Scripture—It’s from God!

Inspiration looked different for various Scriptures.

on February 1, 2025

Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. Jeremiah 30:2

Christians believe the Bible is the Word of God, but we also acknowledge the role of human authors like Moses, King David, the Apostle Paul, and many others. How is the Bible both the Word of God and the product of human authors?

If we look carefully at Scripture, we can see that God used various ways to inspire Scripture. He wrote the Ten Commandments himself on tablets of stone. Other times, he dictated a prophecy or declaration which the human author was instructed to write down, verbatim. When King Jehoiakim destroyed the first copy of a prophecy from Jeremiah, God laughed at the rebellious king and reinspired it, telling Jeremiah to write it down again!

If we look carefully at Scripture, we can see that God used various ways to inspire Scripture.

Most Scripture, however, was not dictated by God. Instead, God used the intellect, vocabulary, and reasoning of the human author, but the Holy Spirit superintended the process to ensure the final product was free of error and communicated exactly what God wanted it to. So for instance, historical books like Genesis, 1 Samuel, and the Gospel of John accurately convey what happened at various points in history, and Paul’s epistles give accurate teaching regarding how believers can live a life that is pleasing to God.

Sometimes, God even used the research skills of authors to compile preexisting records and testimony into a final product that is Scripture, even if the preexisting records were not. We can see this in 1 Chronicles where the compiler notes, “Now the records are ancient” (1 Chronicles 4:22).

The psalms are clearly the outpouring of the heart of the psalmist, but God ensured that they are a model of how believers can worship and commune with God in a variety of good and bad circumstances.

If God had wanted to, he could have dictated all of Scripture without using human authors. But just as he chooses to use believers to spread the gospel message to those who have not yet heard, he also chose to use human authors to compose and preserve his Word.

Adapted from Answers with Ken Ham radio program.

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