Scripture: Inspired or Expired?

By Moses LemuelRaj moses.lemuelraj@gmail.com

Inspiration of Scriptures

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (2Tim 3:16).

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (2Pet 1:20-21).

The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. (2Sam 23:2).

Many people have many "theories" of inspiration of the Scriptures, but let me make this clear to the readers that MY understanding of the subject is gathered from the AV text, and believing that the AV text constitutes Holy Scriptures in English language, and is MY final authority of appeal in this matter.

Scripture(s)

I would like to first deal with the term "Scripture(s)" before we go about understanding the term "inspiration." At the first instance, we see the term "Scripture" revealed to us as "Scripture of TRUTH." The angel said, "I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth" (Dan 10:21). Scripture is the WRITTEN word of God. The reader should first note this point, and keep this in mind throughout. Scribe, scribble, script, Scripture, etc. Scripture is WRITTEN. We read, "it is NOTED in the scripture of truth." In addition, the following things must be observed in relation to the term "Scripture."

1. Scripture can be READ. The Lord Jesus said to Jews, "Did ye never read in the scriptures" (Mat 21:42). So we understand that the Jews HAD Scriptures with them, and they were supposed to READ them.

2. Lord Jesus told the Jews to "search the SCRIPTURES" (John 5:39). If they had not the Scriptures, why will He tell them to search them?

3. Each of the two COPIES of the book of Isaiah mentioned in the Bible were called "SCRIPTURE" (see Luke 4: 17,21; Acts 8:30,32,35). One copy was in Nazareth, and the Lord Jesus READ it, and called it SCRIPTURE. Another COPY was with the Ethiopian eunuch, and he READ it, and Luke calls it SCRIPTURE in his narration.

4. Bereans HAD Scriptures, and they "searched the SCRIPTURES daily" (Acts 17:11).

5. "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the SCRIPTURES might have hope" (Romans 15:4). Unless one HAD the Scriptures, and READ them, how can we have HOPE?

6. Timothy HAD Scriptures, and "from a child ... hast KNOWN the holy scriptures" (2 Tom 3:15).

7. Scripture "SAITH" (present tense, Rom 10:11), Scripture FORESEES (Gal 3:8), Scripture CONCLUDES (Gal 3:22), Scripture is HOLY (Rom 1:2), Scripture is TRUTH (Dan 10:21).

In other words, "Scriptures" were SEEN, HANDLED, READ and HEARD by the Jews, the Lord Jesus, the Bereans, Timothy, Ehiopian eunuch, etc. It is about THESE scriptures we are told, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." We read, "ALL scripture" - whether the Scripture read by the Lord, or Jews or Timothy - "ALL Scripture," "is given by INSPIRATION OF GOD"! That is the PLAIN teaching of the Authorized Version ABOUT the Scriptures. And that Scripture SAITH, FORSEES, CONCLUDES, is FULFILLED, and is HOLY, and is TRUTH! That is how the term "Scripture" is used in the AV. The term "Scripture(s)" in the AV is NEVER used in reference to any ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPHS, though the original autographs themselves are obviously "Scripture."

If you read 2 Tim 3:15-16, we are told in v.15 that Timothy had "holy scriptures;" and then immediately in v.16 we are also told, "ALL scripture" (including the "holy scriptures" that Timothy had) "is given by inspiration of God."

Inspiration

Having now understood the term "Scriptures" in the Bible, let us now move on to learn what does INSPIRATION mean in the Bible (AV). When we say "inspiration of the SCRIPTURE," we are NOT talking about the inspiration of ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPHS, but the inspiration of the COPIES that Jesus, Timothy, Ethiopian eunuch, Jews, Paul, et al have SEEN, HANDLED, and READ! We are talking about the "inspiration" of something that is WRITTEN, not SPOKEN. We are talking about the "inspiration" of something by which we can have HOPE, something we are commanded to SEARCH.

