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All the
books of the Bible are inspired by God (when I say that the books of the
Bible are inspired, I don’t refer to the translations or copies but to the
original books), as it is written: “All scripture is given by inspiration of
God” (2 Timothy |
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Someone
may say: ‘But these words of Paul and Peter refer to the Scriptures of the
Old Testament!’ Yes, that’s true, for Paul, before saying to Timothy those
words, said to him: “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned
and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that
from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee
wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:14-15).
However, that does not mean that the Writings of Paul are not inspired by God
and thus they should not be called or considered Holy Scriptures. For the
apostle Peter, at the end of his second epistle, in speaking about the
epistles of Paul, which contain some things which are hard to understand,
says that ignorant and unstable people twist them “as they do the other Scriptures”
(2 Peter 3:16 - NIV), that is, the Scriptures of the Old Testament that they
had. As you can see, Peter calls the Writings of Paul “Scriptures”, and Paul
was a contemporary of Peter. Anyway, even inside the epistles of Paul there
are some expressions which attest to the divine origin of his words. For
instance, Paul says to the Thessalonians that they had received the message
preached by him, Silvanus and Timothy, not as the word of men, but “as it is
in truth, the word of God” (1 Thessalonians |
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The Bible
was written over a period of time of approximately 1500 years, because the
law (which consists of the first five books of the Bible) was written by
Moses around 1400 before Christ and the book of Revelation was written by
John around the end of the first century after Christ. Notwithstanding this,
the Bible is an extremely cohesive and unified book, and there are no contradictions
in it (however, there are some seeming contradictions in it), which facts
confirm its inspiration. |
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The authors
of the books of the Bible did hold different social status, for instance Solomon
was a king, Amos was a shepherd, Luke was a physician, and so on, yet all of
them were moved by the Holy Spirit to write. In other words, they wrote not
by their own will but by the will of God. We can affirm that all those who
wrote the books of the Bible were specially chosen by God, and perfectly
guided by the Spirit to put on paper the very words of God, and to do so
without any error. The apostle Peter attests this when he says in his second
epistle: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well
that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the
day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no
prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter |
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What do I
mean when I say that all the sixty six books of the Bible are inspired? I
will answer this question through the Holy Scriptures. My speech will begin
from the assumption that when the writer of one of the inspired books wrote
he was moved by the Holy Spirit, that is to say, he was moved just as the
prophets and the apostles were moved by the Holy Spirit when they spoke from
God. See to it that you do not misunderstand me; I am not saying that the
prophets or the apostles were perfect and infallible, for the Scriptures
themselves do not allow us to say or to think such a thing, for they also
committed some mistakes, they also had to beg God’s forgiveness for their
sins, they also needed God to work in them what was well pleasing in His
sight. Moses, the writer of the law, disobeyed God at the waters of Meribah
and because of his rebellion God did not allow him (as well as his brother
Aaron) to enter into the promised land; David, the author of many Psalms,
once was guilty of murder and adultery and for those sins he was punished by
God; Solomon, who wrote many proverbs and the Ecclesiastes and the Song of
Songs, turned from God in his old age and went after other gods; the apostle
Peter at Antioch forced Gentiles to follow Jewish customs and because of this
he was severely rebuked by the apostle Paul in the presence of all; Paul once,
while he was before the Sanhedrin, insulted the High Priest Ananias without
knowing that he was the High Priest and for that act he was rebuked by those
who stood by and he acknowledged that he had made a mistake. Therefore the
prophets and the apostles were not infallible in their acts and in their words;
had they been infallible, they would not have made those mistakes. However
this cannot be said about all their acts and words; because those men often
acted and spoke by the Holy Spirit, thus those acts done in those peculiar
circumstances, as well as those words uttered in those circumstances, did not
contain any error of any kind. Let me give you two biblical examples of men
who spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Spirit: Moses and Paul. |
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Let’s
begin with Moses. After he was on |
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Let’s see
now the apostle Paul, who is the apostle who wrote more epistles than the
other apostles. First of all I want to say that when Paul spoke as he was
moved by the Holy Spirit, it was not him who spoke but the Spirit of God,
thus his words were free from errors; this happened when he preached to the
unbelievers (as he did in the Areopagus at Athens), as well as when he delivered
to the saints a teaching taken from the Scriptures, and when he exhorted the
saints to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the Lord. Also when he
reminded his listeners of some facts which had happened to him, as in the
case of his speech delivered to the elders of the Church of Ephesus or in the
case of the testimony of his conversion he gave before the Jews at Jerusalem
(after he was arrested) or at Caesarea before king Agrippa, it was not him
who spoke but the Holy Spirit who spoke in him, so his words were free from
errors on those occasions. Therefore we can affirm that when the Holy Spirit
spoke through him, his words were free of error of any kind, as in the case
of Moses. Let’s now talk about the inspiration of his epistles. Can we put
the inspiration of his epistles and the inspiration of the law of Moses on
the same level? Of course, we can, for the Spirit who moved Moses to write
the law was the same Spirit who moved Paul to write his epistles. As we saw
before, Peter in his second epistle calls the epistles of Paul ‘Scriptures’
as it is written: “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is
salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom
given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking
in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood,
which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other
scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15-16). Therefore, there
are no errors in his epistles. What then shall we say about the affirmations
of some people, according to which Paul in his writings changed his beliefs
regarding the return of the Lord? They are false. Let’s see the reason. The
apostle Paul in his second epistle to the Thessalonians says: “Now we beseech
you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering
together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled,
neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of
Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall
not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be
revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all
that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the
temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4).
