All Scripture is GOD-BREATHED

[TonyChanYT]

2 Timothy 3:

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

At Biblehub, 13 versions use inspired by or of God; 10 versions use God-breathed

What is the mechanical process of being God-breathed?

One way was described in Numbers 12:

8 I speak with him [Moses] face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you unafraid to speak against My servant Moses?

There were other methods, Job 32:

8 But it is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.

I'd define God-breathed as the process of a sacred word/thought breathed out by God to inspire a human's spirit to record it in a human language.

Concerning the design plans of the temple, 1Ch 28:

11 Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, its storerooms, its upper parts, its inner rooms and the place of atonement. 12He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the Lord and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things.

The communication was quite specific and detailed.

19“All this,” David said, “I have in writing as a result of the Lord’s hand on me, and he enabled me to understand all the details of the plan.”

Jeremiah experienced this process in 36:

4 Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD that he had spoken to him.

The LORD spoke the words to Jeremiah. Jeremiah dictated them to Baruch. Baruch wrote them down. But the king didn't like it and destroyed this scroll.

27 Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 28 “Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.

Once again, Jeremiah was inspired and obeyed.

32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

Note that this 2nd scroll was not identical to the first one, even though both were inspired. In both cases, 1 Thess 2:

13 When you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God

More generally, Ecclesiastes 7:

28 while I was still searching but not finding— I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.

In the above, did the writer of Ecclesiastes quote from the mouth of God?

I don't think so. God inspired him generally to write this book of Ecclesiastes. Regarding this particular verse, the stress is on the I, the author himself. He inserted his personal opinion or bias here.

In the NT, Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1:

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. …
20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 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.

There is a bit of circular or recursive reasoning in this OP: I believe that the Scripture is God-breathed because the Scripture says it is. This is an axiomatic tautology.

The Holy Spirit inspires a prophet's human spirit. The Holy Spirit breathes into the human spirit to communicate a word/thought from God. The prophets wrote them down as sacred scriptures. It is a spirit-to-spirit communication.

 

[Randy Kluth]

2 Timothy 3:


At Biblehub, 13 versions use inspired by or of God; 10 versions use God-breathed

What is the mechanical process of being God-breathed?

One way was described in Numbers 12:


There were other methods, Job 32:


I'd define God-breathed as the process of a sacred word/thought breathed out by God to inspire a human's spirit to record it in a human language.

Concerning the design plans of the temple, 1Ch 28:


The communication was quite specific and detailed.


Jeremiah experienced this process in 36:


The LORD spoke the words to Jeremiah. Jeremiah dictated them to Baruch. Baruch wrote them down. But the king didn't like it and destroyed this scroll.


Once again, Jeremiah was inspired and obeyed.


Note that this 2nd scroll was not identical to the first one, even though both were inspired. In both cases, 1 Thess 2:


More generally, Ecclesiastes 7:


In the above, did the writer of Ecclesiastes quote from the mouth of God?

I don't think so. God inspired him generally to write this book of Ecclesiastes. Regarding this particular verse, the stress is on the I, the author himself. He inserted his personal opinion or bias here.

In the NT, Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1:


There is a bit of circular or recursive reasoning in this OP: I believe that the Scripture is God-breathed because the Scripture says it is. This is an axiomatic tautology.

The Holy Spirit inspires a prophet's human spirit. The Holy Spirit breathes into the human spirit to communicate a word/thought from God. The prophets wrote them down as sacred scriptures. It is a spirit-to-spirit communication.

It's a good question. My view is that the Christian who is walking with the Lord is always being inspired to some degree. But just speaking and writing something does not mean that it has the purpose of establishing fundamental truths that are intended by God to guide God's People throughout history.

Scriptures have that unique element to them that they are authoritative in their presentation of truth and are able to guide God's People perennially. It's as if God assigned an author the job of presenting a certain document for the purpose of explaining the fundamental approach of God's People to living on earth.

Many documents are written with this in the mind of their authors. But not all of them are *designed by God* to have perennial impact in a universal way. The Scriptures are identified as such after the fact because in the near and long term their truths hold up in that way.

