Programming Note

I love the God @ Work devotionals.

I also have the heart to provide a service to bridge the gap between Sunday sermons and a Seminary degree—a middle ground in theological constructs deeper than typical Bible studies and translated into understandable terms. These would be more researched than the typical G@W post and would be premium (read: paid) content. It would be optional, and in addition to G@W—G@W will remain free.

This special edition will be a preview of this type of premium content.

How you can help: Let me know if you find this kind of stuff valuable. If so, please send suggestions on how to make it better. Would a community of fellow readers/believers (WhatsApp or SubStack) be useful? How much would be want to pay for Seminary-level content and such a community?

If this is not valuable, I would appreciate the brutal honesty.

May God bless you on your comings and goings this week. Thanks for sticking with me as we explore new ideas!

What is Inspiration?

Theories of inspiration are the various beliefs around the supernatural revelation of God’s Word to the biblical authors. Put another way: are the Bible’s words from God directly or did Man put his spin on them? If Man was involved, by how much?

Inspiration is the less-popular sibling to inerrancy. Considered together, both make a case for the Bible’s “authority”—or the Bible’s “right” to tell you how to live your life. We’ll save a study of inerrancy for another day.

Each believer has to believe that the Bible is God’s Word (inspiration) and that these words are accurate (inerrancy). But did you know there are varying forms of inspiration? Let’s dive in.

Debated Theories of Inspiration

Dictation

Dictation inspiration suggests God took complete control of the author, by dictating exactly what was to be said. Those who believe in this suggest there is no distinct styles across the different authors across the many books. (Erickson, 2013, 176)  This is the “most conservative” of all the theories.

Verbal

Verbal still insists that the Bible contains the exact words that God wanted. The distinction between verbal and dictation is admittedly murky. An easier analogy might be: Dictation is God giving authors the words He would say; Verbal is God giving the authors the words He expected His authors would say.

Dynamic

The human authors begin to exert influence under this theory. “The Spirit of God works by directing the writer to the thoughts or concepts, and allowing the writer’s own distinctive personality to come into play in the choice of words and expressions.” (Erickson, 2013, 175)

Illumination

The Holy Spirit influenced the writers, but only by heightening their otherwise normal sense of reasoning. No special direct revelation on history or prophecy.

Intuition

Much of the biblical writings were the authors’ best insights on their perception of God.

Most American churches subscribe to either dictation or verbal and apply that theology to the entire text. Debates have raged within the church for a few hundred years. Up until that time, dictation was the de facto theology—not only in Christianity but in most other faiths with respect to their own sacred writing. (Messmer, 2021, 295)

What does the Bible say about its own inspiration?

Several verses address Scripture’s inspiration. We won’t cover them all, but here are some of the most direct ones:

2 Peter 1:21

Let’s set aside fancy terms such as inspiration and inerrancy for a moment. If we believe in the truthfulness or trustworthiness of Scripture, this verse is paramount. Peter is teaching us prophecies have no origins in man but are messages, dreams, and visions God spoke or delivered. The authors and interpreters were “carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

2 Timothy 3:16

“All Scripture is inspired by God.” Does that mean it is God’s own words? The NIV translates it as “All Scripture is God-breathed.” That feels even closer to dictation, right? Which translation is best?

The original text is closer to “breathed by God” than it is “inspired”. You can see how the NASB and NIV chose to divert in their translations. So, if breathed by God is the standard, shouldn’t we ascribe dictation theology to all Scripture?

Let’s complicate it even more by including verse 15.

So, the “Holy Scriptures” Paul refers to were taught to Timothy from infancy? 2 Timothy is a later-written epistle, but it was only written about 16 years after our earliest NT work (presumably, James). It would be a stretch to include the earlier NT writings under the category of “Holy Scriptures” known from his “infancy.” It seems like Paul is only referring to the OT in 3:16.

Others disagree. Wayne House reveals, “Paul had used πάσα γραφή in verse 16 in contrast to ϊερα γράμματα in verse 15 to show the additional value of apostolic Scripture. [NT writings]” (House, 1980, 61) There are theologians on either side of this issue.

What’s my point? It’s all debatable. What “Scripture” is included and what God-breathed really means within the construct of inspiration theology is still murky enough to be continually debated by smart, studied people.

