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Do We Have the Very Words of the Biblical Authors? 73
himself, since he did not mention writing the greeting. The words from
Galatians 6:11 do not refer to a greeting either (“See with what large
letters I am writing to you”). So we can’t be sure whether he penned
all of it himself.
Why did Paul bother to take up the pen and draw attention to his
own handwriting (2 Thess. 3:17) and greeting? We know that he was
aware of forgeries—people trying to spread their own views by claiming
Paul’s authority through letters that he did not write. For example, he
wrote to the Thessalonians:
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being
gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly
shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or
a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord
has come. (2 Thess. 2:1–2)
So one reason Paul may have put his name and distinctive handwriting
at the end of some of his letters was to make sure his letters were not
seen as forgeries. In any case, he was manifestly eager for his readers to
have his own words, not those of another. He was eager not only that
his readers have his very words but that they know that they have them.
This is our concern as well. Do we have the original words of Scripture,
and do we know that we do?
The connection between this concern and our belief in verbal inspiration
is made by Paul himself at least twice, once in regard to the Old
Testament and once in regard to the New Testament, that is, in regard
to his own letters.
Divine Inspiration of the Very Words of the Old Testament
With regard to the Old Testament, Paul links divine inspiration with
words, not just prophets. God’s inspiration—his “breathing out” the
Scriptures—affects not only the human instrument but also the human
product. Writings are inspired, not just people. Here is what Paul says
to his younger protégé Timothy in this regard:
Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing
from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have