriptures. Some are on the tense of a verb (Matthew 22:32), and some are on the singularity of a word (Galatians 3:16). 

	Because the scriptures are inspired 

	1) The scriptures are inerrant, without mistakes. <br /><br />
	The scriptures are true and faithful (Psalms 119:160,86) <br /><br />
	2) The scriptures are authoritative, that is, the scriptures cannot be broken (John 10:35). <br /><br />
	The Bible is the Word of God. It should guide us in life; it will judge us in the end, and it will last forever. (1 Thessalonians 2:13; Psalms 119:105; John 12:48; 1 Peter 1:24,25)