Inspired by the Holy Spirit

The Bible indicates plainly that there is one supreme, invisible influence by which God did in fact control, direct and communicate with the spirits and minds of the men by whom the Bible was written. This invisible influence is the Holy Spirit – God’s own Spirit. For example, the apostle Paul says:

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Tim. 3:16)

The word here translated “by inspiration” means literally “inbreathed of God” and is directly connected with the word Spirit. In other words, the Spirit of God – the Holy Spirit – was the invisible, but inerrant, influence which controlled and directed all those who wrote the various books of the Bible.

This is stated perhaps more plainly still by the apostle Peter.

“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation.” (2 Pet. 1:20)

In other words, as we have already explained, in no case does the message or revelation of the Bible originate with man, but always with God.

Then Peter goes on to explain just how this took place.

“For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Pet. 1:21)

The Greek word translated “moved by” means more literally “borne along by,” or we might say, “directed in their course by.” In other words, just as men today control the course of their satellites in space by the interplay of radio and electronics, so God controlled the men who wrote the Bible by the interplay of His divine Spirit with the spiritual and mental faculties of man. In the face of contemporary scientific evidence, to deny the possibility of God’s doing this is merely to give expression to prejudice.

In the Old Testament the same truth of divine inspiration is presented to us in another picture, taken from an activity which goes much further back into human history than the contemporary launching of satellites into space. The psalmist David says:

“The words of the Lord are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times.” (Ps. 12:6)

The picture is taken from the process of purifying silver in a furnace or oven built of clay. (Such clay ovens are still used for various purposes among the Arabs today.) The clay furnace represents the human element; the silver represents the divine message which is to be conveyed through the human channel; the fire which ensures the absolute purity of the silver, that is, the absolute accuracy of the message, represents the Holy Spirit. The phrase “seven times” indicates – as the number seven does in many passages of the Bible – the absolute perfection of the Holy Spirit’s work.

Thus, the whole picture assures us that the complete accuracy of the divine message in the Scriptures is due to the perfect operation of the Holy Spirit, over-ruling all the frailty of human clay and purging all the dross of human error from the flawless silver of God’s message to man.