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Dr. MacArthur intends to explain inspiration, but doesn't really do so in this first excerpt. We redacted a large section, which was nothing more than an explanation of what inspiration isn't. Since he has published another installment (found at the end), we will see if he actually gets around to not only explaining inspiration, but also why this understanding is important to know.
Dr. MacArthur intends to explain inspiration, but doesn't really do so in this first excerpt. We redacted a large section, which was nothing more than an explanation of what inspiration isn't. Since he has published another installment (found at the end), we will see if he actually gets around to not only explaining inspiration, but also why this understanding is important to know.
(...)
...it is important for the Christian to understand the biblical definition of “inspired.” (Yes, of course. It's important. But in fact, the word "inspired" is so rarely used in the Bible in any form, that it causes us to wonder why Dr. MacArthur wants to explain it.)
In the New Testament, the term “inspiration” is reserved solely for God’s Word. (Dr. MacArthur will keep the location of this secret until the subsequent article. Hint:
2Ti. 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness...
The Bible was written by specially chosen men under special conditions and the canon is closed. (Yes, it is closed. No serious Christian would disagree.)
There are no songs, no books, no visions, no poems, no sermons that are inspired today. (Whoa, a leap of logic here. Dr. MacArthur needs to explain. What does the closed canon have to do with inspiration? Why would the closed canon prohibit inspiration?)
But in order to understand the difference between biblical inspiration and the rather casual way we refer to something or someone as “inspired” today, we need to look closely at what Scripture has to say. (Yes, of course. What does Scripture have to say? We indeed shall want to look closely.
However, in this article [which as we noted has a large part redacted] he will quote only one or two scraps of Scripture. It won't be until the second article that he does look more closely. Thus we would conclude that this first article is largely filler.)
Inspiration is tied very closely to another term—“revelation.” Revelation is God’s revealing of Himself and His will. (Well, not quite. "Revelation" is apokalupsis, appearing, coming, manifestation. A closely related word is apokaluptó, to take off the cover, i.e. Disclose -- reveal. This is a rather different concept than inspiration.)
Inspiration is the way in which He did it. (It's one way He revealed, but not the only way:
He. 1:1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways...
He's revealed Himself in various ways. Not just the OT prophets, but also through the apostles, through prophetic utterance, and through the prophetic gift. In addition, He has revealed through creation, impressions, the spiritual gift of prophecy, music, the body of Christ, circumstance, dreams and visions, prayer, and an audible voice.)
To reveal Himself, God used human beings who wrote the Old and New Testaments in order to set down in exact and authoritative words the message that God wanted us to receive. (God also revealed a lot of things that never got written down. There are lots of prophecies, which by definition is speaking though or by the Spirit, that were never written down [Philip's four daughters, the prophets that came to Antioch, the prophecies of Saul, or even what Judas and Silas prophesied]. So in fact it simply isn't true that only Scripture is inspired, or even that Scripture is the only way God speaks, or that all revelation must be included in the Bible.)
(...)
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Robots. To the unilluminated mind, that’s what we are under the control of a sovereign God—just mindless automatons executing divine orders for His pleasure. And while the Lord could control and direct His creations that way, He doesn’t—instead He works through our wills, our intellects, and our personalities to accomplish His sovereign ends. (This seems like a distinction without a difference. If He works through human faculties to do what He wants, how is that different than being automatons? The result is the same, the only difference being the illusion of self-awareness.)
Nowhere are God’s methods more obvious than in the writing of Scripture. God could have simply dictated His Word through one man, or maintained a consistent tone and vocabulary across several human authors. Instead, as we’ll see today, He worked through a diverse collection of authors and personalities to deliver His Word to His people, without sacrificing the continuity or character of Scripture. (Again, a distinction without a difference. It really doesn't matter if God simply made people write things down as opposed to moving through peoples' personalities to write things down. The result is the precisely the same: God's word written down.)
What Inspiration Is
Last time we considered several common misconceptions about how the Lord inspired His Word. Today we’re going to consider what the Bible says about its own inspired quality.
Two passages of Scripture—2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:20-21—tell us what inspiration really is. Many versions of 2 Timothy 3:16 say something like, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (KJV, emphasis added). The English Standard Version is more accurate, however, when it translates the verse, “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” The Greek expression used here is pasa grafe theopneustos. Let us take a closer look at the meaning of these three crucial words.
