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To: Laissez-faire capitalist
The Apostle Paul said that is was the writers of scripture who were inspired by the Holy Spirit who moved on them.

Peter wrote something like that, not Paul.

"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Pet. 1:20-21 AV)(here, I'm provisionally striking out the words added by the English translators, but leaving for your benefit).

Did you get that this is about the holy men speaking prophecy, not writing it? Although it may imply that their prophecies were written down as, or after, they spoke it, in the grip of the Holy Ghost.

IOW, the Inspirer (the Holy Spirit) inspired the writers.

I think this idea will not, and should not, pass a closer examination. The Holy Spirit gave the Scripture, God's Words, that were to be written, Furthermore, it was written only by men personally chosen by the Holy Ghost, who were given the clear idea of what to write in their style and tongue, without initiating any material of their own, that which He chose to communicate to mankind, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. (IMHO they were not stenographers, but they were precisely guided journalists, as it were.)

What Paul did write about this was, the Holy Ghost telling how He works:

πασα γραφη θεοπνευστος και ωφελιμος προς διδασκαλιαν προς ελεγχον προς επανορθωσιν προς παιδειαν την εν δικαιοσυνη (2 Tim 3:16 TR)

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: . . ." (2 Tim. 3:16 AV)

The theopneustos (= God-breathed) part is is quite clear. The emphasis is that ALL Scripture is God-breathed. NONE of it is of fallible human initiative. It is ALL God's perception and inscripturation.

******Personal excerpts from Here's How! The Bible Can ake Sense To You Today!" by Dr. Fred Wittman*******

Inspiration is the act of God controlling (by means of His Holy Spirit) the initial record of God's Word, without error, so that it was perfect.

Although reference is often made to writers "being inspired" to write certain works, yet Scriptural inspiration refers to the product, the Scriptures; and not to the writers. The product of the writers of the Books of the Bible was "God-breathed," therefore, the whole Canon of Scripture is a perfect original (2 Pet. 3:15-16).

The most satisfactory defining description of inspiration is the plenary verbal model:

The work of God through the Holy Spirit so directing the writers in their choice of subject matter and in their choice of words so that all of their writing, equally in the entire Bible written accurately, contain exactly what God desired and all that God desired for them to contain. God so guided in the writing of the Books of the Bible that the very words used in the original languages are His words in the styles of the writers, so that the product (not the writers) is a God-breathed perfect, infallible, original record without error.

******** end of excerpted and slightly edited discussion ****

For further study:

"The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture" by Rene Pache, Moody Press, Chicago, IL

"Thy Word Is Truth" by Edward J. Young, Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., Grand Rapids, MI

It is very clear that although well done by St. Jerome, the Vulgate is a translation by which a man, not guided by the Holy Spirit, tried his very honest scholarly best to fit into Latin of the day what was in the Greek of the first century of this Era, but his work nevertheless cannot be thought of as being "inspired," as being "God-breathed."

61 posted on 09/22/2014 5:39:02 PM PDT by imardmd1 (Fiat Lux)
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To: imardmd1

The Apostle Paul wrote 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking...”

Do you not know that the same God who Omnisciently knew that the Lamb - Jesus - was slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), also knows all things and knew every page, every sentence, every word that He would give to man through the Inspirer of scripture (the Holy Spirit)?

Did God just breath the words upon parchment, etcetera, minus an Inspirer and minus men who were inspired by the Inspirer (the Holy Spirit)? Certainly not.

But your post again deflects away from what is central as have others here engaged in this deflection - something that I ultimately have been steering everything towards: was Jerome the same as those who wrote the Original Manuscripts? No. A man (Jerome) engaging in translating into Latin is not the same as Paul writing Romans, 1 Corinthians, etc, and a translation (the Septuagint) cannot and can never equal the Original Texts.


73 posted on 09/23/2014 7:33:40 AM PDT by Laissez-faire capitalist
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