by David E. Moss

The English word “Bible” originates from an Egyptian word which referred to the papyrus reed used in making paper. It later became synonymous with the concept of a document written on paper. The word was later transferred into Greek as the word “biblos.” In the second century A.D., Clement applied the term biblos in its plural form – biblia – to the New Testament Scriptures. By the beginning of the fifth century, this word was being applied to all the Scriptures. So in 400 A.D. Jerome referred to the Scriptures as the Bibliotheca Divina – The Divine Library. Some time before the thirteenth century, someone made a grammatical error and referred to all of the books of Scripture in the singular term book. This set a precedent for referring to the sixty six books of the Bible as “the book,” – or in the adaptation of the Greek term, the Bible.

Perhaps it was by Divine Providence that such a term came to be used to show the unity of all the Scriptures as the Book of God. Yet questions persist in our day, and even increase, regarding the origin of the Bible. Who wrote the Bible? Is it the Word of God, written by the breath of the Almighty Divine and merely recorded by means of men? Or is it merely a compilation of writings by religious men who presumed within themselves to write for God?

The answer to this question is largely one of faith. But there is reason in faith, so let us consider the logical sequence of thoughts which leads our faith to conclude that the Bible was written in its entirety by God Himself.

Revelation

1. The Existence of God

   God introduced Himself to Moses when Moses inquired after His Name. God said, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you (Exodus 3:14). Believing in the existence of God is prerequisite to understanding the origin of the Bible. That is, one must believe in the existence of the I AM, the Self-existing, Almighty, Sovereign Creator of all that is. It is not enough to believe that a god, or some supreme “being” exists out there somewhere. One must begin with the acceptance of the existence of The God, as He is in all of His glory. Hebrews 11:6 says that it is impossible to please God without faith. Then it proposes the first tenet of that faith which pleases Him when it says, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is.

   The Bible begins by assuming the existence of God in saying, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1). There is no argument proposed which would raise the question as to whether or not God exists. It simply begins with the description of the creative activity of the Living God.

   Later, in Romans chapter one, some physical evidence will be suggested which is intended to show that He exists. Verse 19 says, that which may be known of God is manifest in them (men); for God hath shewed it unto them. So God has shown something to man which evidences His existence. Verse 20 explains what He has shown man are the things which He has made. It is by these visible things that the invisible things of God can be clearly seen and understood. For example, eternal power and Godhead are invisible things of God. Since God brought the physical things of the universe into existence, these visible parts of creation have served to indicate and illustrate the existence of Divine attributes which would otherwise be invisible to man’s eyes.

   Nevertheless, men still struggle with accepting the existence of a personal, sovereign God. Yet without His existence, it is mute to argue that the Bible is His communication to man.

2. The Distance Between God and Man

   If one can pass this first hurdle, and believe in the existence of The God, then the heart is ready to consider the next step in our sequence of thoughts. That is, there is a considerable distance between God and man which means that unless God reveals Himself to man, man will never be able to perceive the existence of God.

   This distance of separation is not to be measured in a quantity of space. God is everywhere. Psalm 139:7-12 describes in detail the Omnipresence of God. Rather, it is to be measured by perception. In Isaiah 55:8, God said, My thoughts are not your thoughts. This indicates the inability of man to perceive God as He is. His thoughts are on an entirely different plane than man’s thoughts, and so it is impossible for man to reach up to God and find Him out. So it is that Romans 11:33 says His ways are past finding out. Verse 34 asks the rhetorical question, For who hath known the mind of the Lord? That is just the problem. No human resources are adequate to discover the thoughts of God. Yet God has many thoughts which He directs toward us (Psalm 40:5). But man’s own finiteness blocks his perception of these things. 1 Corinthians 2:9,11 explain that as no man can read the mind of another man, much less can he read the mind of God.

   But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him… For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

   The depravity of man is certainly a factor in hindering man from perceiving the thoughts of God. As 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (Compare Psalm 92:5-6.) But merely being finite is sufficient to hinder this perception.

3. The Revelation of God to Man

   So if man is ever to know God and His thoughts which He directs to man, God must be the one who communicates in such a way as to make that perception possible. This is what we call “revelation,” God making it possible for man to perceive His thoughts. 1 Corinthians 2:10 says, But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. This verse tells us that the Holy Spirit is the vehicle by which God channels His thoughts unto man. What was previously kept secret as a mystery, is now made known to man by the voice of the Holy Spirit (Romans 16:25).

