Are the speeches of Satan, the sayings of bad men; and the sermons and parables of our Lord all equally inspired? Undoubtedly. Inspiration applies to what is written, not to what was said or done. Bad men were not inspired by God to say bad things, but the written record of them is inspired.
Then is it inspiration of thought or word that we have in the Scriptures? It is verbal or word inspiration that we insist upon. Now Scripture, or writing, is composed of letters and words, and it is the writing which is inspired, or God-breathed. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." Again it says, "Which things also we speak"—in chosen language of our own? No, but in "words... which the Holy Ghost teacheth.”
Were it inspiration of thought, leaving it to the writer to employ his own language, then what certainty would we have that we possessed the very truth in its absolute exactness as given by God? It must have been verbal inspiration with the Old Testament prophets, for they wrote, as moved by the Spirit of God, things that they did not themselves understand. Hence they had afterward to search their own writings to find out the meaning of what they had committed to parchment or paper (1 Peter 1:10-1210Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: 11Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 12Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. (1 Peter 1:10‑12)).
Inspiration gives us the certainty of what was revealed. We would not ourselves speak as some do of "the infallible Word." Infallibility, strictly speaking, applies to God alone; inspiration to the Bible. The highest spiritual understanding of an apostle is distinguished from what was revealed by the Lord (1 Cor. 7). This distinction we learn by inspiration.
Some have difficulty in reconciling the human element with inspiration, and thus raise difficulties as to "the style of the Holy Spirit." We see not the slightest difficulty here. The Spirit of God is sovereign in His choice of instruments. He has no style. He has caused the powerful mind of Paul to be reflected in his writings, as also the warm heart of John in his. The Spirit uses the human vessel, holds it, controls it, shapes it, guards it in the certain communication of truth, yet not so as to shut out the individuality and character of the person.
But enough. We are as certain that we have the Word of God in our English Bible as that the sun shines in the heavens. What other book but the Bible can explain the riddle of the moral confusion which everywhere exists? What other book has changed thousands of drunkards, wife-beaters, blasphemers and thieves into God-fearing men and women, turning their once-wretched homes into places of peace and joy? Could Shakespeare do this? Could Tom Paine's "Age of Reason" accomplish these things? No, we will grasp our Bibles more firmly than ever, and refuse, absolutely refuse to part with them at the bidding of men, however learned they profess to be. The logic of facts is against them.
The Bible is life's chart through our tangled pathway. It leads us on and on, up to the gates of pearl, yes, inside the jasper walls of the heavenly Jerusalem where we will go out no more forever.
W. Scott