| Christian Life and Doctrine | January 1966 |
Revelation by Inspiration
“All scripture … given by inspiration of God, … is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” —II Timothy 3:16,17
IN THIS text Paul’s reference is to the inspired writings which later were assembled and became what we refer to as the Bible. It is a comprehensive statement. First Paul informs us that the Scriptures are inspired by God. Literally, inspiration means “in breathed.” This is true of the Word of God. This has the thought of giving the Scriptures “life” power.
Paul further shows the four main uses of the Scriptures: (1) They are a source of doctrinal truth. (2) They reprove error. (3) They correct. (4) They build character. Then Paul speaks of the Scriptures’ mission. This mission is to make God’s people complete, thoroughly equipped to do every good work.
It is the first part of the passage upon which we would like to enlarge: “All scripture … given by inspiration of God.” The Scriptures, or the Bible, may be defined as a divine revelation. The English word, revelation, is the equivalent of several Greek words, which have shaded meanings. They are: manifestation, bright shining, and uncovering or unveiling.
There are two kinds of revelation. We have natural revelation, and we have supernatural revelation. In the natural realm there are certain forces and laws. There are things animate and things inanimate. All of this can be observed and appreciated by man, who exists in this realm. In the supernatural realm there also are certain forces and laws, but these are on a higher plane, appreciated only by higher beings. Hence the expression supernatural. The different planes of existence account for the different beings, the different forces and laws. In comparing the natural with the supernatural, we find that the supernatural, or spiritual, can manifest itself in, or penetrate, the natural; whereas the natural cannot penetrate or pervade the supernatural, or spiritual realm.
Natural Revelation
The Bible brings the natural revelation to our attention. For example, in Psalm 19:1-6 we have described for us the order, beauty, harmony, and utility of our heavens and earth. Again in the 104th Psalm, we find the Psalmist speaking in greater detail of nature—its creation and preservation. It is a remarkable chapter. In Romans, chapter 1, verses 19 and 20, the Apostle Paul speaks of natural revelation. Here we are shown how nature reveals God to man.
How would it be possible for the supernatural to penetrate the natural? We must have communication between God and man. The possibility of such communication depends upon whether God can communicate a revelation to man, and whether man can receive such a communication. On God’s side we recognize his ability to express his thoughts to whomsoever he will. On man’s side we find that under certain conditions he does have the ability to receive a supernatural revelation. We could illustrate this by means of a radio transmitter and a radio receiver. The transmitter has the power to transmit a message, but one must have a receiver capable of receiving it on a particular wave length. Similarly God can disclose, unveil, or make something known to one whose mind has been prepared to receive the message.
This has been done in a number of ways. For instance, God communicated by some means with Adam, Eve, and Moses. God made use of dreams to reveal certain things to Joseph, Pharaoh, and Nebuchadnezzar. God revealed his will by visions to Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Peter, James, and John. God used miracles to make known his desires. Other means were also used to communicate his purposes.
Translations Not Inspired
Before we proceed, we would like to make one thing clear; that is, when we speak of all scripture given by the inspiration of God, we do not mean any and every translation of the Bible. Translations are of human origin, and even the best of them contain mistranslations and misunderstandings. It is only the original text, as written by their human authors, to which full inspiration can be ascribed. In the original form there were no paragraphs or punctuation. These were supplied by the translators. The translators took certain liberties in their translations, causing errors to creep in. This the Lord permitted for good reasons.
These errors, however, were made manifest in due time. Corrections were made for the edification of the church. It is in the realm of possibility that in the future (in the Millennium, perhaps) God will display a perfect translation of his Word for all people to read. We make another observation in the realm of inspiration: all truth is not inspired, because all truth is not found in the Bible. For example, accurate history is true without inspiration. Mathematics and true science are true without inspiration, but all truth found in God’s Word is inspired. As the Scriptures declare, “Thy Word is truth.”
Different Methods
It is interesting to observe the different outlets inspiration has used to bring revelation. Some expressions are mechanical. Balsam’s ass was seized by divine power. It uttered things it did not understand. Balsam himself was overcome by power divine—uttered things he did not understand, nor wished to say. Daniel tells us that he did not understand the greatest of all his prophecies. In these cases God’s spirit moved in a mechanical way to accomplish his purpose.
Another way inspiration has resulted in revelation was through the inspiration of the apostles. Here God’s Spirit acted in a different way. It enabled their minds to reason out divine revelation. The apostles wrote matters they clearly understood—things with which they were in sympathy. However, there were a few exceptions. John wrote the Book of Revelation without understanding it. This understanding was to be reserved for a later time.
We find in the Bible thoughts of wicked angels and men. The sentiments of such are not inspired. However, the record of them is divinely directed. These thoughts of wicked angels and men are part of God’s revelation, necessary for various reasons.
