Verbal Inspiration. Pt. 1 Inspired Scripture from God to man.
Good evening to all of you!
I would like to take a break from our study of the book of Genesis to talk about a topic that you may not have considered. It is the subject of the Bible. This is a broad topic and I will probably dedicate a few posts to delve into this subject.
What do people mean when they say that the scriptures are inspired? The formal term is "verbal inspiration" which simply means that God inspired each word of the scriptures in the original Hebrew and Greek languages.
An easy way to understand inspiration is to tabulate how many times the scripture says "God spoke; Jesus spoke or the Holy Spirit spoke." If you do a word search with Bible software, you will find that there are nearly 4,000 places that plainly state that God is speaking in the passage of scripture.
The earliest example of verbal inspiration is found in the account of creation where the simple phrase “God said” is used 9 times in the first two chapters of Genesis. The words spoken by God were recorded along with a description of His creative actions. This is followed by the creation of man and a record of what God asked Adam and Eve to do. The very activity of the Spirit of God causing Moses to record these things is an act of verbal inspiration.
The total of all the variations of "God said; God hath said" and so on, add up to 75 places. The phrase "saith the LORD" is the one used most often in the Bible, totaling 854 times.
The first important thought here is that the scripture is very clear: God has spoken and if God in Heaven spoke to all mankind, should not this be a priority for all of us, to see what God said and seek understanding?
Now, just how did God speak to us? Ah, this is vast. God used visions & dreams to communicate His truth. However, God also spoke audibly and directly to us through leaders like Moses and prophets like Isaiah. God gave King David a set of detailed instructions that could be called blueprints, for a divine pattern to build His temple. God carried away Ezekiel from Babylon to Jerusalem so that He could show His prophet the idolatry of the people.
Probably the most well known example would be God giving Moses the Ten Commandments on stone tablets. I thought we would look at that specific example this evening, by way of illustrating verbal inspiration.
This example of verbal inspiration begins with God speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai. The main purpose of God was to orally communicate His holy law to Israel through His servant Moses. God initiated the process of verbal inspiration in this example as in all others with which we are familiar. This is an important principle concerning the inspiration of the Bible because God always spoke His word to man when He deemed the time to be proper, using whatever methods He chose, in a breathtaking exercise of His sovereign power and creativity.
Here is the account of God giving Moses the Ten Commandments. It begins with "God spake all these words, saying..."
Exodus 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 13 Thou shalt not kill. 14 Thou shalt not commit adultery. 15 Thou shalt not steal. 16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Now, we need to go to the end of this account to see the final result of God speaking to Moses.
Exodus 31:18 “And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”
You see, this beautiful example of the Ten Commandments plainly shows us what God said and how He said it. The first tablets of stone were "written by the finger of God." This means, that God's own finger engraved the words on the stones.
What does this mean for each one of us, today? First, it means that God loves all of us enough to communicate to us. Second, it means that God has a specific purpose in communicating to us, namely, that we might know Him personally, and be saved from our sins. Third, it means that despite what some may opine, we do have an uncorrupted, authoritative source of truth. It is the verbally inspired word of God, the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Bible.
I hope I have given you enough to consider regarding this vast, important subject. We will dig deeper the next time in the next post.
Thank you for reading.
Bob
I would like to take a break from our study of the book of Genesis to talk about a topic that you may not have considered. It is the subject of the Bible. This is a broad topic and I will probably dedicate a few posts to delve into this subject.
What do people mean when they say that the scriptures are inspired? The formal term is "verbal inspiration" which simply means that God inspired each word of the scriptures in the original Hebrew and Greek languages.
An easy way to understand inspiration is to tabulate how many times the scripture says "God spoke; Jesus spoke or the Holy Spirit spoke." If you do a word search with Bible software, you will find that there are nearly 4,000 places that plainly state that God is speaking in the passage of scripture.
The earliest example of verbal inspiration is found in the account of creation where the simple phrase “God said” is used 9 times in the first two chapters of Genesis. The words spoken by God were recorded along with a description of His creative actions. This is followed by the creation of man and a record of what God asked Adam and Eve to do. The very activity of the Spirit of God causing Moses to record these things is an act of verbal inspiration.
The total of all the variations of "God said; God hath said" and so on, add up to 75 places. The phrase "saith the LORD" is the one used most often in the Bible, totaling 854 times.
The first important thought here is that the scripture is very clear: God has spoken and if God in Heaven spoke to all mankind, should not this be a priority for all of us, to see what God said and seek understanding?
Now, just how did God speak to us? Ah, this is vast. God used visions & dreams to communicate His truth. However, God also spoke audibly and directly to us through leaders like Moses and prophets like Isaiah. God gave King David a set of detailed instructions that could be called blueprints, for a divine pattern to build His temple. God carried away Ezekiel from Babylon to Jerusalem so that He could show His prophet the idolatry of the people.
Probably the most well known example would be God giving Moses the Ten Commandments on stone tablets. I thought we would look at that specific example this evening, by way of illustrating verbal inspiration.
This example of verbal inspiration begins with God speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai. The main purpose of God was to orally communicate His holy law to Israel through His servant Moses. God initiated the process of verbal inspiration in this example as in all others with which we are familiar. This is an important principle concerning the inspiration of the Bible because God always spoke His word to man when He deemed the time to be proper, using whatever methods He chose, in a breathtaking exercise of His sovereign power and creativity.
Here is the account of God giving Moses the Ten Commandments. It begins with "God spake all these words, saying..."
Exodus 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 13 Thou shalt not kill. 14 Thou shalt not commit adultery. 15 Thou shalt not steal. 16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Now, we need to go to the end of this account to see the final result of God speaking to Moses.
Exodus 31:18 “And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”
You see, this beautiful example of the Ten Commandments plainly shows us what God said and how He said it. The first tablets of stone were "written by the finger of God." This means, that God's own finger engraved the words on the stones.
What does this mean for each one of us, today? First, it means that God loves all of us enough to communicate to us. Second, it means that God has a specific purpose in communicating to us, namely, that we might know Him personally, and be saved from our sins. Third, it means that despite what some may opine, we do have an uncorrupted, authoritative source of truth. It is the verbally inspired word of God, the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Bible.
I hope I have given you enough to consider regarding this vast, important subject. We will dig deeper the next time in the next post.
Thank you for reading.
Bob
Comments
Post a Comment