Biblical Inspiration … (September 2026 Update)
Some people love AI; others fear what it will do to human creativity and ingenuity. AI is becoming so good that it is often hard to tell if what has been produced is human or AI. Basically, AI largely eliminates the need for any human input or decision making.
When speaking about Biblical Inspiration, many people wrongly assume that biblical inspiration works a lot like AI. They think it means that God basically took over the human authors and wrote what He wanted without any human elements in their writings. This approach is often called the dictation method or the mechanical dictation theory. It asserts that God transmitted Scripture word-for-word to passive human writers, who acted merely as mechanical scribes, secretaries, or typewriters recording a divine message. This approach suggests that human writers contributed no personal style, emotion, or vocabulary; they functioned like stenographers or amanuenses (dictation scribes). Many think this is the evangelical approach to inspiration – but it is not. Even the early Reformers (like Luther and Calvin) rejected such ideas, though later Protestant scholastic scholars advocated it.
But the Bible itself testifies against such an approach to inspiration. The books of the Bible display clear personal vocabularies, grammar, and literary styles unique to individual authors (for example, the distinct Greek style of Luke versus Paul or Matthew). Also, writers like Luke explicitly mention gathering eyewitness accounts and doing their historical research (Luke 1:1–4) rather than simply taking passive dictation. For example, As J.I. Packer writes “that in inspiration God did not obliterate the personality, style, outlook, and cultural conditioning of his penmen…”. Likewise, Benjamin Warfield argues against proponents of dictation in illustrating the unlikely process of God dictating letters to Paul: “violently forcing the material He wished expressed through him”. Warfield concludes “nothing of the sort took place.”
A better approach (and the one suggested by the Reformers and most evangelicals today) is called the Verbal-plenary approach. It teaches that the Holy Spirit worked through human authors and used their personalities, vocabulary and experiences but protected what they wrote from error. There are two words that help us understand this theory.
First, the word verbal affirms the idea that inspiration extends to the very words the writers chose. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that “all scripture is inspired by God and is useful….” In the gospels, Jesus speaks about all scripture – the Law, the Writings and the prophets – as the Word or words of God. So, verbal refers to the fact that inspiration extends to each word, syllable, and even to grammar. For example, in Mt. 22:31-32, Jesus even emphasizes verb tenses when he says to the Pharisees “about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” It even includes number (singular and plural). In Galatians 3:16, Paul refers to Genesis 12:7 and points out: “The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ.” So, inspiration applies to the words, including verbal tense and number. That is why we call this view verbal.
The second word is plenary, which means “full” or “complete”. Therefore, plenary verbal inspiration asserts that God inspired all the words of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, including both historical and doctrinal details. In Revelation 22:18-19 we read: “And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” This same warning is found three times in the OT when God warns about changing any of His words. In Acts 1:16, the Apostle Peter says “the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spoke” – even what David said is included in Scripture. Paul calls all scripture “God-breathed” in 2 Timothy 3:16 (referring to the Old Testament). And in 2 Peter 3:16, Peter even calls the letters of Paul scripture saying, “He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” So, he compares the writings of Paul to the “other scriptures.”
But this does not exclude the personalities and vocabularies of the individual writers. In 2 Peter 2:20-21, Peter says that the Holy Spirit guided the writers along – he allowed their own personalities and freedom to produce the Bible we have today. This is why Matthew’s Jewish emphasis is clear in his gospel as is Luke’s Gentile emphasis in his gospel. And it explains why the physician Luke uses specialized medical terms in his gospel that the other gospel writers leave out. Because verbal-plenary inspiration is how God used the personalities and vocabularies of each writer in the process of inspiration.
The verbal plenary view recognizes and asserts both the human and divine elements within Scripture. This understanding has sometimes been compared to our understanding of the two natures of Jesus. They make the comparison between Jesus as the Living Word and the Scriptures as the written Word. Jesus is the living word – He becomes man when the Holy Spirit comes upon a sinful human named Mary. The result is the sinless lamb of God. He is completely divine and yet completely human. In a similar way, the Holy Spirit moved upon fallible human writers, and the result is an infallible and inerrant Word of God.
Now let’s take a brief look at the process of Biblical Inspiration. To begin with, please note that we are not given exact details about the process, just as we are not told the exact details of how Jesus can be fully God and fully man. But here is a brief summary of this process:
First, inspiration begins with God breathing out His words – Listen to 2 Timothy 3:16 again: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” The Greek word for inspired means “breathed out by God.”
Second, inspiration takes place when the writers are “carried along” by the Holy Spirit. In 2 Peter 1:21, Peter says, “For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The Greek word “carried along” is also found in Acts 27:15 – “The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along (or carried along).” This shows the active work of God in directing and controlling what was written in scripture.
Third, inspiration can include God preparing the authors even before they begin to write. It can include their experiences and their training because God chose and prepared these writers for their task. In Acts 9:15, God tells Ananias about His choice of Paul, “But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.” We see the same idea in the OT for example in Jeremiah 1:4-5 when God chose Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart, I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Sometimes writers understood that they were speaking for God. At other times, they did not understand what they were writing. For example, 1 Peter 1:10-11 says, “the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.” They prophesied but they did not fully understand what they were telling us.