   But then, it is also true that man may know of God and His truth only what God Himself reveals to man. Deuteronomy 29:29 says, The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. The Apostle Paul testified that it was by revelation God made known that mystery unto him (Ephesians 3:3). This mystery he says in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men… (Ephesians 3:5). If God had not revealed it to Paul or some other prophet, we would never be able to discover it. Man is, therefore, completely dependent upon Divine revelation in order to know any of the thoughts of God.

   Thankfully, God always provided spokesmen for revealed truth. These were known as prophets. Luke 1:70 says, As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began. God put His words in the prophets’ mouths (Isaiah 59:21; 2 Peter 1:20- 21). The prophets in turn were able to speak whatever God put in their mouths (Ezekiel 11:25).

4. The Means of Communication

   Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, God has used numerous means to reveal His truth to man. As Hebrews 1:1 says, in times past, God spake in sundry times and in diverse manners unto the prophets. He spoke directly to some with an audible voice as to Abraham in Genesis 12:1. He showed Himself to man in the form of a man (an Anthropomorphism) as when He appeared to Abraham in Genesis 18:1-2. God spoke to man through some visible manifestation of His presence (a Theophany) as when He spoke to Moses out of the burning bush in Exodus 3:2-6. He spoke to some through dreams as to Jacob in Genesis 28:12. He spoke to some through visions as to Peter in Acts 10:9-10. He spoke to some through angels as to Zacharias in Luke 1:11. He sometimes used an indirect means of communication as through the Urim and Thumim (Exodus 28:30), and the casting of lots (Joshua 7:10-15).

Inspiration

God also wanted select revelation to be recorded in written form and preserved for future generations. This step takes us from revelation to “inspiration.” This is where the Bible comes in.

Before a person can truly appreciate the value of the Bible, he must believe that God exists, that man cannot perceive the thoughts of God on his own, and that God directs His thoughts to man through revelation unto prophets. It must be understood that revelation is not a general privilege of the human race. Since the world began, God has directed His thoughts to man through prophets (Luke 1:70). God said He reveals His secrets unto prophets (Amos 3:7). And those prophets are men selected by God Himself (2 Peter 1:20-21).

When revelation is only communicated orally, there are limits attached such as the life span of the prophets (Zechariah 1:5), the size of the audience, and the memory of the hearers (John 2:22; Numbers 15:38-40).

But God desired to preserve His Word for man and to make it more available, resulting in the written form of select revelation given to the prophets. This is called Scripture. Scripture is the written form of that which was spoken by God to the prophets. For example, Acts 1:16 says that the Holy Spirit spoke by the mouth of David. That occurred 1000 years before Acts chapter one took place. This verse also says that what the Holy Spirit said through David existed in the form of Scripture. The word “Scripture” means “a writing, the thing written.” Peter was able to refer to something the Holy Spirit had said 1000 years earlier, because David was directed to write it down. (He is referring to such places in the Psalms as Psalm 41:9, Psalm 69:25 and Psalm 109:8 which refer to Judas the betrayer.)

1. The Concept of Inspiration

   But the writing of God’s revelation is not just the writing of men. The Scripture of God is inspired. 2 Timothy 3:16 says that All scripture is given by inspiration of God… The word “inspiration” is a compound word. “Spire” is a 16^th century English word meaning “to breathe.”

   Adding the suffix “in” gives us the word “inspire,” or “to breathe in, inhale.” With time, the word inspire also developed another meaning – “to breathe into something else.” For example, If you were to breathe into your hands on a cold day, you could say you were inspiring your hands. This was a perfect English term to explain the Biblical expression in 2 Timothy 3:16.

   Please note that in 2 Timothy 3:16 it does not say the writers were inspired. If so, the verse would read, All prophets were given by inspiration of God. Rather, the term inspiration is applied to the writings. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. The clear implication is that God breathed into the writings. In other words, God revealed His truth to prophets. He directed the prophets to write what He had revealed (e.g. Jeremiah 30:2; Habakkuk 2:2). Verses such as Matthew 26:56 and Romans 16:26 thus refer to the scriptures of the prophets. As they wrote, God breathed into the writings His approval and guaranteed that what was written was in truth exactly what He had revealed. This is the doctrine of inspiration.