To say the Scriptures are "God-breathed" alone does not give it Scriptural authority. It is the fact they were designed to guide the Church universally and perennially and then have inspirational authority from God behind it that gives it credibility. In other words, the formula is: Scriptural authority = inspiration + purposeful legacy. "Inspiration" only seals the fact that God assigned the author a task that turned out to have its self-sustaining value.

 

[ScottA]

2 Timothy 3:


At Biblehub, 13 versions use inspired by or of God; 10 versions use God-breathed

What is the mechanical process of being God-breathed?

One way was described in Numbers 12:


There were other methods, Job 32:


I'd define God-breathed as the process of a sacred word/thought breathed out by God to inspire a human's spirit to record it in a human language.

Concerning the design plans of the temple, 1Ch 28:


The communication was quite specific and detailed.


Jeremiah experienced this process in 36:


The LORD spoke the words to Jeremiah. Jeremiah dictated them to Baruch. Baruch wrote them down. But the king didn't like it and destroyed this scroll.


Once again, Jeremiah was inspired and obeyed.


Note that this 2nd scroll was not identical to the first one, even though both were inspired. In both cases, 1 Thess 2:


More generally, Ecclesiastes 7:


In the above, did the writer of Ecclesiastes quote from the mouth of God?

I don't think so. God inspired him generally to write this book of Ecclesiastes. Regarding this particular verse, the stress is on the I, the author himself. He inserted his personal opinion or bias here.

In the NT, Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1:


There is a bit of circular or recursive reasoning in this OP: I believe that the Scripture is God-breathed because the Scripture says it is. This is an axiomatic tautology.

The Holy Spirit inspires a prophet's human spirit. The Holy Spirit breathes into the human spirit to communicate a word/thought from God. The prophets wrote them down as sacred scriptures. It is a spirit-to-spirit communication.

After declaring that one must be born again of the spirit of God, Jesus summarizes, saying:

John 3:8​

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”​

In other words, "God breathed" simply means born of God, or of, or from God whom is spirit, the true essence of life.

 

[Papa Smurf]

The Chicago Statement of Biblical Inerrancy is used as the basis for a 16-part teaching series by Dr. R. C. Sproul called, Thus Says The Lord (and I believe that the entire series is free to listen to online right now ).

Dr. Sproul touches on Divine "inspiration" and "transmission" beginning in the second half of the 6th message, but far more so beginning in the 7th message called, The Transmission of Scripture. If you are interested in the topics of inspiration/transmission, I believe that you will find the entire 16-part series both informative and interesting (to play one or more of the messages, just click on the little arrow that is found just below the left side of the giant graphic).

Lastly, like other Divine/Biblical "mysteries" .. e.g. Deuteronomy 29:29, the "mechanics" of inspiration/transmission, how the Holy Spirit worked in the hearts and minds of the various human authors of Scripture to produce the Bible exactly as He wanted it to be written, is something that we are not privy to/cannot fully know, at least not on this side of the grave anyway.

God bless you!

--Papa Smurf
p.s. - finally, in case anyone is interested, the word translated "inspired" (literally "God-breathed") in 2 Timothy 3:16 is θεόπνευστος (Theopneustos). It means "inspired by God", “given by inspiration of God” and/or "the contents of the Scriptures" .. Bauer/Thayer/Strong
.

 

[TonyChanYT]

. Deuteronomy 29:29, the "mechanics" of inspiration/transmission, how the Holy Spirit worked in the hearts and minds of the various human authors of Scripture to produce the Bible exactly as He wanted it to be written, is something that we are not privy to/cannot fully know,

Deuteronomy 29:
29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

This verse is about the contents of revelation, not the methods or the mechanics of revelation.

Did you read the following in my OP:

1Ch 28:

11 Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, its storerooms, its upper parts, its inner rooms and the place of atonement. 12He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the Lord and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things.

The communication was quite specific and detailed.

19“All this,” David said, “I have in writing as a result of the Lord’s hand on me, and he enabled me to understand all the details of the plan.”

 

[Davy]

2 Timothy 3:


At Biblehub, 13 versions use inspired by or of God; 10 versions use God-breathed

What is the mechanical process of being God-breathed?

One way was described in Numbers 12:

....

Is the following Bible Scripture God-breathed and thus should be believed?...

