If you’ve ever wondered how God inspired the Bible, you might picture a scene like a divine whisper in someone’s ear. Maybe you imagine the authors as passive scribes, writing down every word God dictated. But there’s a passage in 2 Peter 1:20-21 that offers us a fascinating glimpse into what really happened, and it’s a bit more dynamic than you might expect. Let’s unpack this idea with a story-driven approach, leaning into some analogies that make it easier to understand.
The Wind and the Sailboat
2 Peter 1:20-21 says, “No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The phrase “carried along by the Holy Spirit” might make you think of something being completely controlled by an external force, like a ship being driven by the wind across the sea.
Picture it: a ship, caught in a storm, being tossed around by powerful gusts of wind. It has no say in where it’s going; it simply goes where the wind drives it. That’s how some people imagine the biblical authors – passive vessels, swept along without any choice in the matter. But there’s a problem with this picture.
Ships don’t have thoughts. They don’t have a will. They’re just objects, completely at the mercy of the wind. The biblical writers, however, were very much alive, with thoughts, emotions, decisions, and unique experiences. God didn’t treat them like mindless ships. He didn’t override their personalities or wipe their minds clean. Instead, he worked with who they were – their skills, their cultures, their quirks. They weren’t just passengers on a boat driven by the wind; they were more like sailors who knew how to harness that wind to reach the destination God intended.
The Parent and the Child Learning to Ride a Bike
Think of it this way: imagine a child learning to ride a bike for the first time. The child is pedaling, wobbly and unsure, but a parent is right there, holding onto the back of the seat. The parent doesn’t take over and do all the pedaling for the child, nor do they carry the bike down the road. Instead, they run alongside, sometimes giving a gentle push, sometimes steering slightly to keep the bike from falling. They’re always there, guiding the process, but the child is still actively involved in riding.
In this way, God’s Spirit “carried along” the writers of Scripture. He didn’t dictate every single word in a way that bypassed their own minds and thoughts. He wasn’t a puppeteer moving their hands or taking over their minds. Instead, he was there, guiding them, sometimes giving a nudge or steering them toward a particular truth. They were fully engaged in the process, using their skills, their backgrounds, and their hearts to communicate God’s message.
Carried Along but Not Controlled
The phrase “carried along” in 2 Peter is often misunderstood. Some people think it means that the writers were completely controlled by the Spirit, as if they were in some kind of trance. But if we look at how this word is used in other parts of Scripture, we see it doesn’t always mean total control. In Mark 1:32, for example, people brought (or “carried along”) those who were sick to Jesus. The people being brought weren’t being dragged against their will – they wanted to go to Jesus to be healed. The word here simply means that they were helped or assisted.
In the same way, when Peter says the biblical authors were “carried along” by the Holy Spirit, it doesn’t mean they were controlled like robots. It means they were helped, guided, and assisted by the Spirit. They still made choices about what to write, and they were still actively involved in the process, but God was there, ensuring that the end result was exactly what he wanted.
The Partner in Creation
Here’s another analogy: imagine an artist and an apprentice working together on a mural. The artist is the master, with a clear vision of what the final piece should look like. The apprentice has skills of their own, but they need guidance to help bring the vision to life. The artist doesn’t take the brush away and do everything themselves; instead, they guide the apprentice’s hand, giving pointers, making corrections, and even stepping in when necessary to ensure the vision is achieved.
This is what inspiration looks like. The Spirit was like the master artist, guiding the authors of Scripture. They weren’t simply copying down something dictated to them; they were participating in the creative process. God, as the ultimate source, knew exactly what needed to be communicated, and he ensured that the human authors were equipped and guided in such a way that the result was Scripture – his Word, delivered through human voices.
Why This Matters
Why does it matter how God inspired the Bible? Because understanding this helps us see just how incredible Scripture is. It’s not a cold dictation, where the human authors were irrelevant. It’s a living, breathing testimony to God’s desire to work with people, to engage with us, even in the process of creating the book that reveals who he is. God’s involvement was not about erasing the human authors but about partnering with them, guiding them, and ensuring that what they wrote would be true and trustworthy.
Think back to that ship analogy. God wasn’t simply the wind driving a lifeless vessel; he was the wind guiding skilled sailors who knew how to catch the breeze and navigate the waters. He was the parent running alongside, helping his child learn to balance and pedal. He was the artist, working with his apprentice, ensuring that the mural turned out just as it should.
God’s Spirit “carried along” the writers of Scripture, but in a way that allowed their personalities, experiences, and gifts to shine through. This partnership is what makes the Bible so unique – both fully human and fully divine, a beautiful collaboration between the Creator and his creation. And in that collaboration, we find a message that is trustworthy, because it comes from God, yet relatable, because it comes through people just like us.
There is much more that can be said about the Biblical doctrine of Inspiration, but this is enough to get us going and thinking rightly about the Bible. In my next set of posts, I want to start unpacking those tools the human components used to express the divine message and how we, being aware of and proficient with those tools can use them to understand the Bible correctly.