How to Read the Bible: Inspiration Part 1

When someone becomes a believer, one of the first pieces of advice they often hear is, “Start reading the Bible.” And while diving into Scripture is essential for a new Christian’s growth, what’s often missing is guidance on how to read it. The Bible isn’t just another book, it’s a collection of ancient texts that carry profound meaning, written across different times and cultures. If we approach the Bible as if it were a modern document, using only our contemporary ideas and skills, we risk misunderstanding it or even arriving at entirely wrong conclusions.

To read the Bible well, we need to equip ourselves with some essential tools that help us understand its message clearly and accurately. One of the foundational tools for approaching Scripture is understanding what it means for the Bible to be “inspired by God.” Let’s explore what biblical inspiration truly means and why it’s the first key step in understanding this ancient collection of books.

Did the Biblical Authors Know They Were Writing Sacred Scripture?

Have you ever thought about what it must have been like for the biblical authors when they sat down to write? Did they know they were creating what we call “Scripture,” a sacred text that would guide the faith of millions over thousands of years? Let’s take a moment to explore that question, thinking about how the inspiration of Scripture works, and perhaps find that it’s a bit more like building a house or raising a child than we might imagine.

The Big Question

Imagine the Apostle Paul sitting in a Roman prison, writing letters to churches facing challenges. Was he sitting there thinking, “This letter will be part of the Holy Bible one day”? Or think of David writing a psalm about his deepest fears and his trust in God. Did he know his words would be sung in worship services across centuries? In truth, the biblical authors probably didn’t have a clear sense that they were writing capital-S Scripture. They were writing letters, songs, histories, and prophecies to real people in real situations, and it wasn’t until much later that these writings were recognized as divinely authoritative. But that doesn’t mean God wasn’t involved.

The House Analogy

Think of the process of inspiration like building a house. Let’s say God is the architect. He draws the plans, designs the rooms, and oversees the whole project, but the actual builders are the ones putting brick to mortar, hammering nails, and painting the walls. The builders, in our analogy, the human authors of the Bible, are using their skills, their creativity, and their personalities. They decide on things like which style of window works best, or how to arrange the bricks. But it’s all according to the architect’s plan, and without that plan, the house wouldn’t exist.

This idea of God as the ultimate source but humans as the immediate source of Scripture means that God used real people, in real places, dealing with real struggles, to communicate his message. The words of Scripture were shaped by human hands, but those hands were guided by divine intent. God didn’t always need to dictate every word; instead, he worked through the unique perspectives and experiences of the writers.

Theopneustos: A Breathing Analogy

The Greek word often translated as “inspired by God” is theopneustos, which literally means “God-breathed.” But what does it mean for God to “breathe” the Scriptures into existence? There are two ways people have often thought about this.

The first way is like the voice of a director dictating every line to an actor, word for word. This is often how many imagine inspiration works, God whispering each word into the ear of the author, who then writes it down without altering a syllable. If we follow this analogy, it’s a bit like someone handing you a script and saying, “This is exactly what I want you to say.” You don’t add your own thoughts; you simply read what’s given to you.

But there’s another way to think about it, and that’s where the breathing metaphor becomes more relatable. Imagine a band where God is the conductor and the authors are the musicians. Each musician plays their part, adding their own flair and style. The notes they play originate from their fingers and breath, but the music comes from the conductor’s guidance. In this way, theopneustos doesn’t mean a literal dictation, like words whispered from heaven, but rather that God is the source, the conductor orchestrating the melody through human instruments.

Writing Sacred Words Unknowingly

The biblical authors, like David or Paul, were immediate sources of their texts, and God was the ultimate source. They were inspired, deeply moved by God, but they also used their own language, culture, and style to write. Think of it like a potter shaping clay. God provided the clay, but the potter shaped it. Paul’s letters, for instance, were written to help churches navigate their issues. He knew he was addressing God’s people, but did he know his words would become part of the Bible? Maybe not. Yet God, the ultimate source, made sure that Paul’s letters were exactly what his people needed, not just then, but for all time.

This way of thinking about inspiration allows us to avoid seeing the authors as mere passive vessels, like automatons or someone in a trance, having their hand moved by an unseen force. Instead, it sees them as active participants. They were fully engaged in their writing, bringing their thoughts, their heart, and their struggles, while being guided by God’s Spirit.

God’s Big Picture

To understand how God worked in inspiring Scripture, it’s helpful to think about how God often works in the world, through providence. We trust that God is in control, orchestrating things to bring about his will. It’s similar to how the books of the Bible were recognized as Scripture. It wasn’t as if God sent an angel to personally inform people which books were in and which were out. Instead, people debated, prayed, and wrestled with the texts, and through that messy human process, God was guiding them. The same goes for inspiration, God wasn’t holding every pen or whispering every word, but he was involved in every part of the process.

How Big Is Your God?

Some might worry that if humans were really involved in the writing of Scripture, then maybe it’s not fully God’s Word. But this worry underestimates just how big God is. If God can guide people in making decisions about what belongs in the Bible, why can’t he guide people in the writing of it? If God is powerful enough to create the universe, surely he’s big enough to work through human minds and hands without losing his message. God didn’t need to dictate every word to ensure his will was done; he could use human authors, with all their flaws and uniqueness, to bring about something that ultimately points back to him.

The Mystery of Inspiration

In the end, the inspiration of Scripture is a beautiful partnership, a divine-human collaboration. It’s a mystery, and maybe that’s okay. God was fully involved, but so were the people who wrote. They may not have fully known they were writing what we now call Scripture, but God knew, and he worked through them in such a way that the Bible could become what it is: a sacred, God-breathed message that has touched the lives of millions.

So, when we read Scripture, we’re not just reading words dictated from on high; we’re encountering a divine message shaped by human hands. And that’s something worth pondering, because it means God cares about working with us, about using people, ordinary, flawed people, to accomplish his extraordinary purposes.