Inspired of God

Author

Roger Boone

The word inspire has a number of different shades of meaning in the English language.  It may mean simply to influence, it may mean to motivate.  The word inspired may refer to nothing more than some extraordinary talent, as in "She is an inspired pianist. Or "Shakespeare was an inspired writer".  However, in the Bible the word inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16) is translated into English from the Greek word "Theopneustos" this word is literally translated ‘God breathed'.  This literal translation gives us the best understanding of the word inspiration in the context of the Bible.  Words are formed when we breathe out over our vocal chords.  The words of the Bible are traced back to the breathing out of God.  God is the ultimate and final source of the words of the Bible.  This great truth is taught over and over again.  In Exodus 4:12, God said to Moses "...I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say."  Moses could, very likely, already speak both Hebrew and Egyptian; God did not have to teach him a new language.  God was able to work with the raw material in Moses' mind, yet be with his mouth and teach him what to say.   A specific point is; God did not merely teach him what to think, God taught him what to say!  In 2 Samuel 23:2, David said, "The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue."  When God spoke through a prophet He put His word on the tongue of the prophet.  We note also that God worked through the agency of the Holy Spirit.  It was the "Spirit of the Lord" that spoke by David.  When God spoke to the prophet Jeremiah, He said in Jeremiah 1:9 "...I have put My words in your mouth." 
In the New Testament book of I Corinthians 2:13 we find these words, "These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches,..."  
The importance of this to us is that the Scriptures, the Bible, are the very words of God to mankind.  The answers to the great questions of life are found in the Bible, the Word of God.