A Text from God

Christians believe that the Bible as a sacred text was ‘inspired’ by God, who prompted the authors to write as they did.

This doesn’t mean that the writers necessarily looked to God for inspiration or that what they wrote was inspiring, but rather that God had a hand in the process of writing the Bible.

There are several different ways of understanding how the Bible was inspired.

Human Dictaphones
Some Jewish writers and others in the early church believed that God dictated the Bible, word for word, to its writers.

However, as there are so many writing styles included in the Bible, not many Christians hold this view today.

Editors
This is perhaps the most commonly-held view. It states that while God prompted the authors to write down the words he wanted, he respected their own skills, abilities and limitations.

This means that they were free to do their own research, to edit and write when it suited them and to use their own personal style.

Copywriters
Some liberal Christians think that God inspired the writers rather than the texts they wrote. This means that while God clearly communicated his thoughts to the authors, it was up to them to put these into their own words.

Readers
Some liberal academics believe that God inspires those who read the Bible, rather than those who originally wrote it.

In their view, God inspires readers by speaking to them through the text in the here and now.