2. The Elements of Inspiration

   The American Standard Version of the Bible (1901) made a serious error when translating 2 Timothy 3:16. It says, Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching… The implication of such a statement is that some scripture is not inspired of God, but every scripture that is inspired of God is profitable. The actual text of 2 Timothy 3:16 should be and is correctly translated in the King James Version, All (or every) scripture is given by inspiration of God (or is God inspired, God breathed).

   Scripture is not just inspired, it is fully inspired, that is, all scripture is inspired. This is what we call plenary inspiration, or full inspiration. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, with emphasis on the word “all.”

   The Bible also makes a point about the specificity with which each individual word was chosen within the full text of all scripture. For example, in Galatians 3:16, the Bible says, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not , And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. The point being made is that the choice between a singular form of a word and the plural form of a word would make a big difference in the meaning of what was being said. In this case, God carefully chose the singular form of the word “seed” because He had something very specific He wanted to communicate. This is true throughout the text of all Scripture, and this is what we call verbal inspiration. The Bible is inspired of God to the choice of every specific word making all of it grammatically accurate to the revelation of God.

   Combined, these two elements give us an important doctrinal statement regarding the Bible – the verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture. The verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture is the belief that the entire Bible was given directly by God and that every single word is as much inspired as the whole.

Conclusion

One fascinating element of inspiration that only God could manage, was to incorporate the personality of the prophets into the actual writings. For example, in Galatians 6:11, Paul says, Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. God did not do the actual mechanical writing (as He did with the handwriting on the wall in Daniel chapter five) but incorporated the penmanship of the human prophet in the recording of Scripture. This illustrates the way God also used the personality of the men in the text as well. In 2 Peter 3:16, Peter referred to scripture recorded by Paul in which are some things hard to be understood. God used Paul’s depth of intellect to record some intricate truths which would require some extra spiritual effort to understand. It can also be observed from prophet to prophet that a variety of writing styles and vocabularies have been incorporated into the text. This takes nothing away from inspiration, but only adds a higher level of amazement as to how God can be so wise as to communicate His thoughts through the various personalities of the prophets.

The Bible is the accurate written form of the actual words of God. He revealed them to His prophets. He directed them to put these revealed thoughts into written form. He breathed His words into the writings making them absolutely the Word of God.

The Bible is complete. Revelation stopped with the closing of the New Testament. Inspiration concluded with the Book of Revelation. So we are instructed neither to add to nor to take away from the things which God has written (Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:18-19).

The Bible is enduring. Consider the following Scriptures which make this point with emphasis.

• John 10:35

  …the scripture cannot be broken.

• Jeremiah 36:27-32

  Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned. Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire…

• Psalm 111:7-8

  …All his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever…

• Psalm 119:89

  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

• Isaiah 40:8

  …the word of our God shall stand for ever.

• Isaiah 59:21

  My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of thy mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

• Luke 16:17

  And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.

• 1 Peter 1:23-25

  Being born again… by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever.

God wrote the Bible. Just as sure as if He took the pen in hand Himself, what was written down on paper was written by the breath of God through the instrument of human hands. It is a book like no other. It is living, having in it the life of the Eternal God in the breath of each word.

You can trust the Bible. The same faith we use to turn our hearts over to the Heavenly Father, we can use to turn our hearts over to the inspired Scriptures and there breathe in the breath of the heart of the Holy God who wrote it.

Interesting Facts About The Bible

• There are 66 books in the Bible, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.
• There 1,189 chapters in the Bible, 929 in the Old Testament and 260 in the New Testament.
• There are 31,173 verses in the Bible, 23,214 in the Old Testament and 7,959 in the New Testament.
• There are 773,746 words in the Bible.
• There are 3,566,480 letters in the Bible
• The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119.
• The shortest and middle chapter is Psalm 117.
• The middle book of the Old Testament is Proverbs.
• The middle book of the New Testament is 2 Thessalonians
• The longest verse is Esther 8:9.
• The shortest verse is John 11:35.
• The middle verse is Psalm 118:8
• 2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 37 are alike.
• The word “and” occurs in the Old Testament 10,684 times.
• All the letters of the alphabet are in Ezra 7:21 except f and j.
• The book of Esther contains 10 chapters but neither the word “Lord” nor “God” are to be found in it.
• The word “reverend” occurs but once and that in Psalm 119:9.