Today we begin a series on understanding the basics about the Word of God. As we look to 2 Timothy 3:16-17, we will consider how the
Bible is useful, transformational, and inspired. Today, we going to think together about the inspiration of the Bible. (READ TEXT)
I want us to focus our attention on the first part of verse 16:
“All Scripture is God-breathed.”
There are 3 things this passage says about the inspiration of the Bible:
1. The fact of inspiration - Scripture
Followers of Christ believe God has inspired writings, called Scripture, that we can look to as authoritative revelation of Himself, His working, and His ways. This collection of writings is called The Bible. “Bible” comes from the Greek word, “biblia,” which means, “books.” Now, a common question that is asked is how did the Bible come to be?
A common misconception that reveals an ignorance of history is the notion that a council or committee of some kind decided in a meeting, for the sake of developing the religion of Christianity; or for the purpose of maintaining power, which books to keep in the Bible and which ones to reject. Nothing could be further from the truth.
When scholars refer to the books of the Bible, they speak of the “Canon of Scripture.” What do they mean? Well, the word, “canon” comes from the Greek word, “kanon” which means “measuring rod.” In other words, the word “canon” refers to a standard. The books of the New Testament, for example, had to meet a certain standard before they were recognized as being Scripture. What were those standards?
A. Was the testimony tied to the Apostles?
When the 120 waited in Jerusalem for the coming Holy Spirit, Peter said someone needed to be elected to take the place of Judas, who had betrayed the Lord and committed suicide. What he said is interesting:
“So now we must choose a replacement for Judas from among the men who were with us the entire time we were traveling with the Lord Jesus - from the time he was baptized by John until the day he was taken from us. Whoever is chosen will join us as a witness of Jesus’ resurrection.” - Acts 1:21-22 (NLT)
Why was this important? Because in the coming days, there would be much said about Jesus. After all, His tomb had been found empty!
How would one know if what someone wrote about Jesus was true or not? They would know it by whether or not this person’s teaching or testimony was somehow tied to the Apostles.
Take the Gospels, for example, Mathew and John were Apostles; but Mark and Luke were not. However, Mark wrote his Gospel under
Peter’s authority and Luke wrote under Paul’s authority.
B. Was the testimony endorsed by the Apostles?
The Apostle Paul likely lived around Jerusalem during the time of Jesus’ ministry; and possibly witnessed our Savior’s crucifixion. He wasn’t a witness to the resurrection, although he did encounter the risen Christ at his conversion on the road to Damascus. He was,
nevertheless, accepted as an Apostle, by the other Apostles.
“He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. For I am the least of all the apostles.” - 1 Corinthians 15:4-9 (NLT)
Paul is an example of one who was endorsed by the Apostles.
“Also, regard the patience of our Lord as an opportunity for salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him. He speaks about these things in all his letters in which there are some matters that are hard to understand. The untaught and unstable twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.” - 2 Peter 3:15-16 (HCSB)
C. Was the testimony consistent with that of the Apostles?
The book of Galatians is considered one of the earliest books of the New Testament to be written. Yet, even when the Apostles were still alive and preaching, there were those who were proclaiming a false message, a false Gospel.
“There is no other message that is the Good News, but some people are confusing you. They want to change the Good News about Christ.” - Galatians 1:7 (Easy to Read)
The fact is that almost every book of the New Testament was written in an effort to correct false teaching and defend the truth.
This Apostolic test was applied to every writing by the early church, and only those that passed the standard we’ve outlined here were
accepted as Scripture. If all three of these standards were met in a writing, then it was eventually included among the books that
eventually were collected and given the name the New Testament.
Some thoughts about the New Testament:
First - This explains why the canon of Scripture is closed. Do we have any other Apostles today who meet the qualifications laid out by
Peter in Acts 1:21-22? No. Therefore, there is no more apostolic revelation about Christ to be received.
Second - Jesus accepted the books contained in our protestant edition of the Old Testament as authoritative and divinely inspired (Catholics have apocryphal books in their edition of the Bible, which were added in 1546 A.D., just a few years after the Apostles had passed).
Third - The New Testament was written by an eye-witness generation, so we can rely on it as being a historically accurate record about the life, ministry, teaching, and meaning of Jesus. Only intellectually dishonest people deny that Jesus of Nazareth was a person of history. Extra-biblical writings speak of His life, ministry, and crucifixion. Just because the New Testament is considered by Christians to be Scripture doesn’t mean it is can’t be an accurate historical record. The fact is, there is more manuscript evidence for the historical authenticity of the New Testament than most other ancient writings.
But people don’t accept the message of the New Testament about Jesus because it is inaccurate, but because they know that if Jesus is, indeed, who the New Testament says He is, that means they need to repent of their sins, trust Him as Savior, and submit to Him as Lord. But the fact is that since the New Testament was compiled by the early church as we have described, we Christians have history on our side. The only facts that keep unbelievers from coming to Christ are not historical facts, but personal facts:
They are: Freaked About Confessing Their Sin
So, Christians believe the books we have in our New Testament are Scripture because each was accepted by the early church as tied to the Apostles, endorsed by the Apostles, and consistent with the Apostles’ message; and we believe the books in our Old Testament are Scripture because each one was accepted as divinely inspired by Jesus.
2. The method of inspiration - God-breathed
My NIV Bible translates the word theoneustos, which means inspiration, literally. “Theo” is Greek for “God” and “neustos” is Greek for “breathed”. God’s breath, His Spirit, is upon the Scripture, just like His breath gave life to the first man, His Spirit breathes life into the Scripture (Genesis 1:7).
Inspiration means the writers were not only inspired by God and moved by the Holy Spirit to record accurately what God wanted them to
preserve; it also means that God revealed Himself, His purposes, and his ways to the writers of Scripture through these historical events.
“First of all, you should know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” - 2 Peter 1:20-21 (HCSB)
The Bible was written by real people, living in real places, recording real history, communicating God’s real truths.
“The Bible is unlike any other religious book. Despite forty authors writing from three continents over nearly two thousand years, it maintains a perfect consistency of message. Its words point unerringly to Christ, whose work on the cross was ordained
by God - the true author of the Bible - before the world began.” - Tim Chaffey, Answers in Genesis
3. The extent of inspiration - All
Every book of the Old Testament and New Testament we have in our Bibles is inspired by God, which means that God has something for us in every book.
Conclusion: In light of the inspiration of the Bible, shouldn’t we commit ourselves all the more to being a people of the book?
“The amazing thing is that everyone who reads the Bible has the same joyful thing to say about it. In every land, in every language, it is the same tale: where that Book is read, not with the eyes only, but with the mind and heart, the life is changed. Sorrowful people are comforted, sinful people are transformed, peoples who were in the dark walk in the light. Is it not wonderful to think that this Book, which is such a mighty power if it gets a chance to work in an honest heart, is in our hands today?” - Amy Carmichael
