What are the different theories for how God inspired the writers of the Bible?

Answer 1

The Bible has no theory of inspiration. It simply affirms that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. The Bible, like Jesus, must be accepted by faith. As humans, we have developed theories seeking to understand divine inspiration.

*Natural intuition theory sees inspiration as a higher development of that natural insight into truth that all persons possess to some degree and geniuses to a greater degree. This view makes all works equally inspired, in spite of the fact that they may be contradictory. It makes the Bible a human, or natural book, rather than a supernatural Book.

*Mechanical dictation theory claims God literally dictated the words of the Bible to the biblical writers. This view is not consistent with God's way of relating to persons and implies that all of the Bible should have the same literary style.

*The general Christian theory of inspiration says the illumination of the Holy Spirit is experienced by all believers. This overlooks the problem of opposing viewpoints among believers and reduces biblical writers to the level of all Christian interpretation and proclamation.

*Partial inspiration theory says inspiration is limited to certain parts of the Bible. What the writers would have known naturally and incidental matters are not necessarily inspired. This contradicts the statements of Scripture that all Scripture is inspired

*Levels of inspiration theory claims that God used different levels of control and different times in the person of inspiration. Assigning such levels of inspiration is arbitrary, based on human judgment, not divine actions.

*Infallible theory states that the Bible as a whole is without any errors because it is in its entirety the Word of God. Usually those who hold this view are careful to distinguish between the original manuscripts and the present form of the Bible. Each of the differences are harmonized by some type of explanation.

*Verbal inspiration theory says that the Holy Spirit inspired the biblical writers to choose the exact words to convey the message of God. Many passages of Scripture support the idea of verbal inspiration. Some have discredited this view because it does not relate to the differences in the personalities of biblical writers.

*Dynamic inspiration theory suggests that the Holy Spirit had control over the process of inspiration, but He allowed the individuals to express their personalities in the communication of God's message. Those who criticize this view do so on the basis that the view does not guarantee inerrancy.

Phrasing a theory is really secondary to the important fact that the Bible is the authoritive Word of God and to the calling of obeying that Word.