God's Will Hunting

Where, exactly, does the bible claim that all of its writings/writers are "inspired" by god? Are there quotes that claim this? Or is this typical 'fallback' position of xians just passed down by the clergy as an excuse to promote divine origins?

Evoken

The bible is as inspired as any work of literature or art. It carries the mark of the times when it was written, the culture and the personal experiences of the authors who wrote it.

The argument for divine inspiration of the bible is arrived at due to the nature and content of the text. The only thing that remains is if one trusts the testimonies of it's authors.

Toto

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." (II Tim 3:16)

It's right there, in a letter forged in St. Paul's name.

Dean Anderson

Although, as this thread discusses, the meaning of that verse is ambiguous, and it is quite likely that the original Greek meaning is more like...

"All inspired writings are profitable for teaching...", or even "Only inspired writings are profitable for teaching...

...without specifying which writings are or are not inspired.

CX

a late letter forged in St. Paul's name

CX

The phrase in question is PASA GRAFH QEOPNEUSTOS, literally "all writings [that are] inspired by god..." or "All god-inspired writings...". From a literal standpoint it's not referring to which writings are inspired, however, the Pauline corpus contains 17 instances of the word GRAFH. In most cases it is clear that the author is refering to the Hebrew scriptures. Thus what Paul is saying in this verse is the the all the Hebrew scriptures are profitable for teaching. The subtext is that Paul thinks the Hebrew scriptures are inspired by god. This is consistent with a Jewish view of scripture. I don't see this as terribly ambiguous unless one is being slavishly literal.

CX

Incidentally, according to NA27 the word used is PASA with no variants. According to Lidell and Scott PASA means "all". I can see no conceivable way to translate it as "only".

Rev. Timothy G. Muse

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

1 Thess 2:13 "And for this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when ye received from us the word of the message, even the word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God."

1 Cor 2:13 "which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual words."

As Berkhof puts it, "this doctrine... is founded on a great number of passages... The O.T. writers are repeatedly instructed to write what the Lord commands them...The prophets were conscious of bringing the word of the Lord (thus the formula 'thus sayith the Lord')...Paul speaks of his words as Spirit-taught words, claims that Christ is speaking in him, and describes his message to the Thessalonians as the word of God... The Epistle to the Hebrews often quotes passages of the O.T. as words of God or of the H.S."; etc.

Dean Anderson

That translation was given to me by a native speaker of modern Greek. Of course, his English may not have been that excellent...

CX

Additionally, as I've mentioned before, Koine is virtually unrecognizable when contrasted with Modern Greek. Consider the difference between Beowulf and Harry Potter. That one is a native speaker of modern greek aids one precious little in deciphering the NT