Matt 1:21-23
21 And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.

22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
KJV

That red italic and underlined part above, is that God-breathed? It points to Jesus of Nazareth having come as GOD in the flesh.

 

[Bob Estey]

2 Timothy 3:


At Biblehub, 13 versions use inspired by or of God; 10 versions use God-breathed

What is the mechanical process of being God-breathed?

One way was described in Numbers 12:


There were other methods, Job 32:


I'd define God-breathed as the process of a sacred word/thought breathed out by God to inspire a human's spirit to record it in a human language.

Concerning the design plans of the temple, 1Ch 28:


The communication was quite specific and detailed.


Jeremiah experienced this process in 36:


The LORD spoke the words to Jeremiah. Jeremiah dictated them to Baruch. Baruch wrote them down. But the king didn't like it and destroyed this scroll.


Once again, Jeremiah was inspired and obeyed.


Note that this 2nd scroll was not identical to the first one, even though both were inspired. In both cases, 1 Thess 2:


More generally, Ecclesiastes 7:


In the above, did the writer of Ecclesiastes quote from the mouth of God?

I don't think so. God inspired him generally to write this book of Ecclesiastes. Regarding this particular verse, the stress is on the I, the author himself. He inserted his personal opinion or bias here.

In the NT, Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1:


There is a bit of circular or recursive reasoning in this OP: I believe that the Scripture is God-breathed because the Scripture says it is. This is an axiomatic tautology.

The Holy Spirit inspires a prophet's human spirit. The Holy Spirit breathes into the human spirit to communicate a word/thought from God. The prophets wrote them down as sacred scriptures. It is a spirit-to-spirit communication.

Many people believe the entire Bible is God-breathed, including the passage that says women can't speak when they are in a church (1 Corinthians 14:33-36). Is that proof?

 

[doctrox]

What is the mechanical process of being God-breathed?

That's an oxymoron. Here we see the problem generated by man's textual "criticism." Many of you believe that God inspired men to write God's words and, therefore, 'we better make certain we have “scholars” and “credentialed” “EXPERTS” doing the writing.'

This is why there is the push for 'bigger and better bibles,' that appear "pleasing to the eyes" and "to make one wise," that come with the highest recommendations of the 'scholars' who offer periodic "updates" of their findings to their yes-men and other subscribers. It also explains why those modern versions of the Holy Bible must be copyrighted -- they are not an inspired work of God but works of men who claim owner$hip of them.

We will speak casually for a moment. Let’s take a look at the relevant passage:

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Tim. 3:15-17 AV

Notice that even a child understands the holy scriptures -- no middlemen wanna-be ‘scholars’ required!

Notice that it is God who gives scripture -- not man. Man does not even feature in this passage.

Notice that the purpose of God giving to man, God’s inspired scripture, is so “that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

I'd define God-breathed as the process of a sacred word/thought breathed out by God to inspire a human's spirit to record it in a human language.

Jeremiah was inspired and obeyed.

...both were inspired.

God inspired [the writer of Ecclesiastes]...

The Holy Spirit inspires a prophet's human spirit.

Notice how God gives scripture -- by inspiration. However, nowhere does it say that God inspired men! “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” God’s Spirit (i.e. inspiration) is the vehicle with which God ‘gives all scripture’ -- God does not give scripture via any man, or by inspiring any man, or by any other means. Thus, God’s scripture has life -- it is alive, it is the living Spirit-filled words of God. Conversely, man does not have life; outside of God, man is dead. Yes, man has breath, but mere breath is not life; God’s Spirit is life. The words of men are mere breaths; whereas God’s word is Life itself. The reality of the inspiration of scripture has no connection with any efforts of man.

This living quality of scripture puzzles those who are not born again. It even puzzles those who are born again but who have had their thought processes impaired by spiritual deception.

Don’t let the wanna-be scholars deceive you by their attempts to shift the inspiration of God’s living Spirit-filled words to man’s mere breath. For example, the next time you hear, “only the ‘Hebrew and Greek’ is the inspired text,” you’ll know the truth of the matter.

God's pattern has always been the same: He gives the COMMON man the COMMON bible in the COMMON language of the day, to do one thing -- evangelize the world.