WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BELIEVE IN THE FULL INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE?
The word “inspiration” in relation to the Bible means different things to different people. Therefore, when we discuss inspiration, we need to define the term, show how we use it, and understand how those with whom we are discussing the subject of “inspiration” understand it.
THE MOST COMMONLY USED SCRIPTURE TO PROVE INSPIRATION
I start with 2 Timothy 3:16 as rendered in three different translations:
All Scripture (pasa grafē) is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting straight, for disciplining in righteousness. (NWT13)
Denn alle Schrift (pasa grafē), von Gott eingegeben, ist nütze zur Lehre, zur Strafe, zur Besserung, zur Züchtigung in der Gerechtigkeit. (Luther 1912)
Every inspired scripture (pasa grafē) has its use for teaching the truth and refuting error, or for reformation of manners and discipline in right living. (NEB 1970)
Most Bible translations render the first clause of the verse similarly to NWT13. And many Bible readers argue that this verse, with the words “all Scripture is inspired by God,” shows that all 66 books of the Bible are inspired by God. The problem is that these words were written before the Bible, with its 66 books, was complete. And there is nothing in the context to show that the words “all scripture” have a prospective meaning, pointing to scriptures that had not yet been written.
The words of the Luther Bible and the NEB exacerbate this problem by showing that pasa grafē does not include the Bible’s 66 books. These two translations show that every reader must determine which scriptures are part of the divine canon, and then he or she can rightly conclude that these scriptures are inspired and beneficial.
Interestingly, both the Greek text and the circumstances in which Paul wrote the letter suggest that the Luther Bible and the NEB offer better translations than NWT13 and most other translations. But paradoxically, and contrary to the popular view, the text of these two translations represents stronger arguments in favor of all 66 books of the Bible being inspired by God than the reading of NWT13 and most other translations might suggest. How so?
“EVERY” OR “ALL”?
Regarding the difference between the two words in the heading, an English Grammar says:
We use both ‘all’ and ‘every’ to refer to the total number of something. All refers to a complete group. Every refers to each member of a complete group.[1]
The difference is that if the word “all” is used in 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul can only refer to a complete group of Scriptures. The only complete group of scriptures that existed in Paul’s day was the Hebrew scriptures. Consequently, if “all” is the correct word, Paul’s reference must be solely to the 39 books of the Hebrew scriptures, and cannot include the 27 books of the Christian Greek Scriptures that, at this point in time, were not collected into a group of scriptures.
However, the use of the word “every” may include all the 66 books in the Bible as inspired. How so? We can put the issue this way: Paul wrote, “Every scripture that is inspired by God is beneficial.” To what does “every scripture” refer? Paul’s words imply that some scriptures are inspired by God and that these constitute his canon. The words “every scripture” must refer to each book in this canon; these scriptures are inspired and beneficial.
From the point of view of the identification of the books that God has inspired, the rendering “Every scripture that is inspired by God” is better than “All scripture is inspired by God.” The reason is that “all scripture is inspired by God” can refer only to the 39 books of the Hebrew canon. But “every scripture that is inspired by God” invites the readers to identify the present divine canon, and when we have done that, we know, on the basis of the words of Paul, that every individual scripture in this canon is inspired and beneficial.
The conclusion is that the 39 books of the Hebrew Scriptures were identified by Jews in the first century CE, and that various catalogs in ancient Christian congregations identify the 27 books of the Christian Greek Scriptures as inspired by God. When we have identified the 66 books of the Bible in this way, we know that every scripture among these 66 is inspired by God and beneficial.
What can we learn from the Greek grammar of the verse? There is no article in the phrase pasa graphē (“every scripture”), and the rule is that when a noun is preceded by pas (“all, every”) and there is no article, the meaning is “every” and not “the whole” or “all”. So, the grammar supports the rendering “every scripture.”
“EVERY SCRIPTURE THAT IS INSPIRED” OR “EVERY SCRIPTURE IS INSPIRED”?
The verb in the English translations is “is.” But this verb is not written in Greek but is implied. The problem is where to place the implied verb in the clause: Is the meaning, “All/every scripture is inspired by God”? or is it, All/every scripture that is inspired by God.” Because “every” has strong support as the best rendering, and “every” focuses on each individual scripture, most likely the best rendering is, “Every scripture that is inspired by God,” or “every inspired scripture.”
I have already shown that it is impossible to use 2 Timothy 3:16 alone as evidence that the 66 books of the Bible are inspired by God. But on the belief that God’s spirit directed the assembling of the canon, 2 Timotheus 3:16 can be used to show that each of the 66 scriptures in this canon is inspired by God and beneficial.
[1]. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/all-or-every.
WHAT IT MEANS TO BELIEVE IN THE FULL INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE
What does it mean to believe in the full inspiration of the Bible? This question is important because the words “belief in the holy Scriptures” mean different things to different people.
Consider the following example: I ask a person whether he believes that the Bible is inspired by God, and he says yes. Then I ask if he believes that Adam and Eve were the ancestors of all living humans. The person answers that Adam and Eve were not real people, but were meant to illustrate that God created the human family. Does this person believe in the full inspiration of the Bible?
