(Guidelines) Inspiration I — J. Vernon McGee

Inspiration as the Guarantee of Divine Revelation

I want today to move on to this matter of inspiration, for inspiration guarantees the revelation of God. And that's exactly what this book says, and two men, Paul writing to Timothy and Peter writing his last epistle, and 2 Timothy is Paul's last epistle, they had something pretty definite to say about the Bible.

Scripture's Profit for Doctrine and Righteousness

It's all scriptures given by inspiration of God. It's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, instruction, and righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works.

The Meaning of God-Breathed Inspiration

That is 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, all scriptures given by inspiration. The word inspiration means it's God breathed. God said through these men, as he said here through Paul, exactly what he wanted to say.

He hasn't anything else to add. And the way Peter expresses it, he says in 2 Peter 1, 21,. 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 Spirit.

The Thoughts and Words of Scripture

Now, that's very important to see, that these men were moved. They were, as it were, carried along by the Holy Spirit of God. It was Bishop Westcott. He says the thoughts are wedded to words as necessarily as the soul is to the body.

And Dr. Kuyper said you can as easily have music without notes or mathematics without figures as thoughts without words. It's not the thoughts inspired, it's the words that are inspired. Satan was not inspired to tell a lie, but the Bible records he told a lie.

The Bible as Both Human and Divine

It's the words that are inspired. And the Lord Jesus said it is written. It's what the Word of God said. And these men are giving out what God has to say. It's a perfectly human book, but it's an absolute God book.

Not any more human because it is a God book, and it's not any less being a God book because it's a human book. God used these human writers without destroying their free will, their expression and style.

They were not fountain pens that he turned upside down and wrote with them. They are expressing their thought. The Gospels and the Word of God present that which is the living Word of God.