According to the quarrellers, these words of Paul correct these other words
of Paul written to the Thessalonians in his previous epistle: “For the Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise
first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with
the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). For in his first epistle he taught that
the return of the Lord was imminent, while in his second epistle he denied
the imminence of the return of the Lord. But that’s untrue, because Paul,
just before saying these words I have just quoted, says to the saints of
Thessalonica: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord…” (1 Thessalonians
4:15). Therefore if Paul in his second epistle had changed his previous
position on the return of the Lord, that would mean that eventually the Word
of the Lord had changed! Listen, the words of Paul concerning the return of
Christ were not a personal opinion he had on the return of Christ, just like
any personal opinion which a Christian can have about a food or a day, but
the Word of God. Therefore when in his first epistle to the Thessalonians he
says: “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds” he did not mean that the day of the Lord was imminent,
because he wrote those words at God’s command. Paul, even when he wrote those
words (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17), knew very well that the day of the Lord
will not come until the falling away occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed,
for when afterward he warned the Thessalonians not to be soon shaken in mind
or troubled as though the day of the Lord was imminent and he tells them what
will happen before that day, he says to them: “Remember ye not, that, when I
was yet with you, I told you these things?” (2 Thessalonians 2:5). Please
note that Paul had already told those things to the Thessalonians when he had
been with them. Therefore, the apostle Paul never thought that the day of the
Lord was imminent, for he always taught the believers that the day of the
Lord will come after the falling away occurs and the man of sin is revealed. (A
similar thing must be said also about the apostle John, for he also never
thought that the day of the Lord was imminent, even though in his first
epistle he wrote that it was the last hour). |
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Therefore,
we believe in the plenary and verbal inspiration of the Scriptures in the
original languages, and in their consequent inerrancy and infallibility. When
we speak about plenary inspiration we mean that the Bible as a whole is
inspired (in other words, all of Scripture is inspired – not merely some
parts), while when we speak about verbal inspiration we mean that every word
of the Bible is inspired. So inspiration extends to the words of the Bible,
not only to the ideas. God, by His Spirit, has guaranteed the authenticity
and reliability of the very words that were written. However, it must be said
that He did not deprive the writers of their individuality, for their full personalities
entered into their writing (for instance, their individual writing styles are
evident). |
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The Bible
has been attacked by many people over the centuries, many have mocked at it,
others have questioned it especially because of some stories recorded in it
which seem to be unbelievable, yet the Bible has always proved to be true in
all the things which it affirms. Nobody has ever been able to demonstrate
that the Bible is full of fables and lies. Even many archaeologists and many
scientists have acknowledged that the Bible is true. W. F. Albright, who is
regarded as one of the greatest archaeologists, has stated: ‘There can be no
doubt that archaeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of the Old
Testament tradition’. Nelson Glueck, famed Jewish archaeologist, has said:
‘It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever
controverted a biblical reference’. Of course, we do not prove the
inspiration of the Bible by archaeology, but it is gratifying to know that even
archaeological discoveries have confirmed many events and stories recorded in
the Bible. |
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Many times
people have asked me: ‘How can you be sure about the divine inspiration of
the Bible? How can you be sure that the story of Jesus and His message are
true? On the other hand, you did not see Him, nor did you hear Him!’ Well, my
answer has always been this: ‘Even though I have not seen Jesus with my eyes
and heard Him with my ears, I believe that all the things the Bible says
about Him are true because by faith in Him I have obtained the remission of
sins, salvation from sin, peace and joy in my heart, and eternal life, which
I did not have before.’ What do I mean by that? I mean that if the Bible says
that whosoever believes in Jesus the Son of God, that is, in His death and in
His resurrection, obtains remission of sins, is saved from sin, and receives