As inspiration brings revelation, we find variety present. Various writers used their own style. As we study the epistles, we will discover as many styles of writing as writers. Paul’s style in his epistles is different from that in John’s epistles. Paul’s style, as a rule, is heavy, and at times involved. This is not the case with James and Peter. How do we account for the many styles? The difference is due to God’s respecting the individuality of those he used as his agents. This diversity of style in biblical writers can be illustrated by the differences of tone in various musical instruments. The piano, violin, and the cornet play the same note in their own particular tone. Each is appreciated for its beauty.
Individuality Respected
God has respected individuality in dealing with his servants and his sons. Each one of the Ancient Worthies is a personality. This has been true of the teachers of the Lord’s people. Each draws from a common source, the Bible, and yet variety results, capable of bringing spiritual education to God’s people. Every elder has an individuality all his own. Diversity brings blessings. God will carry this principle into his divine realm. Ile will have 144,000 personalities—all perfect spiritually yet retaining individuality. As the Scriptures declare, each star will differ from another in glory. (I Cor. 15:41,42) The world of mankind, though all perfect after the Millennium, will retain individuality. We can illustrate this by snowflakes. No two snowflakes in the myriads of them are alike.
The men that were inspired by God to write his Word were fitted for the task. In every case they were faithful, consecrated men. Some of them were not learned men, but they were all able men. We look to Moses, David, Solomon, and Daniel. They were statesmen and executives of the first order. Samuel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah were men of a high order of intellect. Luke certainly was a scholar. The language of James and Peter shows evidence that their education was obtained in the School of Christ. Apart from Jesus, a deeper reasoner than Paul probably never lived. All the writers of Holy Writ were selected men, well fitted for the work assigned. But they were fallible men.
In addition to the writers’ being fallible, none of them, uninspired, had the ability to put things revealed to them in proper form and words. To give us an infallible record and presentation of God’s revelation, God inspired these fallible writers. In our close examination of the Bible’s contents, we make some rather interesting discoveries. In its makeup we find many doctrines, promises, exhortations, prophecies, and types. Some of these doctrines are simple, others more difficult. To secure infallible presentation of these in writing, its fallible writers must be inspired. This would particularly be true in the case of prophecy.
Many of the prophets had no understanding of the things that they wrote. Many of these writers had a knowledge of history and events. These were used, but it required inspiration to select the right material and reject the wrong material. If Moses was not inspired, how was he able to describe so accurately the nature and order of creation? No human being witnessed the creative work of God. Its record must, therefore, be a matter of revelation by inspiration.
Love Thy Neighbor
Consider another illustration. Take the law of duty, love, and justice to your neighbor. This is briefly stated, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Only a supernatural mind could have thought out so completely this comprehensive law. The human mind did not have the ability to conceive it. It would only be revealed by inspiration. Man’s efforts to make the laws of justice fit the ever-changing relations of man to man have resulted in laws without number, filling literally thousands and thousands of volumes. These manmade laws are subject to change constantly; additions, modifications, and revisions are constantly made. All of these laws are the uninspired efforts of fallible men to govern man’s actions. But the inspired Bible condenses all the world’s thousands of laws (even those yet to be enacted) into two sentences which never need revisions. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Matt. 19:19) “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” (Matt. 7:12) No uninspired man could conceive of such a law. It must come by inspiration.
Inspiration would be required in order to comprehend Christ’s three natures: spirit, human, divine. The understanding of the three natures of Christ would be necessary to the church. Notice how easily the translators introduced error on this subject, supporting the God-dishonoring doctrine of the trinity! Only through inspiration could the process of the change of nature in our Lord be shown. The original text condemns the theory of the trinity. The original text makes clear the position of our Lord before coming to earth, and after leaving earth. It took inspiration to explain the human nature of our Lord; how it was possible, and why it was required.
Inspiration was necessary to make clear the change from human to divine. The process of the new creature would have to be made plain—the begettal, the growth, and the birth. Error would not be tolerated in any of these important features, because it would violate other parts of the plan.
The Bible’s Qualities
Let us ponder over all the qualities our Bible possesses. They are unity, diversity, harmony, truthfulness, infallibility, beauty, power, simplicity, and others. All of these qualities could be present only in an inspired Bible. Now consider these facts. There were eight writers and associates of the New Testament, and more than twenty-four writers of the Old Testament. These writers lived, from the first to the last, about 1,700 years apart. The Old Testament writers did their work within twelve centuries. The New Testament writers did theirs within fifty years. All these writers possessed different characteristics, talents, stations, and education. They wrote without system, and piecemeal, on the divine revelation. They wrote of principles, persons, events past, present, and future. Yet they produced a work of utmost unity in doctrine, exhortation, prophecy and types. The Bible’s unity is a sure proof of its inspiration.
