The Inspired Word
Pastor Jake
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
The expression “breathed out by God” is actually one Word, θεόπνευστος (theopneustos). This word in Scripture is utterly unique, occurring only here, and many scholars believe Paul may have even coined the term.
Friberg’s Analytical Greek Lexicon defines the term as such:
“Scriptures as communication that has been ordained by God's authority and produced by the enabling of his Spirit; strictly, it is translated God-breathed; hence divinely inspired…”
This is the Word I want us to cling to: inspired. What does it mean for something to be inspired? The truth is, the English term “inspire” is directly connected to Paul’s word for “Breathed out by God.” Inspire combines the word In (which literally means “into, or toward”), and spirare, the Latin term for “breathe.”
When we say God’s word is inspired, we say that God is the one who breathed into these Words. God not only gives these words to the authors of Scripture, but makes authoritative His Word as the incomparable, sufficient source of truth for his church. Whenever God breathes, life is the result, and this is true for the words on the pages of your Bible.
In the Chronicles of Narnia, there is a scene near the end of the story where Aslan breathes on the petrified victims of the White Which. Throughout the story, she is armed with a special wand that turns whomever it touches into stone, and then preserves them in her sanctum. But when Aslan arrives, what does he do to make them alive again? He breathes on them. If you remember the story, this is a major plot development because Aslan reanimates an army that turns the tide of the war at the First Battle of Beruna which ended the White Witch’s reign.
In the same way, when you open the Word of God, what you read aren’t just the stale words of some historical era recorded by ancient authors. Without the breath of God, yes, these would just be words. But these words are alive, having been given a kind of life that can only imbued by God himself – words of life that have transformed you and me, bringing us “…out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). The same breath that gave life to humanity at creation has given life, authority, validity, and power to the Word of God. That same breath has melted our hearts of stone, freeing us to follow Christ. Rank and file, behind the lion, we march onward knowing that the battle has already been won.