Now let me tell you what the term INSPIRATION means -- "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the BREATH of the Almighty hath GIVEN ME LIFE." (Job 33:4). We also read, "But there is a spirit in man: and the INSPIRATION of the Almighty giveth them understanding." (Job 32:8). See how the word INSPIRATION is connected to the spirit of a man, which was created in him by BREATHING INTO him the breath of life. INSPIRE means "breath INTO." That is how man was created. "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and BREATHED INTO his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a LIVING SOUL" (Gen 2:7). When God BREATHED INTO Adam's nostrils the BREATH of life, he became a LIVING soul. Before that, Adam was just a bunch of DUST! There was no LIFE in him before God breathed INTO him the breath of life. When a man dies, we say that he is EXPIRED. There will NOT be any BREATH in a DEAD man. EXPIRATION is the spirit/breath going OUT of a man leaving him DEAD, but INSPIRATION is the spirit/breath coming INTO a man making him ALIVE (see Ezek 37)!

Seeing that the term INSPIRATION in connection with man refers to God breathing the breath of life INTO that man, and thereby making him ALIVE, so we understand that INSPIRATION of the Scriptures as God breathing His BREATH of life INTO the (WRITTEN) SCRIPTURES, and thereby making them ALIVE! That is what inspiration of the Scriptures means. When the Bible says "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," we understand that the Scriptures were given by the PROCESS of inspiration, wherein God has breathed INTO them His spirit and thus made them alive. Thus inspired Scriptures constitutes LIVING WORDS of God. And those living words we are referring to are WRITTEN words, for that is what "Scripture" is - WRITTEN stuff!

So, 2 Tim 3:16 is NOT talking about God breathing OUT the Scriptures, as is commonly assumed. God never breathed out any WRITTEN stuff, but He breathed out His SPOKEN words. Of course, He WROTE with His finger TWICE the ten commandments, but they were kept in the ark, and were NOT for the use of people to read. 2 Tim 3:16 is NOT about God breathing OUT the SPOKEN words from His mouth, or God breathing OUT His spoken words thru the mouths of His prophets (as in, 2 Sam 23:2 - "the Spirit of the LORD SPAKE by me"). 2 Tim 3:16 talks about God breathing into WRITTEN SCRIPTURES to make them ALIVE.

We see in Genesis that when God breathed-INTO Adam, He did that AFTER forming him fully with the dust. Similarly, in Ezek 37, the "breath of life" entered the army AFTER they had got their sinews, flesh and skin. But they did not have life in them, until the breath came INTO them. What I believe about the King James Bible is this: The AV is "Scripture". And if it is "Scripture" then it is given by inspiration of God. That means, the AV has in its WORDS the breath of GOd, and those words therefore have LIFE. I do NOT believe that God was breathing-OUT when the AV translators penned the words of the Bible on paper. Neither do I believe that the Spirit of God SPAKE by the AV translators when they WROTE.

What I believe is that God breathed INTO this Book, and thereby made it alive. You either call it a LIVING book, or a DEAD book. I believe it is LIVING book, and contains the breath of God, because it is Scripture, which is INSPIRED (breathed-INTO) by God! You have to either call the AV Scripture, and therefore call it INSPIRED, or deny its INSPIRATION and then deny it is "Scripture."

Breathing-OUT of the word of God

The Spirit of the LORD SPAKE by me, and his WORD was in my TONGUE. (2Sam 23:2).

All that was ever SPOKEN by God, and all that was ever spoken by His prophets when God made them to SPEAK by His Spirit, is the word of God. But NOT ALL the words of God that God or His prophets UTTERED were written. Many of them were written, but NOT ALL. Similarly, not ALL written Scriptures were necessarily SPOKEN before. Some were written DIRECTLY, WITHOUT EVER BEING SPOKEN! 2 Peter 1:20-21 talks about how God MOVED the prophets, and as a result how the prophets SPOKE! "Holy men of God SPAKE as they were MOVED by the Holy Ghost." It does NOT say "Holy men of God WROTE as they were INSPIRED by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter is talking about the ORIGINATION of the prophecies of the Scripture. Those prophecies were UTTERED, SPOKEN, by the men of God, when God MOVED them. The Spirit of God MOVED Samson (Judges 13:25), and he did mighty works for God. Similarly when He MOVED the prophets, they SPOKE. Many of those SPOKEN words were later WRITTEN. And such WRITTEN words of God are called SCRIPTURE. 2 Timothy talks about the Scriptures given to us by the inspiration of God - a process wherein God has made them ALIVE by breathing into those WRITTEN words His Spirit!

