CERTAIN CONCLUSIONS DRAWN ON INSPIRATION

ON THE BASIS OF 2 Tim. 3:16, CERTAIN CONCLUSIONS CAN BE DRAWN

 

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."

 



Inspiration is not merely a heightened form of spiritual illumination. The latter is

(1) Common to all Christians;

(2) Subject to degrees;

(3) Always continuous to some extent (over 1900 years).

But inspira­tion is not common to all Christians, not subject to degrees, and certainly not continuous. If it were, the writing of Scripture ought not be too rare or difficult! For those who hold this view, let them sit down and write some scripture now. And some at this point think they can.

Inspiration is more than revelation in the strict sense of the term.

Revelation is God's activity in communicating truth to the human mind. Inspiration is God's activity in producing a record of the Revelation. 

Dr. Chalmers put the distinction thus: Revelation is the inflow to the agent. Inspiration is the outflow to others in a record.

Failure to distinguish properly between these two has been a fertile source of wrong theories of inspiration. They argue, for instance, that the Ten Commandments are more inspired than the story of the Exodus, because God gave the former directly, while the latter was a visible event in history requiring no special revelation. But the method of revelation is never the measure of its inspiration. God has various ways of revelation (See former articles). Here is a great mass of revelation. The problem was to select the right material, and record it accurately and in permanent form. This necessitates a Divine activity in so influencing and controlling certain selected men that they would select the right material and record it with infallible accuracy. This activity on the part of God has given us an inspired Bible.

The object of Inspiration is not the man, but the book.

--not the writer, but his writings.

Purpose of inspiration was not to give the world a few infallible men who would soon pass away, but an infallible book which would never pass away.

2 Tim. 3:16 "All Scripture...inspiration of God" (not the process, but the product).

Inspiration describes a result rather than a process.

2 Tim. 3:16 tells what the scripture is, not how it was given.
--what God has done, not how He did it.
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God...."