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Why do people believe the Bible is inspired by God?

Whenever this question is raised, someone is likely to draw attention to the first half of 2 Timothy 3:16 which is often translated “All scripture is inspired by God…”.

The first point I’d like to make is that it is dangerous to take any words in our Bibles out of context.  These are the opening words of quite a long sentence in which Paul is talking about about what writings inspired by God are useful for.  He definitely is not saying that the whole of our modern bibles are inspired by God.

Let’s look at these words in context and in a bit more depth.

Paul is writing a personal letter to Timothy who has been his companion and fellow worker for years.  To get the context let’s start reading at verse 15: “from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”  What are these Holy Scriptures that our brother Paul is writing about?  We don’t know, Paul doesn’t say, but if Timothy has known them from his infancy they are likely to be part of the Old Testament.  Many, perhaps most, of the books of the New Testament had not been written when Paul wrote this letter to Timothy.  Also, the decisions about which books were going to be included in the New Testament wouldn’t be made until hundreds of years later.  So, Paul could not have been talking about any of the books which are now part of the New Testament, and Timothy could not have known them from his infancy.  These words cannot be used to support a teaching that our loving heavenly Father inspired any of the writings that make up the New Testament.

OK.  Can these words be used to support a teaching that our loving Father inspired the writings that make up the Old Testament?  The word that is translated “scripture” in verse 16 means “writing”.  The decision to translate it as “scripture” is entirely a decision made by the translators and publishers of modern English Bibles. 

This next point is very important.  A direct translation of the first words of verse 16 is:

“Every writing inspired by God…”

You see what’s missing?  The word “is” is not found in these words in any of the ancient manuscripts.  This is not a complete sentence.  These words are the opening words of a sentence that continues to the end of verse 17.  Paul is about to say something to Timothy about writings inspired by God.  (I’ll say more about what he had to say in a moment.)

If you have a good study Bible (and it’s worth getting one) you will see there is a footnote to the verse which shows that the first few words of this sentence can be translated as “Every writing inspired by God is also…”.   So Paul’s words to Timothy which are traditionally translated:

“All scripture is inspired by God and is useful…”

can, and probably should, be translated:

“Every writing inspired by God is also useful…”

Try reading the passage out loud, say from verse 14 to the end of the chapter, using one translation, and then do it again using the other translation.  See which one seems to flow better for you.

So, there is doubt about how these words should be translated.  But there is no doubt about what Paul said these writings should be used for.  He told Timothy that the writings he is talking about are “useful”.  Useful for what?  “…useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  In this sentence, Paul was telling Timothy that these writings are useful for these purposes.  

Even if we believe that “All scripture is inspired by God…” is a correct translation of Paul’s words and a truth that stands alone (ignoring that is part of longer sentence), there is a very important question that must be answered.  If we are to use these words to support the teaching that every word in our Bible is inspired by God, how can we be certain that Paul was inspired by God when he wrote them?  When this question is asked, someone is likely to quote these verses from 2 Peter:

“Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.  He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other scriptures, to their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:15-16)

There are three important points to make about these verses:

• Firstly, the Greek word that is translated “scripture” in this verse means “writing” as it does in 2 Timothy 3:16 and, again, the decision to translate it as “scripture” is entirely a decision made by the translators and publishers of modern English Bibles.
• Secondly, Peter wrote: “our dear brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom given to him.” (2 Peter 3:15).  Peter was not saying that God inspired Paul’s writings but that Paul wrote them with the wisdom given to him. 
• Thirdly, if we want to show that Peter was authenticating Paul’s letters as being inspired by God, we have to be sure that Peter’s words were inspired by God. So, let’s talk about Peter.  Peter was a human being.  He said so (Acts 10:25-26).  All human beings make mistakes and get things wrong sometimes.  Peter is consistently portrayed in the New Testament as making mistakes and getting things wrong sometimes (Some examples: Matthew 14:25-31; 16:22-23; Mark 14:37; Luke 9:33; 22:33-34; 22:54-62; John 13:8; 18:10-11; 18:17; 18:25-27; Galatians 2:11-14). Yes, Peter was chosen by Jesus and experienced God directly (Matthew 16:17; 17:4-5; Acts 10:10-15; 2 Peter 1:17-18) but he was still, without question, and throughout his whole life, a human being who made mistakes and got things wrong sometimes (as we all do).  So, how can we be certain that Peter, while he was writing his letters, did not make any mistakes or get anything wrong?  What evidence is there that God guided every word that Peter wrote in his letters, when God certainly did not guide every word that Peter spoke? 

These passages cannot be used to defend the teaching that our Bible is fully inspired by God.  However, many Christians today believe that it is.  Here’s a very important question:  Did the teaching that our Bible is inspired by God come from God or is it a human teaching?  If it came from God, then when, where and how did God make it known to his human children?  Where do we read that God spoke directly, or through an angel, saying that he inspired these writings?  There is no record of any such event.  This is very important because, if we cannot be certain that God has said that he inspired the writings in our bibles, then we must conclude that this teaching (that our Bible is inspired by God) is a human teaching.  And Jesus was very critical of church leaders who taught human teachings:

 “You fakes!  Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human teachings.'” (Matthew 15:7-9)

Several of the Old Testament prophets clearly stated that they were instructed by God to write what God told them (Some examples: Exodus 34:27-28; Isaiah 8:1; Jeremiah 36:1-3; Habakkuk 2:2).   But most writers of Old Testament writings do not claim that God was instructing them what to write, and the only book in the New Testament that contains indications that the author believed our loving Father was instructing them is Revelation – and that was instruction to write to specific churches.  So, why do some people today believe that God inspired the authors of all writings found in our Bibles, when we are not told that he did so, but we are told that he directed some authors on certain occasions?  I don’t know the answer to that question.

The good news is that God certainly speaks to us through the words of our sisters and brothers that we read in our Bibles.  It isn’t the only way he speaks to us but he certainly does speak to us through our Bibles.  However, if we believe that every word in our Bibles is inspired by God then we may tie ourselves in knots trying to work out what God is saying to us through ancient and very difficult passages which were not, in fact, inspired by him at all.  The devil would love to see us doing that.

May our loving Father bless us, continue to speak to us, and keep us safe.

Jesus is Lord.

Peter O

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