Another example is a person who has affirmed his belief in the Bible, and I ask: Do you believe that the first humans were created about 6,000 years ago, as Luke 3:23-38 implies? The person answers that humans have been on the earth for tens of thousands of years. And we cannot take everything in the Bible literally. Does this person believe in the full inspiration of the Bible?
We can understand what it means to believe in the full inspiration of the Bible by studying how Jesus and his first-century CE followers treated the Hebrew Scriptures.
THE PROPHETS CHOSE THE WORDS WHILE THEY WERE BORNE ALONG BY HOLY SPIRIT
When we read different Greek texts in the Christian Greek Scriptures, we discover that different books written by different authors have different styles. It is clear that each author chose the words and applied grammar and syntax in different ways. How can this conform to God’s inspiration?
We find an answer in Revelation 1:10, 11:
10 By inspiration (en pneumati) I came to be in the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a strong voice like that of a trumpet, 11 saying: “What you see write in a scroll and send it to the seven congregations, in Ephʹe·sus and in Smyrʹna and in Perʹga·mum and in Thy·a·tiʹra and in Sarʹdis and in Philadelphia and in La·o·di·ceʹa.”
The Greek words en pneumati literally mean “in spirit.” The Lord’s day was future, and John was on the Lord’s day, not in the flesh but in the spirit. We note that John was asked to write down what he saw. In many instances, God’s messages and prophecies were written down verbatim. But in many other instances, the secretaries of God would choose the words of the inspired messages, just as John did. Can we be certain that the messages where the writer chose the words really are God’s word? The words in 2 Peter 1:20, 21 confirm that:
For you know this first, that no prophecy of Scripture springs from any private interpretation. For prophecy was by no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they were born along (ferō) by holy spirit.
The text says literally that the prophets were “carried along.” The form of the verb ferō is present participle, meaning that they continued to be carried along when they propecied. Peter’s words indicate that God’s spirit influenced the prophets when they chose their prophetic words.
Peter’s words show that every word the writers wrote was inspired by God, even though they chose the words and the style themselves. This was the viewpoint of all those who wrote the books of the Christian Greek Scriptures, and by Jesus himself. Let us see what it means to believe in the full inspiration of the Bible.
THE TEXT MUST BE TAKEN LITERALLY IF THE CONTEXT DOES NOT EXPLICITLY SHOW IT IS FIGURATIVE
Jesus showed he believed that the accounts in the Hebrew Scriptures should be taken literally. I quote Matthew 19:3-6 (above), Matthew 24:37-39 (middle), and Luke 17:31-32 (below):
3 And Pharisees came up to him, intent on tempting him and saying: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife on every sort of ground?” 4 In reply he said: “Did YOU not read that he who created them from [the] beginning made them male and female 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will stick to his wife, and the two will be one flesh’? 6 So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has yoked together let no man put apart.”
37 For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. 38 For as they were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; 39 and they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.
31 “On that day let the person that is on the housetop but whose movable things are in the house not come down to pick these up, and the person out in the field, let him likewise not return to the things behind. 32 REMEMBER the wife of Lot.[1]
Jesus quotes Genesis 2:21-25, showing that Adam and Eve were the first humans, that they were wed by God, and that they are ancestors to all humans who have lived on earth. The second quotation shows that Jesus believed in the worldwide flood and that all humans died, with only Noah and his family surviving. Matthew 11:23 shows that Jesus believed in the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and his third quotation above shows that he believed that Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt.
Genesis 19:24 says, “Then Jehovah made it rain sulphur and fire from Jehovah, from the heavens, upon Sodʹom and upon Go·morʹrah.” There are huge amounts of salt in the ground, as well as oil and bitumen beside the Dead Sea. If there was an explosion that caused the destruction, glowing sulfur mixed with salt would rain down, and Lot’s wife would literally be encapsulated with salt and sulfur and become a pillar of salt.
| The examples above show that believing in the full inspiration of the Bible means taking every account literally, except when the context explicitly shows that a text must be taken figuratively — such as the illustrations of Jesus. |
WE MUST ACCEPT THAT ALL ACCOUNTS ARE INCLUDED WITH A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
I have already quoted Luke 24:44, where he refers to the canon of “Moses, the prophets, and Psalms,” which most likely refers to the 39 books in the Hebrew Scriptures. With reference to these scriptures, Jesus said, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17), and “the Scripture cannot be nullified” (John 10:36) Jesus viewed the Hebrew Scriptures as the final authority.
In connection with the issue we are discussing, we need to ask about the quality and importance of each of the 39 books. Could it be that some clauses or sections of some of the 39 books, or even some whole books, were not as important as other the other books?
Answers to these questions are found in Romans 15:4 (above), Romans 4:23-25 (middle), and 1 Corinthians 10:11 (below):
4 For all the things that were written aforetime were written for our instruction, that through our endurance and through the comfort from the Scriptures we might have hope.