In conclusion, there are TWO things we need to summarize:

1) The ORIGINATION of the word of God was when God MOVED His prophets to SPEAK His word, or ORACLES: Many of those oracles are preserved for us in WRITING. They were God's breathed-OUT words. But when the devil SPOKE, "Ye shall not surely die," that was a LIE! Those words were NOT breathed-OUT of God either directly, or thru His prophets. Yet, that phrase is a part of INSPIRED SCRIPTURE. 2 Peter talks about the SPOKEN ORACLES, not SCRIPTURES. The breathing-OUT (see 2 Sam 23:2) happened the FIRST time when those words were SPOKEN. Unfortunately, many people who misunderstand the term IN-spiration, apply that word to the ORIGINAL GIVING of the Scriptures as breathed-OUT. The "scripture" referred to in 2 Tim 3:16, is connected to the "holy scriptures" found in verse 15, which Timothy HAD with him. 2 Tim 3:16 has NO REFERENCE to the original autographs, but the "scriptures" in general, INCLUDING the original autographs.

2) The WRITTEN word of God is INSPIRED, that is, FILLED with the BREATH of God, and has LIFE. Scripture has life because God breathed INTO its words. "All Scripture is given by INSPIRATION of God. Now coming to the words "Ye shall not surely die," we have to assert here that it is SCRIPTURE. It is a part of the collected writings of God's prophets, which God intended that they should be written in a BOOK (Isa 30:8), and preserved for His saints. Those WRITINGS are called SCRIPTURE, and the SCRIPTURE has life in it because it is INSPIRED by God. So, the words "Ye shall not surely die," are INSPIRED SCRIPTURE where they occur, and within the context they occur. They are therefore PROFITABLE for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness.

Those who disagree with my position on the inspiration of the KJV do so because of their misunderstanding of the term INSPIRATION. They think that I teach God breathed-OUT the words of the AV thru the translators, when I teach nothing of the kind. Of course, I do believe that the hand of God was helping them in picking the correct texts and translating those texts faithfully. When I say KJV is inspired Scripture, what I mean is that God has made it ALIVE by BREATHING His breath INTO it. So what is WRITTEN in the Book (AV) are the LIVING words of God. Those are HOLY, and those words have TRUTH in them. There is no FALSEHOOD in the words of the AV. These Scriptures are INERRANT. That is, there are no NUMERICAL, DOCTRINAL, SCIENTIFIC or HISTORICAL errors in the King James text. You cannot have LIVING words and have them teach you ERRONEOUS things.

Here are my questions to those who oppose my position on the King James Bible.

1. If AV is not an inspired Bible, then is there ANY other Bible you can show us as INSPIRED SCRIPTURES?

2. There are more than 200 English Bibles. There are at least 5 different Hebrew OT versions. There are about 25 different Greek NTs. Over that you have Bibles in other languages, some of them having 2-3 versions. In all these, is there ANY ONE SINGLE Book that you can call INSPIRED SCRIPTURES that you trust ENTIRELY?

3. If your Bible (that is the book study and preach from) is NOT inspired, then will you confess before the congregation that the Book from which I preach and teach is NOT an inspired book?

4. If your Bible is NOT inspired, then has it EXPIRED? Do you have LIVING words of God or DEAD words in your Bible? Can you confirm?

For any clarifications, you can email me, moses.lemuelraj@gmail.com. You may also visit http://groups.google.com/group/According-To-Thy-Word