Theopneustos is a combination of the Greek word theos (God) and pneu (breath). We get such English words as pneumatic and pneumonia from the Greek root pneu. Theopneustos then literally means “God-breathed.” The key to understanding the concept of “God-breathed” really comes out of the Old Testament. In Psalm 33:6 we read: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.” In other words, God breathed the universe into existence. In the same way, God breathed into existence His Word, the Bible. (We were enjoying the informative nature of this section up until now. Though the Bible is popularly called the word of God, actually the Son is the Word. The Bible is the written down words from The Word. But the Word, the Son, and the Bible are not interchangeable. The Son exists independently from His titles. His Word exists independently from what has been written down. And what has been written down does not address the totality of what He has said.)
Robots. To the unilluminated mind, that’s what we are under the control of a sovereign God—just mindless automatons executing divine orders for His pleasure. And while the Lord could control and direct His creations that way, He doesn’t—instead He works through our wills, our intellects, and our personalities to accomplish His sovereign ends. (This seems like a distinction without a difference. If He works through human faculties to do what He wants, how is that different than being automatons? The result is the same, the only difference being the illusion of self-awareness.)
Nowhere are God’s methods more obvious than in the writing of Scripture. God could have simply dictated His Word through one man, or maintained a consistent tone and vocabulary across several human authors. Instead, as we’ll see today, He worked through a diverse collection of authors and personalities to deliver His Word to His people, without sacrificing the continuity or character of Scripture. (Again, a distinction without a difference. It really doesn't matter if God simply made people write things down as opposed to moving through peoples' personalities to write things down. The result is the precisely the same: God's word written down.)
What Inspiration Is
Last time we considered several common misconceptions about how the Lord inspired His Word. Today we’re going to consider what the Bible says about its own inspired quality.
Two passages of Scripture—2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:20-21—tell us what inspiration really is. Many versions of 2 Timothy 3:16 say something like, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (KJV, emphasis added). The English Standard Version is more accurate, however, when it translates the verse, “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” The Greek expression used here is pasa grafe theopneustos. Let us take a closer look at the meaning of these three crucial words.
Theopneustos is a combination of the Greek word theos (God) and pneu (breath). We get such English words as pneumatic and pneumonia from the Greek root pneu. Theopneustos then literally means “God-breathed.” The key to understanding the concept of “God-breathed” really comes out of the Old Testament. In Psalm 33:6 we read: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.” In other words, God breathed the universe into existence. In the same way, God breathed into existence His Word, the Bible. (We were enjoying the informative nature of this section up until now. Though the Bible is popularly called the word of God, actually the Son is the Word. The Bible is the written down words from The Word. But the Word, the Son, and the Bible are not interchangeable. The Son exists independently from His titles. His Word exists independently from what has been written down. And what has been written down does not address the totality of what He has said.)
When Scripture speaks, God speaks. Romans 3:2 tells us that the Scriptures are the “oracles of God”—His very words. (Um, no. These elements [God speaking, Scriptures, oracles] are not being delineated or compared in this verse. It reads
Ro. 3:2b ...they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
In the first chapter of Jeremiah, that prophet writes, “The word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations’” (Jeremiah 1:4-5). (Dr. MacArthur just blows by this verse without so much as a comment. But notice: The word of the Lord came to me and said... If the word of the Lord is the Scriptures, then how can the Scriptures come to Jeremiah and speak to him?
In actual fact, this is an example of the pre-incarnate Word of God coming personally to the prophet and speaking to him.)
A few verses later, Jeremiah reports, “Then the Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have put My words in your mouth’” (Jeremiah 1:9). God has always worked through words, not merely thoughts. (Sigh. This short sentence is a muddled mess. If God always has worked through words, then He doesn't work through thoughts at all. But if He doesn't work merely through thoughts, but also works through words, then He must work through both words and thoughts. Why couldn't Dr. Macarthur simply write, "God works through words and thoughts?")
He has put His words in the mouth of the writers of Scripture. (Sigh again. It seems Dr. MacArthur is intent on obscuring things. If God put His words in the mouths of the prophets, wouldn't that be more like the automatons he decried earlier? However, if the prophets were moved through their personalities, which Dr. MacArthur pointedly asserted above, that means God spoke His words to or through their thoughts.
We have finally arrived at the point of wonder what the purpose of all these distinctions are. Somehow he thinks they're important for us to know, but we can't make heads or tails of it.)
