By Bart Warren
The Bible is inspired. When we make such a claim,” what do we mean? Few statements are more powerful or more pertinent. Few statements have been more overlooked and obscured. 
What Inspiration Is Not 
Those who do not believe in God can often admit that the Bible stands out as an important piece of literature. It can be acknowledged that the prose is beautiful and that the message is motivating. However, the Bible is not merely an inspirational book. Bookstores have entire sections labeled “inspirational”––the Bible should not be found in these sections. While it is true that when the message of God is understood one will be spurred on to greater spiritual heights, such does not begin to approach the nature of inspiration. 
There may be some that hold to the notion that the 40+ men that wrote down the words of Scripture were “inspired” in a fashion similar to Plato, Aristotle, Shakespeare, Milton, or some other writer. To say that the men who wrote the Bible were talented misses the point. To say that these individuals had their creative energies stirred to the point that they wrote something that made a lasting impression on the world is to misunderstand the nature of inspiration. 
Even among those who profess a belief in God and devotion to Jesus Christ there are diverging views. Some would say that the Bible is a collaboration between God and man. They would contend that certain parts are inspired by God while other parts are simply the work of fallible human beings. Thus, in this view, the Bible contains the Word of God as well as many errors. Men are left to fend for themselves using their reasoning skills (and it is sometimes said the aid of the Holy Spirit) to determine which parts of Scripture are true and which are false. This view does not fit the Biblical idea of inspiration. 
An extreme position among those that claim to follow Christ is that the Bible becomes the Word of God. This means that in their view, the Bible is a fallible human book that is used by God to reveal the person of Jesus Christ. Rather than being a divine standard that must be known and heeded, this makes the Bible our conversation partner. The Bible only becomes the Word of God to the person when they encounter Jesus the Christ through it. Certainly this is a far cry from the nature of inspiration as we understand it (and as the Bible itself describes). 
What Inspiration Is 
The Bible is clear and unmistakable in claiming to be the very words of God from start to finish. The writers themselves pointed the attention of the reader to God rather than to their own knowledge or abilities. From the Old Testament consider these examples: God said to Moses in Exodus 4:12, “Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” At the end of King David’s life, he had this to say in 2 Samuel 23:2, “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue.” In Jeremiah 1:9, God said to the prophet, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.” It has been found that the prophets alone used expressions such as, “Thus says the Lord” more than 1,300 times. In the Old Testament as a whole, there are more than 2,500 phrases attributing authorship to God.i 
From the New Testament consider these examples: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21). “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). This is a sufficient sample to demonstrate the bold claim of the New Testament that the Bible is a divine product. 
Therefore the following definitions and explanations seem to be more in line with the Biblical data. “Inspiration is a supernatural influence upon divinely chosen prophets and apostles whereby the Spirit of God assures the truth and trustworthiness of their oral and written proclamation.”ii  Thus to say that the Bible is inspired is to say that it is the very utterance of God. It is as much the Word of God as if He Himself were to speak to us in an audible voice. This leaves us with no middle ground. If the writing is inspired, then it is the divine Word of God. If the writing is not inspired, then it is not of God and is of human origin.iii 
The nature of inspiration as we understand it is both plenary and verbal. The term plenary signifies that inspiration extends to the whole––not just portions, not just certain people, not merely to ideas, but to all of Scripture. The term verbal signifies that inspiration extends to the very words of the Bible and that it is given to us in propositional form. What makes this all the more fascinating (and even complex) is the fact that the Holy Spirit did not eliminate the personalities of the writers. Peter writes with his own style, Paul with his, John with his, and so on. Thus the inspired words of God come forth in the style and vocabulary of the writer. It is also the case that these inspired writers did not become infallible themselves. They did not become omniscient. They did not become immune to bodily affliction. They did not become incapable of sinning. Rather, these men were only infallible as teachers and writers when acting as the spokesmen of God. Their inspiration was limited to the immediate purpose for which it was given.iv 
Additionally, the nature of inspiration as we understand it means that the Bible is both infallible and inerrant. The Bible contains no mistakes or errors. Such is exactly what one would expect with a book that has come from God. While not a textbook for science, history, etc., the Bible contains no data that is factually incorrect. Even though the information recorded by these men was far beyond anything they could have known or even guessed, it was nevertheless recorded without false information or even contradictions. Such is powerful evidence that the Bible is a divine product. “The doctrine of inerrancy rests upon confidence in the divine origin of Scripture. If the Bible is the Word of God, it is free from error. God does not lie, nor does He make mistakes. It is just that simple.”v 
The Implication of Inspiration 
God has revealed Himself to us via His creation (Romans 1:20). God has revealed Himself via prophets and even His Son, Jesus (Hebrews 1:1-2; John 14:9; et. al.). Finally, He has revealed Himself via an objective and permanent method of communication: the written word. “Belief in the divine origin of the Bible leads one to accept the Bible as both utterly true and totally authoritative. If God has spoken, it makes all the difference in the world.”vi  If the Bible is from God, we cannot continue to ignore it. If the Bible is from God, we must lovingly embrace it and enthusiastically follow it. 
The Bible is inspired!