The Bible #2 – Its Author and Architect

The Bible was written over a period of about 1500 years by about 40 different writers. But the behind-the-scenes “author” and “architect” who inspired both Old and New Testaments was the Holy Spirit.

The Bible is not just an inspirational book. The Bible is inspired by God. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

God the Holy Spirit breathed into the hearts and minds of the individual men who wrote the individual books. “For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).

God made sure that what ended on paper was exactly what he wanted. This was not some mechanical spirit-writing – where God moved the hand of the person to write in some sort of trance. Rather, the Holy Spirit made each person’s personality vividly alive to speak and write God’s very words.

Here’s an example of how the inspiration of the Holy Spirit worked through David as he wrote many of his psalms. God “spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David” (Acts 4:25).

The apostles looked back on the entire Hebrew Scriptures – what we call the Old Testament – and saw it as one complete unity inspired by God. Later as the New Testament was being composed, there was early recognition of its similar inspiration by God.

Peter, for example, recognized the inspiration of the Holy Spirit upon Paul in writing his letters, equating them with “the other Scriptures”, the Old Testament (2 Peter 3:16).

Gradually the emerging Church recognized and acknowledged which books were inspired by the Holy Spirit and which ones were not. This became known as the canon of Scripture.

The story is told about a young boy named Timothy who was planning to give his grandmother a Bible for Christmas. He wanted to write something special on the flyleaf but wasn’t sure what to say.

So he decided to copy what he had seen in a book his father had received from a friend.

Christmas morning came and Grandmother opened her gift. She was not only pleased to receive the Bible, but the inscription Timothy had put in it amused her: “To Grandma, with compliments of the author.”

Although that boy was unaware of it, he had stated a unique fact about the Bible. It came to us from its author and architect – God.

“Holy Spirit, illuminate to us the very words you have inspired in your Word.”

~ Pastor Dave