The second point from 2 Timothy 3:16 concerns how much of Scripture is God-breathed. Paul uses the Greek word pasa, which can be translated “all” or “every.” Paul is saying that all Scripture—every bit of it—is inspired. (The discussion of this point is largely related to whether or not Paul was referring to only the OT. We redacted it.)
(...)
God’s Word Through Human Authors
Technically speaking, the writers of Scripture are never referred to as inspired. (This seems like an important assertion. Let's see how Dr. MacArthur deals with it.)
The second point from 2 Timothy 3:16 concerns how much of Scripture is God-breathed. Paul uses the Greek word pasa, which can be translated “all” or “every.” Paul is saying that all Scripture—every bit of it—is inspired. (The discussion of this point is largely related to whether or not Paul was referring to only the OT. We redacted it.)
(...)
God’s Word Through Human Authors
Technically speaking, the writers of Scripture are never referred to as inspired. (This seems like an important assertion. Let's see how Dr. MacArthur deals with it.)
Paul is referring to their writings and he says that they are God-breathed. So when we sometimes say that Paul was inspired as he wrote certain books of the Bible, this is not technically correct. Paul was not inspired. The epistle to the Romans is inspired, as are the letters to the Corinthians, the Galatians, the Ephesians, and so on. It is not the men who wrote Scripture that are inspired; it is the message. Some writers of Scripture wrote only one brief book or letter and never wrote another “inspired” thing in their entire lives. (So uninspired men wrote inspired Scripture. Hmm, ok. Hopefully there's a point to this.)
What then was the condition of a biblical writer at the time he wrote inspired Scripture? What was the difference between the way Paul felt and wrote when he penned Romans and all those other letters and when he simply wrote out supply lists for his next missionary journey?
We find the answer in the other text that refers to Scripture being inspired or God-breathed—2 Peter 1:20-21. Here we read, “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” Peter is saying that no part of the Bible was of any private origin. No Scripture ever simply came out of a man’s mind. There was a special condition for the writing of Scripture and Peter refers to it as being “moved by the Holy Spirit.” (Waaait. We thought uninspired men wrote inspired Scripture. But they were moved by the Holy Spirit [Pneuma]?
What then was the condition of a biblical writer at the time he wrote inspired Scripture? What was the difference between the way Paul felt and wrote when he penned Romans and all those other letters and when he simply wrote out supply lists for his next missionary journey?
We find the answer in the other text that refers to Scripture being inspired or God-breathed—2 Peter 1:20-21. Here we read, “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” Peter is saying that no part of the Bible was of any private origin. No Scripture ever simply came out of a man’s mind. There was a special condition for the writing of Scripture and Peter refers to it as being “moved by the Holy Spirit.” (Waaait. We thought uninspired men wrote inspired Scripture. But they were moved by the Holy Spirit [Pneuma]?
Isn't this being inspired?
Now we have descended into the nether regions of absurdity. For some unknown reason, it is important that we know all these arcane, inscrutable, and inconsistent details. But little of it makes sense. And none of it is useful for living a holy life, being a worshiper, or performing any duty or enjoying any privilege of our faith.
Yet Dr. MacArthur is celebrated as a great Bible teacher. How this is true escapes us.)
Gordon R. Lewis, professor of systematic theology at Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary, writes,
The human writers were not autonomous, but lived and moved and had their being in the all-wise Lord of All. Created with a capacity for self-transcendence in the image of God, they could receive changeless truths by revelation. Providentially prepared by God in their unique personalities they also had characteristics common to all other human beings in all times and cultures. Their teaching originated, however, not with their own wills, but God’s and came to them through a variety of means. In all the human writing processes, they were supernaturally overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, not in a way analogous to mechanical or unworthy human relationships, but as one loving person effectually influences another. What stands written, therefore, in human language is not merely human, but also divine. What the human sentences teach, God teaches. [3]In succinct terms, then, inspiration is God’s revelation communicated to us through writers who use their own minds, their own words, and yet God had so arranged their lives and their thoughts and their vocabularies, that the words they chose out of their own minds were the very words that God determined from eternity past that they would use to write His truths. (One sentence at the end explains the entire point of two separate articles. Now we have a cogent statement of what Dr. MacArthur intended to explain, but yet we are still left wondering, why was it important for us as Christians to have it restated to us that the Scriptures are inspired?
And what about all the other stuff? None of it makes a bit of difference. We would dismiss it as a vain intellectual exercise, but it wasn't even intellectual.)
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