What do we mean by inspiration?
THROWBACK THURSDAYS: Every Thursday, we plan to publish an old article written in our denomination’s magazine, The Evangelical Presbyterian. The purpose is to connect us to our history, as we recall God’s faithfulness to us over many years. This week’s article is from 2006 and was written by Rev Andrew Woolsey. Andrew served as the Minister of Crumlin EPC for many years. He and his wife Joan are now retired and attend our Groomsport congregation.
The word inspiration occurs twice in the Bible, but it is written all over it. “What the Bible is, is just the question of its inspiration”[1] said Professor John Murray. Christ himself testified in the Bible, “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). Paul said, “all Scripture is breathed out (inspired) by God” (2 Timothy 3:16). And Peter added, “for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).
But what does inspiration mean? Does it mean that those who wrote the Scriptures were infused, or animated with feelings that moved them to write in a creative way, just as poets, historians and philosophers have always done? Or does it mean they were quickened, or influenced by the Spirit of God, to a greater extent perhaps, but in the same way that other religious writers have been? Or did the Holy Spirit influence and superintend them in some places, while other parts are the product of their own insights and abilities? Or can it mean that they made all the mistakes and errors that humans make, but that somehow God invests their words with power and meaning to become the Word of God at some existential point?
The inspiration upon which we claim Scripture is the inerrant and authoritative Word of God is different from all of these. Scripture cannot be broken or violated because it is the inspired Word of God. That means it has been “breathed out”, or expired, from God. It was not the writers who were inspired, it was the Scriptures they wrote. The writers were the agents employed in the task. They were borne, or carried along, by the Holy Spirit in doing so. This does not mean they were coerced into the task, or prompted and dictated to in fulfilling it. They used their own faculties, made their own choices, and expressed their own personalities in doing so. But at the same time they were controlled and superintended by the Holy Spirit so that what they penned was precisely what God intended them to say.
“Inspiration is a supernatural, providential influence of God’s Holy Spirit upon the human authors which caused them to write what He wished to be written for the communication of truth to others”
All Scripture is inspired in this way. That is, every Scripture, every text, every line, “every single entity that qualifies for the designation ‘scripture’” [2]. Some parts may be more interesting and stirring than other parts, but no part is more inspired than any other. It is a full and total inspiration, including where it touches on history and the cosmos. It is something God has done, therefore, it is true, it is infallible, it is reliable, it is inerrant, and it is forever.
[1] J Murray, Collected Writings, 4.31
[2] D Macleod, A Faith to Proclaim, 12
