The biblical word for inspiration is the Greek word theopneustos, but it appears only once in Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16). There is no OT word for “inspiration”; one will search the Septuagint in vain for theopneustos or any word like it. Even so, I argue that Scripture teaches its own verbal plenary inspiration. What that means is best explained and defended after analyzing Scripture’s teaching about its own nature.

The Inspiration of Scripture

God has revealed himself to humans in many different ways. This should be no surprise, for a God who loved us enough to create us and put us in a world where we could flourish, would most certainly want to communicate with us. Sometimes Scripture seems to show God giving dreams and visions or speaking directly to many people. But relatively few people who have ever lived have actually received revelation in those ways.

So, how are the rest of us, who never had a revelatory dream or vision and to whom God never spoke directly, supposed to know what God wants us to know? Thankfully, God spoke to many people at various times and in different ways, and they left accounts of what he said. For example, many saw and heard what Christ said and did, and the apostles wrote about it so that people in their day and thereafter would know about Jesus, the early church, the apostles, etc. And in the OT era, God spoke to prophets in Israel, and moved many of them to write down what he said and did.

Scripture is God’s inspired word, but what exactly does that mean? Does Scripture define inspiration and teach its own inspiration? If so, which passages do that?

The biblical word for inspiration is the Greek word theopneustos, but it appears only once in Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16). There is no OT word for “inspiration”; one will search the Septuagint in vain for theopneustos or any word like it. Even so, I argue that Scripture teaches its own verbal plenary inspiration. What that means is best explained and defended after analyzing Scripture’s teaching about its own nature.

A Question of Method

Evangelical theologians use Scripture as their primary source book. That is true for what Scripture teaches about its own nature. Undoubtedly, some skeptics will question why we should believe what Scripture teaches about anything, including itself. Theologians should want to know that Scripture is true and reliable before trusting what it says about itself. Defending its reliability, however, is a task for apologists and philosophers of religion.

Theologians must assume that apologists have done well their job of defending Scripture’s right to be trusted on any topic. Given that assumption, theologians must articulate what Scripture teaches on any given subject.

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