Inspiration

That extraordinary or supernatural divine influence vouchsafed "to those who wrote the Holy Scriptures, rendering their writings" "infallible. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God" "(R.V., "Every scripture inspired of God"), 2 Tim. 3:16. This is" "true of all the "sacred writings," not in the sense of their" "being works of genius or of supernatural insight, but as" "theopneustic, i.e., "breathed into by God" in such a sense" that the writers were supernaturally guided to express exactly what God intended them to express as a revelation of his mind and will. The testimony of the sacred writers themselves abundantly demonstrates this truth; and if they are infallible "as teachers of doctrine, then the doctrine of plenary" inspiration must be accepted. There are no errors in the Bible "as it came from God, none have been proved to exist." Difficulties and phenomena we cannot explain are not errors. All these books of the Old and New Testaments are inspired. We do "not say that they contain, but that they are, the Word of God." "The gift of inspiration rendered the writers the organs of God," "for the infallible communication of his mind and will, in the" very manner and words in which it was originally given. "As to the nature of inspiration we have no information. This "only we know, it rendered the writers infallible. They were all" "equally inspired, and are all equally infallible. The" inspiration of the sacred writers did not change their characters. They retained all their individual peculiarities as thinkers or writers. (See [293]BIBLE; WORD OF [294]GOD.)