Another evidence that proves inspiration in the Bible’s arrangement is that the Bible is not assembled like a textbook. All textbooks worthy of the name are logically and progressively arranged. In other words, one subject follows another in proper sequence. For example, the textbook on mathematics begins with the simple, progressing to the more complex. This is true of other textbooks treating other subjects. The Bible is not so constructed, but rather, none of its subjects are completely and progressively discussed in any one place. The Bible itself states that this is the case. We read in Isaiah 28:10: “For precept must be upon precept, … line upon line; here a little, and there a little.”
This is especially true in the prophets, psalms, and types. The matter becomes more complicated in reading the ambiguous statements, dark sayings, figures, and parables. We find that the Lord so constructed the Bible to hide his thoughts and plans from those who would be of the wrong disposition. But despite the many confusions and diversities, the contents of the Bible, when rightly divided, produce harmony. This becomes apparent when its passages on doctrines, promises, prophecies, and types are assigned to the right class and right dispensation.
Harmonious
Despite the diversity of subjects, the Bible, rightly divided, reveals a marvelous harmony. Further, we note that not one of the Bible’s writers was given anything like a complete view of its teachings, but rather greater or lesser snatches of its many subjects. Yet when each writer’s contribution is added to all the others and the sum total is rightly divided, there emerges a harmonious and logical whole. To have assembled the material of the Bible in such apparent confusion, and yet, by rightly dividing, to permit a unity to emerge, surpasses anything possible by man. This implies, without question, an inspired Bible.
The Lord in providing his revelation has divided it into two parts—the Old Testament and the New Testament. Each complements the other. The ancient Jews believed in the inspiration of the Old Testament. They believed that the Law, the prophets and holy writings came directly from God. This accounts for the great reverence with which they regarded the holy writings. The view of the Jews that the Old Testament was divinely inspired, was shared by Jesus and the apostles. Jesus continually affirmed the inspiration of the Old Testament. When he was tempted, he referred to the Old Testament as, “It is written.” He called it “the Word of God.” The apostles treated the Old Testament as Jesus did; they expounded it as God’s Word. They quoted from the Old Testament as proof of their teachings. Paul quoted from the Old Testament to prove our Lord’s resurrection.
Our Lord and the apostles assigned various names to the Old Testament, establishing it as an inspired Word. They called the Old Testament “the Scriptures,” meaning, “the writings of all writing,” and “the oracles of God.” The expression, “Word of God,” is used fifty-two times in the New Testament, referring to the Old Testament. Another name that Jesus and the apostles gave the Old Testament was “the Law and the Prophets.”
Words Binding
In Matthew 18:18 Jesus makes a statement concerning his apostles: “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Here Jesus identifies his apostles as God’s inspired agents.
The apostolic inspiration was of a threefold character: (1) They would have a refreshment of memory enabling them to recall and reproduce the Lord’s personal teachings. (2) They would be guided into an appreciation of the truth pertaining to the divine plan. (3) They would receive special revelations of things to come. We would not expect the memory of the apostles to supply the exact wording, but the Lord’s promise was a guarantee of the correctness of their statements.
In each of the four Gospels we have a history of the Lord’s early life and ministry, yet each writer has his own individuality. Each writer in his own style records items which seem to him most important. Under the Lord’s supervision, the various accounts, combined, present a history sufficiently complete for establishing the church.
Suppose now that their inspiration would be word-for-word dictation. Then it would not be necessary for several men to write. One writer would suffice. It is interesting to note that while each writer exercised his own freedom of expression and made his choice of the events he recorded, the Lord by his Holy Spirit so directed the matter that nothing of importance was omitted. All that was required was faithfully recorded.
The Lord’s guidance of the apostles was not generally personal or individual. Although the apostles (with the possible exception of Paul and Matthew) were plain and unlearned men, nevertheless their scriptural presentations were remarkable. The epistles of the apostles consist of logical arguments based upon the inspired writings of the Old Testament and the words of our Lord. Those who partake of this same spirit, by following the lines of argument which the Lord, through his mouthpiece, presents, come to the same logical and truthful conclusions. This means that our faith does not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
We must recognize the difference in the apostles’ inspiration and that of the prophets of old. The apostles did not write in a mechanical way like the prophets. They had a clear view; their minds were illuminated. They could appreciate the divine purpose, and could state it clearly. So we, through the apostles, have this same appreciation through the same Spirit, but we do not have inspiration, because this is not required. So, then, we can see that the apostles’ historical accounts and their teachings were so supervised by the Lord that erroneous teachings were avoided, and the truth was presented in such a way that it would be appropriate for the instruction of the church throughout the Gospel Age.
Being convinced that the Scriptures have been divinely inspired, may we take full advantage of their purpose. They are our source of doctrinal truth. May we use the Scriptures to reprove error. May they make the necessary corrections in mind and heart. May they build Christian characters. All of this to make us complete, thoroughly equipped to do every good work.