Inspiration: That extraordinary or supernatural divine influence vouchsafed to
those who wrote the Holy Scriptures, rendering their writings
infallible. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God" (R.V.,
"Every scripture inspired of God"),
(2 Timothy 3:16) This is true of all the
"sacred writings," not in the sense of their being works of genius or
of supernatural insight, but as "theopneustic," i.e., "breathed into
by God" in such a sense that the writers were supernaturally guided
to express exactly what God intended them to express as a revelation
of his mind and will. The testimony of the sacred writers themselves
abundantly demonstrates this truth; and if they are infallible as
teachers of doctrine, then the doctrine of plenary inspiration must
be accepted. There are no errors in the Bible as it came from God,
none have been proved to exist. Difficulties and phenomena we cannot
explain are not errors. All these books of the Old and New Testaments
are inspired. We do not say that they contain, but that they are, the
Word of God. The gift of inspiration rendered the writers the organs
of God, for the infallible communication of his mind and will, in the
very manner and words in which it was originally given. As to the
nature of inspiration we have no information. This only we know, it
rendered the writtings infallible. They were all equally inspired, and
are all equally infallible. The inspiration of the sacred writtings did
not change the character of the writers. They retained all their
individual peculiarities as thinkers or writers.