Matthew 10:20

Cyril of Alexandria (400s-500s AD) regularly cited this verse in his defense of dictation theology.

Clearly, the Holy Spirit is capable of dictating the best words at the correct time. However, the context of this verse is when the apostles will be persecuted for their faith and drug before judges in accusations. Jesus does not want the apostles to be living in fear, preparing for their court dates—He wants them boldly going and proclaiming!

Pastors pray for the “right words” at the beginning of nearly every sermon. If a pastor’s inspiration is to be an example, it would seem that verbal or dynamic makes the most sense.

There is a lot of literary criticism that shows distinctive styles of writing across the many books of the Bible. This would be most obvious in the New Testament in the various writings between Paul, Luke, John and Peter/Mark. However, it’s also true in the Old Testament. There are many clues throughout the OT—even within the same book—that leads scholars to justly debate authorship across much of the Bible. (Did you know some literary theories suggest there were up to four different authors, instead of Moses, within the first five books alone?)

My Take

If I’m being honest, dictation just doesn’t seem to fit with the text (and I’m saying this as a pentecostal). Different books have different tones across the Bible. If the correct theology were dictation, then any translation from the original Hebrew (OT) and Greek (NT) would almost feel blasphemous, including Latin (for those Catholics out there). Taking God’s direct words in one language and converting them into another—or various forms of another, like there are for English—would be taking perfection and making it something less.

I can be persuaded into verbal, but my most comfortable theology is dynamic. It seems exact wording is not the measure of success for the Great Commission. The right message in the witness is more important than the right wording. Is this blasphemous?

• Jesus spoke to His disciples of heavenly things using earthly parables.

• The first 50 years of the early Christian church had none of the NT writings, with disciples making disciples and evangelizing en masse.

• Jesus did not write anything that we know of. If exact wording was imperative, wouldn’t He have written something?

• Peter does not recite anything prepared on the day of Pentecost, yet thousands are saved. He speaks from his experience and his knowledge of Scripture. It could be dictated, but sounds much more dynamic or verbal.

• New Testament writers refer to Scripture that ended up outside the canon of Christianity. As the church grew, the early disciples did not all say the exact same words every time to everyone. The Spirit moved in the gatherings, not through exact words.

• Abraham was counted righteous before anything was written down… at all!

Now you may reply, “But doesn’t Jesus say,

He also proclaims that the majority of the Law can be summarized by loving Him and loving our neighbors. Trying to pin down the exact theology is a diversion, in my opinion. Does the difference between dynamic or dictation theories alter our trust in God? Does that mean anything to the repentant sinner? Does it affect what we offer our God through humility, love, and faith?

This consternation over exactitude is our pharisaical dilemma today. Whether taken conservatively or liberally, resting on our obedience to the Law—the Law which we have died to (Romans 7:4)—is still our heart’s attempt to earn our way into glory. It’s pleasing to God to pursue Him with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. To hold others in derision because they do not see it the same way as you do is exactly—EXACTLY—what Jesus preached against.

Seek it for yourself through your study. Don’t judge the conclusions others arrive at.

Let me be more controversial: the devil isn’t in the details; he’s in our pride. Christ prayed this in the Garden of Gethsemane:

The necessity of biblical exactitude is divisive. It starts more fights within and outside the church than necessary. It attracts the flies of criticism, causing us to miss the forest for the trees. The Bible is the most compelling eyewitness testimony in the history of the world, yet we create an unnecessary standard by fighting over exact inspiration and inerrancy.

Keep in mind: inspiration is not inerrancy. A liberal thought on inspiration can still support a conservative thought on inerrancy, that is, the accuracy of the text.

So, what do you think?

Reply and let me know where you land on the spectrum! I would love to know your beliefs.

Our call is to be one church. I hope this email has given you quiet confidence in your doctrine. If you have any questions, I encourage you to reply—I would love to help you through it as best I can.

Bibliography

Carson, Donald A., “Approaching the Bible,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994).

Erickson, Millard J., Christian Theology, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013).

House, H Wayne, “Biblical Inspiration in 2 Timothy 3:16.” Bibliotheca Sacra 137, no. 545 (January 1980).

Messmer, Andrew, “The Inspiration, Authority and Inerrancy of Scripture in the History of Christian Thought.” Evangelical Review of Theology 45, no. 4 (November 2021).