eternal life, evidently if it tells the truth you will obtain by faith all these
things and you will experience them in your life, but if it tells lies you
will not be able to receive all these things. Don’t you think so? And since
in the very moment I believed in Jesus I experienced the remission of all my
sins, the deliverance from the bondage of sin, and I felt I had eternal life,
the Bible can be nothing but the truth and the Word of God. Furthermore, the
divine origin of the Bible is proved by the fact that the predictions
concerning the Messiah, which were made centuries before the birth of Jesus
Christ and which were recorded in the books of the Old Testament, were
literally fulfilled in the fulness of the time. And not only the predictions
concerning the Messiah were fulfilled, but also many other predictions (such
as the flood, the birth of Isaac, the deliverance of the Israelites from the
Egyptian bondage, the division of the Kingdom of Israel, the punishments of
God on the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah, the Babylonian
captivity, the return of the Exiles from Babylon, and the rise of the Persian
Empire), which were made under the Old Testament and written in the books of
the Old Testament, were fulfilled at God’s appointed time. Had they been
false predictions, they would never have been fulfilled. But since it was God
who made those predictions through the mouth of His prophets, at the
appointed time He brought them to pass. And we have confidence that also the
events predicted by Jesus and the apostles, which are recorded in the New
Testament, will be fulfilled at God’s appointed time, for these predictions
also are of divine origin, and thus God will bring them to pass. Last but not
least, we believe in the divine inspiration of the Bible for we have the
witness of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, that is to say, for the Holy Spirit
who moved the prophets and the apostles to write bears witness to us that the
words we read in the Bible were inspired by Him. So, in conclusion, what the
Scripture says about itself is true, the Scripture is indeed inspired by God
who cannot lie. Blessed be His Holy Name now and forevermore. Amen. |
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False views on
inspiration
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Natural inspiration. According
to this view, the Bible is inspired literature in the same way the works of
Shakespeare, or of some other famous poet, are ‘inspired’. Therefore, the
Bible is like any ordinary book written by man. This view is held by the
modernists. This view is wrong because – as I have already proved it –
inspiration, in the biblical sense, means that God so superintended the
writers of the Bible books that they wrote what He wanted them to write and
were kept from error in so doing. |
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Partial inspiration. According
to this other view, the Bible is inspired only when it touches on matters of
faith and salvation, but in matters involving science, history or geography, it
can make mistakes, therefore it is not totally trustworthy. This view is held
by moderate liberals and neo-evangelicals. This view also is wrong, for the
Bible itself states that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2
Timothy 3:16 – NKJV), therefore all parts of the Scriptures are trustworthy,
not merely some parts. To state that only some parts of the Bible are
trustworthy is tantamount to stating that the Almighty God, who created
heaven and earth and all things in them, was not able to keep the writers of
the Scripture from making mistakes as they wrote His Word!! Furthermore, if
the Bible’s references to history or geography are not trustworthy, on what
basis can we be sure that those portions dealing with salvation are
trustworthy? There is no doubt that this view on the inspiration of the Bible
is held by people who have been deceived by the devil, for one of the schemes
of the devil against the Church is to induce Christians to doubt the plenary
inspiration of the Scripture. Brothers, let no one deceive you with empty
words. Jesus Christ as well as His apostles believed in the literal trustworthiness
of the Old Testament record, whether those records dealt with doctrinal
matters, matters of science, or anything else. |
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The final and
absolute authority
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Since we
accept the Bible as the Inspired Word of the Almighty God, which does not
contain any errors, we accept the Bible as the final and absolute authority
in faith, conduct and morals. Therefore all teachings, all revelations, and
all prophecies, must be examined carefully in the light of the Holy
Scriptures to see if they are sound (in this case they must be accepted) or
wrong (in this case they must be rejected), and any earthly authority that
expressly commands us to break the Word of God must not be obeyed, for we
ought to obey God rather than men. |