Updated May 23, 2001 (first published March 1, 2001) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - There is a debate in some circles about whether inspiration is a process or a product. For example, after publishing the article “Did Paul Write by Inspiration” recently, a friend (who teaches Greek) wrote to challenge me as follows:

“Can you find me anywhere in The Bible that the writers were ‘inspired?’ The phrase, ‘Paul writing by inspiration’ would be like someone traveling by trotting, or running; or eating by swallowing, all parallel to the phrase of ‘Paul writing by inspiration.’ At that point ‘Inspiration’ becomes a verb, which It absolutely is NEVER in The Bible; It is always, in the 2 places it is found, a NOUN. Even theopneustos in 2 Tim. 3:16 is a noun, not an adjective as the lexicons attempt to make it.

”God Breathed, Paul wrote it down; Paul recorded The Inspiration of God, Word by Word. Inspiration is Product, not process. The human mind cannot conceive Inspiration, so makes man ‘inspired,’ or ‘inspiring’ The Scriptures. … I believe The Word of God is The Pre-existent Product which ‘at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,’ and revealed also in The Incarnate Word of God, then again revealed additionally in the Inscripturated New Testament by holy men of God, who simply recorded The Revelation of God as was Word by Word directed by Him.

“I agree that What Paul wrote IS Inspiration. I do not agree that he wrote BY inspiration. I agree when you said, ‘The Apostle Peter called Paul’s writings “scripture.” That is good enough for me.’ That is also good enough for me! Perhaps we could find a more Bible term for what we call ‘by inspiration.’ God spoke It and men wrote It, or some such. I just do not like the verbal infringement on a Bible word which is only a noun.”

REPLY FROM BROTHER CLOUD:

Thanks for the challenge. I highly respect and love you in the Lord; I praise the Lord for your friendship in Christ; and I have great respect for your ability in this issue; but I don’t agree with you on this point.

Context determines the meaning of any word, Greek, Hebrew, English, German, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, whatever. Also, I get my definition of inspiration not only from the use of that exact Greek or English word but from passages that discuss it regardless of whether or not the actual word is used. First of all, it appears to me very plainly, whether you look at it from Greek or from English, that 2 Timothy 3:16 refers BOTH to process and to product. When I add 2 Peter 1:21 to this, I am further convinced that inspiration involves both process and product. According to this passage, Paul (or David or Jeremiah) spoke (or wrote) as he was moved by the Holy Spirit. That sounds a whole lot like process to me.

Thus I do not agree that it is an error to teach that Paul wrote his inscripturated epistles “by inspiration.” By the way, I am sure you were not referring to me when you spoke of those who cannot conceive of inspiration and thus want to make man “inspired.” There are many like that, but we are not among that number. I agree that the Word of God is the pre-existent Product that was revealed by holy men of God who simply recorded the Revelation of God. Every word that was penned in the Scriptures was given by God, not merely by men who were inspired in some vague sense. I have no problem believing God can do anything at all. I believe the whale swallowed Jonah, and if the Bible told me that Jonah swallowed the whale, I would happily believe that.

I believe God originally gave the Scriptures by the process of inspiration and that the preserved copies of Scriptures in Greek and Hebrew, and even the accurate translations into other languages, are the inspired Scripture, being the product of inspiration. Timothy had known the inspired Scriptures from his childhood (2 Timothy 3:15-17), and it is obvious that he did not have the original Hebrew writings. He had copies and/or translations.

To get down to where “the rubber meets the road,” I believe the King James Bible, being an accurate translation of the inspired Greek and Hebrew scriptures, is the inspired Word of God in the English language. This in no wise discounts the uniqueness of the original process of inspiration in the giving of the Scripture, but it makes the doctrine of inspiration practical to men in every generation; and that is obviously what God had in mind when He gave the Scriptures.