Finally, it is very important that we remember that the writings, not the authors, are inspired. Not everything written by Paul is scripture. If we found his shopping list, it would not be inspired scripture. If we found another letter written by Paul, it would not be scripture. Scripture includes the writings inspired by the Holy Spirit – not writings written by inspired men. The Word of God even comes at times through non-believers. In Numbers 24:15-17, Balaam even gave a prophecy about the Messiah even though he was not a prophet of God. He prophesied: “A star will come out of Jacob; and a scepter will rise out of Israel.” And not everything the apostles did or said was under the inspiration of the Spirit. Paul even has to confront and correct Peter in Galatians 2. So, inspiration extends only to the writings, not to the authors.
What is Biblical inspiration? First of all, inspiration is the process used by the Spirit to record God’s revelation in writing. Second, this inspiration is verbal (all the words) and plenary (all of Scripture). Third, we need to remember that inspiration extends to the writings, not to the authors. We have inspired writings; not inspired writers. Finally, inspiration gives us confidence that the Bible is God’s Word.
There are many debates today about AI and its value. For sure, one great danger of AI is the loss of human creativity and originality. But, in the Bible, we have an amazing combination of divine authorship and human personality. The writers of scripture were not mechanical robots, but real people who God used as the Holy Spirit “carried” them along so that the writings we have today are really God’s Word which the human writers penned with their own personalities. That’s biblical inspiration!
Serving and Teaching …
Last month, I taught a Church Planting class online on the theology of Evangelism for students at Kyiv Theological Seminary. Before the class began, the director wrote and said that, because of the war, not many students had signed up for the class. They decided to cancel the class because they didn’t want to take my time. I told him if they have 2 students, I’ll teach them. Three students signed up and we had a great class. One of the students told us that he had been praying about how to help his church with evangelism and this class was an answer to his prayers! I’m so glad we did the class.
Actually, the smaller class ended up being one of the best classes I have ever taught online. I thnk the smaller calls gave us more time to discuss and answer specific questions. It also gave them more time to give their presentations (which were some of the best we have ever had). It was also a joy t work with Sergey Bochko again as my translator. Thank you for praying for us and this class!
We are continuing to work with GlobalServe International, trying to get organized to teach their missionaries online in the coming year. We are hoping to get more commitments about this at their February meeting. Because they leave all these decisions to the local churches, it is much harder to get commitments until each church sees the need. Be praying for us as we try to determine what the Lord wants me to do regarding GSI training.
Also, Union School of Theology is asking me to try to teach a group of missionaries and parachurch workers next year. This is something we are exploring and praying about. Finally, we have been asked to share at NWA for the Nations again this year (first weekend in November). Pray that we can be helpful in leading men and women to follow Christ into missions.
Family …
After 3+ years of no front steps into our house, we finally have steps! The process took us about a month of prepping, pouring concrete and finally putting on the stairs. Because our front yard sloops so much, getting the measurements just right was beyond me. Fortunately, one of our neighbors came over, and his expertise was essential in getting this done right. We have told friends and family and our small group that they can enter through the front door if they want. But our garage is always open to them if they prefer the old way! Now we need to work on our sidewalk.
In September, Harlie Cooper had a birthday party. Meredith put together a great pirate-themed party for her that we all enjoyed! Also, I celebrated my 72nd birthday in September, and Katya and I celebrated 16 years of marriage in October! We also enjoyed going to a special concert with two pianos at Crystal Bridges.
Finally, this October, we went to Cane Hill museum in Arkansas to pick apples. We’ve been doing this every year since we came here. But this year, there were no apples at all. The museum curator said there were no apples this year because of the extreme heat. We took along two friends, Lucy and Anna. But even with no apples, the girls had a blast. We even had a special visit from a very people-friendly deer.
Retirement (?) and Health
I’m still praying and trying to figure out retirement. Right now, we are waiting to see how many teaching opportunities there are that I need to consider before fully retiring. I really want to be useful as long as I am able. A number of people have also been encouraging me to get back to doing some writing. It’s something that I am praying about.
I put off my hiatal hernia surgery last month because I did not think I would have enough time to recover before teaching my class the week after surgery. It was a good decision. In the meantime, I started taking some supplements for the hernia and they have helped tremendously. So, I plan to keep trying to use these instead of surgery. But surgery still might be a long-term option.
Pray for Ukraine …
Please don’t forget to pray for Ukraine. Because Russian efforts to defeat Ukraine militarily are failing so badly, Putin has increased its attacks on Ukrainian civilians. Also, Ukraine is not receiving satellite warnings when Russia launches missiles. This means that the normal warning time of around 10 minutes is reduced to zero. Because of this more civilians are being killed than normal. Ukraine continues to attack only military targets and never civilian ones. Pray for the people of Ukraine that are being attacked around the clock by Putin.
Also, keep praying for our students who continue to minister and serve during this war. Pray that the gospel will touch and change many lives.
Thank you again for your support of our efforts to train and equip ministers in Ukraine. These years of teaching have been a great joy, and we could not have done this without your help and prayers! Thank you so much for your faithfulness to the ministry of Christ!
By His Grace,
Jim and Katya, Kristina and Nadia
If you missed previous updates or just want to read some short theological reflections, you can find these at our website at https://teachingresources.org/ .
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