The Bible: Divinely Inspired and Fully Authoritative

The Bible is comprised of sixty-six books, written by as many as 40 people over the course of approximately 1,600 years. Both its writing and compilation took place under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The finished product represents the Word of God to the human race, and is (in the words of the Apostle Paul) “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)

Throughout human history, God has chosen to reveal Himself to the human race primarily through human voices and hands. There have been few exceptions. Even Jesus Christ, God’s ultimate revelation, came to the world in human form. The Bible is a compilation of histories, laws, psalms, prophecies, and letters written by these “human voices and hands” that God used to reveal Himself to the world. This practice stretched back to the laws and prophecies of the Old Testament Age and continued through the birth of the Christian church. Accordingly, the Bible is authoritative because, as the early church leader Origen wrote, it is “inspired by the Spirit of God.” 

The process of exactly how God communicated His Word through the hand of Man remains a mystery. With few exceptions, however, such as the Ten Commandments and some of the specific prophecies of the Old Testament, God did not dictate to the authors of the Scriptures exactly what they should write. God did not circumvent or extinguish the unique personalities, perspectives, and passions of the biblical authors. On the contrary, He used these qualities and gave the human authors fairly wide latitude of literary discretion in their work.