23 That “it was counted to him” was written, however, not for his sake only, 24 but also for the sake of us to whom it is destined to be counted, because we believe on him who raised Jesus our Lord up from the dead. 25 He was delivered up for the sake of our trespasses and was raised up for the sake of declaring us righteous.
11 Now these things went on befalling them as examples (typos), and they were written for a warning to us upon whom the ends of the systems of things have arrived.
Paul quotes the Hebrew Scriptures as an authority numerous times, and his words “all…that were written aforetime” must refer to the Hebrew Scriptures. And all these scriptures were written for our (the Christians’) instruction. The purpose of this instruction was that “we might have hope,”
So, the basic reason for the writing of the Hebrew Scriptures was not to describe the magnificent personality of Jehovah God nor to give moral instructions. But the focus of the Hebrew Scriptures are on the hope of the human family, on the purpose of God of “the times of restoration of all things of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old time.” (Acts 3:21)
This is supported by Romans 4:23, 24, where we learn that the words “it was counted to him [Abraham],” “was written for the sake of us.” It is also supported by 1 Corinthians 10:11, where we learn that what happened to the Jews on their way to the promised land was a type (typos) whose antitype is found among the people of God in later times.
| The examples above show that believing in the full inspiration of the Bible means believing that every account and every book in the Bible is chosen with a particular purpose, a purpose that relates to the salvation of humans and the restoration of all things. |
WE MUST ACCEPT THAT ALL NUANCES AND SUBTLETIES IN THE TEXT ARE IMPORTANT
A text can be viewed in different ways. In a poetic text, the rhymes of each line are what give beauty to the text. The metrical foot of each line is also important, but the nuances of each word are unimportant.
If we read a crime novel, what is important is to ascertain the action in each chapter and to discover the small threads laid down that will help us fully understand the solution to the crime in the last chapter. The nuances of each word are not important.
Reading a legal text is different from reading poetry or a crime novel. In this text, each word, as well as grammar and syntax are important. Even the position of a comma in a clause in a legal text may influence the meaning of the law. Translating a legal text into another language requires much care, so the subtleties and nuances of the text are not lost.
The Bible is not a legal text, even though it includes many laws. But because the Bible is the word of God, it requires careful translation to ensure its nuances and subtleties are not lost.
In one situation, Jesus referred to the text of Moses, and his words emphasize the importance of rendering the nuances and subtleties in the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts of the Bible. I quite Luke 20:37, 38:
37 But that the dead are raised up even Moses disclosed, in the account about the thornbush, when he calls Jehovah ‘the God of Abraham and God of Isaac and God of Jacob.’ 38 He is a God, not of the dead, but of the living, for they are all living to him.”
Jesus refers to Exodus 3:6:
6 And he went on to say: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”
The point of Jesus is that when God says, “I am the God,” and not “I was the God,” this proves that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will get a resurrection. However, this point is not as clear as it seems because there is no verb in the clause in Exod. 3:6 to which Jesus is referring. A clause without a verb is called a nominal clause and is common in Hebrew. In such clauses, the auxiliary verb “to be” is implied, usually with present meaning; thus, the meaning of the clause is ‘I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,’ not ‘I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’
What is important in our context is that the veracity of an important Christian doctrine can be based on the tense of the verb: a past tense would not prove anything, but the present tense proves that there will be a resurrection of the dead.[2]
| The words of Jesus in Luke 20:37, 38 show that the belief in the full inspiration of the Bible means that we believe that all nuances and subtleties of the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek text of the Bible are important. |
THE PASSAGES THAT HAVE BEEN STUDIED SHOW THAT BELIEVING IN THE FULL INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE MEANS:
- WE MUST TAKE EVERY ACCOUNT LITERALLY IF THE CONTEXT EXPLICITLY DOES NOT SAY THAT A TEXT IS FIGURATIVE.
- WE MUST BELIEVE THAT EVERY ACCOUNT IS INCLUDED WITH A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
- WE MUST ACCEPT THAT ALL SUBTLETIES AND NUANCES IN THE TEXT ARE IMPORTANT.
If we asked each of the 11 members of the Governing Body if they believe in the full inspiration of the Bible, they would definitely say yes. They would not lie with this answer. But in my view, they have deviated so much from the truth of the Bible that they do not understand that new teachings they have introduced in the 21st century, in reality, are attacks on the text of the Bible.
THE NEXT THREE ARTICLES IN THIS SERIES WILL DEMONSTRATE THAT THE MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNING BODY DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE FULL INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE.
[1]. Genesis 19:24 says, “Then Jehovah made it rain sulphur and fire from Jehovah, from the heavens, upon Sodʹom and upon Go·morʹrah.” There are huge amounts of salt in the ground, as well as oil and bitumen beside the Dead Sea. If there was an explosion that caused the destruction, glowing sulphur mixed with salt would rain dawn, and Lot’s wife would be encapsuled with salt and sulphur.
[2]. The last clause in Luke 20:38, according to NWT84, is, “They are all living to him (auton).” The pronoun auton (“he, him”) is in the dative case. This means that “to him” is a good rendering. When Moses wrote the words, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not living. But from his standpoint, they were living because they would receive a resurrection.
