The Person of the Holy Spirit - Table of Contents

1. The Meaning of Inspiration.
The technical meaning of inspiration is quite apart from its common usage in reference to non-Biblical concepts. As B. B.
Warfield points out, “The word ‘inspire’ and its derivatives seem to have come into Middle Eng. from the Fr., and have been
employed from the first (early in the 14th cent.) in a considerable number of significations, physical and metaphorical,
secular and religious.”4 We still speak of being inspired by a beautiful sunset, or of hearing an inspiring sermon. Such
common usages, however, are not parallel to inspiration in a doctrinal sense. Even in ordinary speech, we conceive of
inspiration as something that constitutes an influence from without. As Warfield says, “Underlying all their use, however, is
the constant implication of an influence from without, producing in its object movements and effects beyond its native, or at
least its ordinary powers.”5
Turning to the Scriptures, we observe a paucity of reference to the word inspiration as far as the term itself is concerned. In
Job 32:8, Elihu is quoted, “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” This
can hardly be referred to the inspiration of Scripture, however, as it is doubtful if any of the Bible, in its present form at
least, was in existence at that time. The only other reference is found in 2 Timothy 3:16, where the Authorized Version gives
this translation, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness.” Even here, in the American revision, the translation is changed to read, “Every scripture
inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness.” The
revised translation, while attempting to solve the problem created by the absence of the copula, not at all unusual in the
Greek, has greatly weakened the passage, and that, unjustly. The noun inspiration would disappear entirely from the English
Bible if this translation were allowed, and a misleading impression is created that some Scripture is not inspired.
The difficulty lies chiefly in the word inspiration itself. The Greek, θεο•πνευστος, really does not mean inspiring at all. As
Warfield notes, “The Gr term has, however, nothing to say of inspiring or of inspiration: it speaks only of a ‘spiring’ or
‘spiration.’ What it says of Scripture is, not that it is ‘breathed into by God’ or is the product of the Divine ‘inbreathing’ into
its human authors, but that it is breathed out by God, ‘God-breathed,’ the product of the creative breath of God. In a word,
what is declared by this fundamental passage is simply that the Scriptures are a Divine product, without any indication of
how God has operated in producing them.”6
From 2 Timothy 3:16, we may conclude that inspiration is the work of God by which or through which the Scriptures are
given. After stating the fact of inspiration, however, the same verse draws a most interesting and significant conclusion.
Because the Scriptures are inspired, they are, therefore, profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in
righteousness. In other words, inspiration guarantees accuracy, and gives divine authority to the record. It is hardly
necessary here to review the abundant testimony of the Scriptures to this very fact. Christ Himself frequently quoted the Old
Testament as the Word of God. The writers claimed inspiration for their own works. The content of Scriptures is such that
its prophecies must have been the product of divine revelation and their accurate recording the work of inspiration. The
witness to inspiration is all the more conclusive because the Scriptures never attempt to prove inspiration; they merely state
it and assume it, in the same manner as the Scriptures assume the existence of God.
A matter of further observation is that the Scriptures are not only divine, but also human. The words used were those within
the vocabulary of the writers. Their own emotions, human knowledge, experiences, and hopes entered into the Scriptures
which they wrote, without compromising in the least their inspiration. Without doubt, some portions of Scripture are
dictated, as the Scriptures themselves indicate, but most of the Scriptures do not have this characteristic. Regardless of the
degree of human or divine influence in the Scriptures, the resultant is equally inspired and equally suited to God’s purpose.
The examination of the work of the Holy Spirit in inspiration will sustain these evidences for the dual authorship, divine and
human, of the Scriptures. fact of the inspiration of their writings is more assumed than proved. Occasional reference is found
to their own consciousness of the work of the Holy Spirit in inspiration. David bears witness to the inspiration of his works,
“The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to
me” (2 Sam 23:2-3). Isaiah records the words of the Lord, bearing a similar import, “As for me, this is my covenant with
them, saith the LORD; 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 the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for