THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE

How to Believe the Holy Bible was Inspired by God

from: A Self-Study Guide -Acts
Irvine L. Jensen
The Moody Bible Institution of Chicago
copyright © 1969
Used by permission.

"The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet" (Acts 28:25).

The inspiration of the original text of the books of the Bible has been defined as the work of the Holy Spirit by which, through the instrumentality of the personality and literary talents of its human authors, He constituted the words of the Bible in all of its several parts as His written word to men and therefore of divine authority and without error in the autographs.*

Theories of biblical inspiration concern any of the following: source, method, time and end product. The Bible's own testimony to its inspiration speaks only of the first and last of those four. The exact method and time of inspiration are not developed in the Scriptures.

The main things taught by the Bible concerning its inspiration are summarized as follows:

THE WRITERS WERE INSPIRED. "carried along"
"Holy men from God spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21, Berkeley). Read also Mark 12:36. The method of inspiration was not dictation, but a mutual inter-working of the divine Spirit and the human mind. The details of the method are not described, just as the details of other miraculous works of God are not described (indeed, cannot be described).
THE WRITINGS WERE INSPIRED. "God-breathed"
"Every Scripture is God-breathed" (2 Tim. 3:16, Amplified) . This verse teaches that the Bible is a divine product.
EXTENT OF INSPIRATION.
All Scriptures were inspired (2 Tim. 3:16). This is the plenary view, which applies inspiration to all parts of the Bible, non-religious subjects (e.g., history, science) as well as religious subjects. Inspiration applied to the very words of the originals (verbal inspiration). The net result was inerrancy and infallibility of all the very words of the autographs. (Read Matt. 5:17-19; Luke 16:17; 24:25; John 10:34-35).
ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE.
The Bible's main emphasis in its witness concerning itself is its absolute authority. A key phrase appearing throughout the Old Testament is "Thus saith the Lord." Read the following passages: Psalm 19:7-14; 119:89, 97, 113, 160; Zechariah 7:12; Matthew 5:17-19; Luke 4:4, 8, 10; 16:17; John 10:34-35; I Thessalonians 2:13; Romans 9:15; Galatians 3:8.
SOME OTHER WITNESSES OF DIVINE INSPIRATION.
1. Christ's use of the Old Testament.
2. Fulfilled prophecies.
3. Unity of the book.
4. Inexhaustible depths.
5. Influence of the book.
6. Witness of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit within the believer makes it very clear whose voice is speaking through the words of this blessed Book.

*Kenneth S. Kantzer, "Inspiration," Merrill C. Tenney (ed.l, The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1963), p. 380.

Timeline of Bible Translation History

~1,400 BC: The Word of God, The Ten Commandments delivered to Moses.

~500 BC: Completion of All Original Hebrew Manuscripts which make up The 39 Books of the Old Testament.

~200 BC: Completion of the Septuagint Greek Manuscripts which contain The 39 Old Testament Books AND 14 Apocrypha Books.

1st Century AD: Completion of All Original Greek Manuscripts which make up The 27 Books of the New Testament.

315 AD: Athenasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, identifies the 27 books of the New Testament which are today recognized as the canon of scripture.

382 AD: Jerome's Latin Vulgate Manuscripts Produced which contain All 80 Books (39 Old Test. + 14 Apocrypha + 27 New Test).

500 AD: Scriptures have been Translated into Over 500 Languages.

600 AD: LATIN was the Only Language Allowed for Scripture.

995 AD: Anglo-Saxon (Early Roots of English Language) Translations of The New Testament Produced.

1384 AD: Wycliffe is the First Person to Produce a (Hand-Written) manuscript Copy of the Complete Bible; All 80 Books.

1455 AD: Gutenberg Invents the Printing Press; Books May Now be mass-Produced Instead of Individually Hand-Written. The First Book Ever Printed is Gutenberg's Bible in Latin.

1516 AD: Erasmus Produces a Greek/Latin Parallel New Testament.

1522 AD: Martin Luther's German New Testament.

1526 AD: William Tyndale's New Testament; The First New Testament printed in the English Language.

1535 AD: Myles Coverdale's Bible; The First Complete Bible printed in the English Language (80 Books: O.T. & N.T. & Apocrypha).

1537 AD: Tyndale-Matthews Bible; The Second Complete Bible printed in English. Done by John "Thomas Matthew" Rogers (80 Books).

1539 AD: The "Great Bible" Printed; The First English Language Bible Authorized for Public Use (80 Books).

1560 AD: The Geneva Bible Printed; The First English Language Bible to add Numbered Verses to Each Chapter (80 Books).

1568 AD: The Bishops Bible Printed; The Bible of which the King James was a Revision (80 Books).

1609 AD: The Douay Old Testament is added to the Rheims New Testament (of 1582) Making the First Complete English Catholic Bible; Translated from the Latin Vulgate (80 Books).

1611 AD: The King James Bible Printed; Originally with All 80 Books. The Apocrypha was Officially Removed in 1885 Leaving Only 66 Books.

1782 AD: Robert Aitken's Bible; The First English Language Bible (KJV) Printed in America.

1791 AD: Isaac Collins and Isaiah Thomas Respectively Produce the First Family Bible and First Illustrated Bible Printed in America. Both were King James Versions, with All 80 Books.

1808 AD: Jane Aitken's Bible (Daughter of Robert Aitken); The First Bible to be Printed by a Woman.

1833 AD: Noah Webster's Bible; After Producing his Famous Dictionary, Webster Printed his Own Revision of the King James Bible.

1841 AD: English Hexapla New Testament; an Early Textual Comparison showing the Greek and 6 Famous English Translations in Parallel Columns.

1846 AD: The Illuminated Bible; The Most Lavishly Illustrated Bible printed in America. A King James Version, with All 80 Books.

1885 AD: The "English Revised Version" Bible; The First Major English Revision of the KJV.

1901 AD: The "American Standard Version"; The First Major American Revision of the KJV.

1971 AD: The "New American Standard Bible" (NASB) is Published as a "Modern and Accurate Word for Word English Translation" of the Bible.

1973 AD: The "New International Version" (NIV) is Published as a "Modern and Accurate Phrase for Phrase English Translation" of the Bible.

1982 AD: The "New King James Version" (NKJV) is Published as a "Modern English Version Maintaining the Original Style of the King James."

2002 AD: The English Standard Version (ESV) is Published as a translation to bridge the gap between the accuracy of the NASB and the readability of the NIV.

2020 AD: The World English Bible (WEB) is a copyright free translation of the Bible. For more on the WEB go to: