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INSPIRATION (Lat. inspirare, breathe ...
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See also:INSPIRATION (See also:Lat. inspirare, breathe upon or into) , strictly the See also:act of See also:drawing See also:physical breath into the lungs as opposed to " expiration." Metaphorically the See also:term is used generally of analogous See also:mental phenomena; thus we speak of a sudden spontaneous See also:idea as an " inspiration." The term is specially used in See also:theology for the See also:condition of being directly under divine See also:influence, as the See also:equivalent of the See also:Greek Bearrveuvria (the See also:adjective Bearrvevoros is used of the See also:Holy Scriptures in 2 See also:Timothy iii. 16). Similar in meaning is EvOouviavµos, See also:enthusiasm (from EvBouai4w from EvBeos). See also:Possession by the divine spirit (Trveuµa) was regarded as necessarily accompanied by intense stimulation of the emotions. The possibility of a human being becoming the habitation and See also:organ of a divinity is generally assumed in the See also:lower religions. In the popular See also:religion of See also:China some of the priests, the Wu, claim to be able to take up into their See also:body a See also:god or a spirit, and thereby to give bracles. In See also:wild frenzy they See also:rush about See also:half naked with See also:hair See also:hanging loose, wounding themselves with swords, knives, daggers, and uttering all kinds of sounds, which are then interpreted by See also:people who claim to be able to understand such divine speech. The Maoris at the See also:initiation of the See also:young men into the tribal mysteries sing a See also:song, called " breath," to the mystic See also:wind by which they believe their god makes his presence known. An Australian woman claimed to have heard the descent of the god as a rushing wind. In some See also:savage tribes See also:blood is drunk to induce the frenzy of inspiration; See also:music and dancing are widely employed for the same purpose. See also:Dionysus, the god of See also:wine in See also:Greece, was also the god of inspiration; and in their orgies the worshippers believed themselves to enter into real See also:union with the deity. In Dephi the Pythia, the priestess who delivered the oracles, was intoxicated by the vapour which See also:rose from a well, through a small hole in the ground. As the oracles were often enigmatic, they were interpreted by a See also:prophet. In See also:Rome the inspiration of Numawas derived from the nymph 4Egeria; and See also:great value was attached to the books of the Cumaean Sibyl. In See also:Arabia the kahin (See also:priest) was recognized as the channel of divine communication. Inspiration may mean only possession by the deity, or it may mean further that the See also:person so possessed becomes the channel through which the deity reveals his word and will. (See J. A. See also:Macculloch's See also:Comparative Theology, See also:chap. xv., 1902). Prophecy in the Old Testament in its beginnings is similar to the phenomenon in other religions. See also:Saul and his servant came to See also:Samuel, the See also:man of God, the seer, with a See also:gift in their hands to inquire their way (I Sam. ix. 8). The companies of prophets who went about the See also:country in Samuel's See also:time were enthusiasts for Yahweh and for See also:Israel. When Saul found himself among them he was possessed by the same spirit (I Sam. x. to, II.) The prophesying in which he took See also:part probably included violent movements of the body, inarticulate cries, a See also:state of See also:ecstasy or even frenzy. The phrase "holy spirit " in Acts, as applied to the Apostolic See also: While these prophets seem to have continued in the exercise of all their normal faculties, which were stimulated and not suppressed, yet they do claim a distinctive divine activity in their consciousness, and distinguish with confidence their own thoughts from the revealed word. That abnormal psychic states, such as visions and voices, were sometimes experienced is not improbable; but the usual prophetic state seems to have been one of withdrawal of See also:attention from the See also:outer See also:world, absorption of See also:interest in the inner See also:life, devout communion and inte.cession with God, and the divine response in a moral or a spiritual See also:intuition rather than an intellectual ratiocination. Possession by the Spirit in its See also:external manifestations is ascribed to See also:Gideon, See also:Jephthah, See also:Samson, Saul, See also:Elijah; but even when the same See also:language is used of the later prophets, it is probably such an inward state as has just been described which is to be assumed. A feature inseparable from this later phase of prophecy is pre-diction. For the warning or the encouragement of the people the prophet as See also:Jehovah's messenger declares what He is about to do. Thus the fall of See also:Samaria in 722 B.C., the deliverance of See also:Jerusalem in 701, the overthrow of the See also:kingdom of See also:Judah in 586, the return from See also:exile in 537 were all heralded by prophecy. This prediction was no shrewd See also:political conjecture, but an application to existing conditions of the permanent See also:laws of God's See also:government. The abnormal phenomena of inspiration, the presence and operation of the Holy Spirit, in the Apostolic Church, have already been noticed. While See also:Paul does not deny nor depreciate these charisma, as tongues, miracles, &c., he represents as the more excellent way the See also:Christian life in faith, See also:hope and love (i See also:Cor. xii. 31). The New Testament represents the Christian life as an inspired life. It is living communion with See also:Christ. and therefore See also:constant possession of the Holy Spirit. Every Christian in the measure in which he has become a new as a reply to the claims of See also:Jews and Christians for their holy creature in Christ is a prophet, because he knows by the en- lightening of God's Spirit " what is the See also:good and acceptable and perfect will of God " (See also:Romans xii. 2). An occasional state of divine possession in the other religions becomes in the prophets of Israel a permanent endowment for a few select agents of God's See also:revelation; but when that revelation is consummated in Christ, inspiration becomes the universal See also:privilege of all believers. While there is much superstition in the view of inspiration found in many religions, and much imposture in the claims to the possession of it, yet it would be illogical to conclude that this feature of religion is altogether human See also:error and not at all divine truth. Man's knowledge of God is conditional, and therefore limited by his knowledge of the world and himself, and has accordingly the same imperfection. The reality of a divine communion and communication with man is not to be denied because its nature has been imperfectly apprehended. We must estimate the See also:worth of inspiration by the higher and not the lower stages, by the See also:vision of an See also:Isaiah or the See also:consecration of a Paul; but at the same time we must be prepared to recognize its lowly beginnings. In dealing with the inspiration of the See also:Bible, to which the use of the term has in the Christian Church been largely restricted, it is important to remember that inspiration is primarily See also:personal; and that it assumes varied forms and allows varying degrees. Other- religions besides See also:Christianity possess their sacred scriptures. The value attached to the Sibylline writings in Rome has already been mentioned. In Greece, See also:Homer and See also:Hesiod were esteemed a$ authoritative exponents of the See also:mythology; a distinction was made between the poet's own words and the divine See also:element, and what was offensive to See also:reason, See also:conscience or See also:taste was explained allegorically. See also:Hinduism distinguishes two classes of sacred writings, the S'ruti (See also:hearing), which were believed to have been heard by inspired men from a divine source, and were endowed with supernatural See also:powers, and the Smriti (recollection) derived from tradition. While the poets of the Rig-Veda, the See also:oldest of the holy writings, do not claim inspiration, it is ascribed to them in the highest degree. Some of the See also:Hindu sects—Vaishnavist and Saivist—regard some of the later writings, as also divine revelation. In Zoroastrianism, the books of the Zend-Avesta were conceived by later generations at least as having been eternally formed by Ormuzd, and revealed at the creation to his prophet Zoroaster, who, however, guarded the communication carefully in his mind until a very much later date in the world's history. Ormuzd drove See also:Ahriman back to See also:hell by reciting one of the holy See also:hymns. See also:Buddhism has its Tripitaka (three baskets), and the See also:reading, reciting and copying of the sacred scriptures is one of the surest means of acquiring merit. But as it ignores the gods, and places See also:Buddha far above them, it does not claim divine inspiration for its writings. Buddha himself enlightens, but every man must See also:save himself by walking in the true way which has been shown to him. Confucianism has its literature of See also:absolute authority on See also:manners, morals, See also:rites and politics, but its claim does not See also:rest on inspiration. These writings are revered as preserving the beliefs and customs of former ages, which are believed to have been more See also:familiar than the See also:present with the Way of See also:Heaven. Tor the See also:Koran very extravagant claims are made by orthodox See also:Islam. Although See also:Mahomet at first feared that his See also:call to be a prophet was a deception of evil See also:spirits, and wished to take his own life, yet afterwards he uttered his decisions on most trivial matters as divine oracles. God preserves the See also:original See also:text of the Koran in Heaven, and blots out what He See also:wills and leaves what He wills. By the See also:angel See also:Gabriel God communicated this See also:book word for word to the prophet, so that the Koran is a faithful copy of the heavenly book. The angels in heaven read the Koran. While the orthodox theology asserted, the eternity of the Koran, the Mo'tazilite school denied this for the reason that the spoken sounds and the written signs in which alone a revelation could be given must have come to be Jai time, As Islam was not altogether See also:independent of Christianity and Judaism, this See also:doctrine of the Koran was probably intended writings. The See also:Pentateuch was accepted as authoritative See also:law by the Jewish Church in 444 B.C. About two centuries later the Prophets (including the histories as well as the prophetic writings proper) were also acknowledged as sacred scriptures, although of inferior authority to the Law. In the century before the Christian era the Writings, including See also:Psalms and See also:Proverbs, were included in the See also:Canon. Palestinian and Hellenistic Judaism disagreed about the recognition of the books now known as the Apocrypha. The writers of the New Testament use the Old Testament as holy scriptures, as an authoritative See also:declaration of the mind and will of God; but the inaccuracy of many of the quotations, together with the use of the Greek See also:translation as well as the original See also:Hebrew, forbid our ascribing to them any theory of verbal inspiration. By the See also:middle of the 2nd century the four Gospels were probably accepted as trustworthy records of the life of Jesus. The Epistles were accepted as authoritative in virtue of apostolic authorship. By the end of the 3rd century the use and approval of the churches had established the present canon. The doctrine of the inspiration of these writings in the Jewish and Christian Church now claims attention. Inspiration is first of all ascribed to persons to See also:account for abnormal states, or exceptional powers and gifts; in this doctrine it is transferred to writings, and its effects in securing for these inerrancy, authority, &c., are discussed with little regard for the psychic state of the writers. The New Testament affirms the inspiration of the Old Testament. Jesus introduced a See also:quotation from the 'loth See also:Psalm with the words " See also:David himself by the Holy Spirit said " (See also:Mark xii. 36), and in appealing to the law against tradition He used the phrase " God said " (Matt. xv. 4). The author of the first Gospel describes a prediction as that " which was spoken by the See also:Lord through the prophet " (Matt. i. 22), and so See also:Peter refers to " the scripture which the Holy Spirit spake before by the mouth of David " (Acts is 16). For Paul as for Peter the utterances of the Old Testament are " the oracles of God " (Romans iii. 2; r Peter iv. 1x). The final See also:appeal is to what is written. God spoke in the prophets (Romans ix. 25; See also:Hebrews i. I). The use of Oeb1rvevaao in regard to the Scriptures in 2 Timothy iii. 16 has already been noted. The Spirit of Christ is said to have been in the prophets (x Peter i. II); and it is affirmed that " no prophecy ever came by the will of man; but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit " (2 Peter i. 21). The constant use of the Old Testament in the New confirms this doctrine of inspiration. Contemporary Jewish thought was in agreement with this view of the Old Testament. See also:Philo describes See also:Moses as " that purest mind which received at once the gift of legislation and of prophecy with divinely inspired See also:wisdom " (De congr. erud. c. 24). See also:Josephus again and again expresses his deep reverence for the holy Scriptures, and his belief that the authors wrote under the influence of the Spirit of God. According to See also:Weber the doctrine of the See also:Talmud is that " the holy scripture came td,be through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and has its origin in God Himself, who speaks in it." But the nature of this inspiration must be more closely defined, and hence have arisen a number of theories of inspiration.
The first theory is that of See also:mechanical dictation, or verbal inspiration. The writers of the books of the Bible were God's pens rather than His penmen; every word was given them by. God. Their faculties were suppressed that God alone might be active in them. This conception is found in See also:Plato, " God has given the See also:art of See also:divination, not to the wisdom, but to the foolishness of man. No man, when in his wits, attains prophetic truth and inspiration; but when he receives the inspired word, either his intelligence is enthralled in See also:sleep, or he is demented by some distemper or possession " (See also:Timaeus, 71). Philo declares that " the understanding that dwells in us is ousted on the arrival of the Divine Spirit, but is restored to its own dwelling when that Spirit departs, for it is unlawful that mortal dwell with immortal " (See also:Quin rots div. haeres, c. 53). See also:Athenagoras adopted this view
doctrine and conduct as closely related to God's purpose in the Scriptures from the remaining contents of the Scripture, and claims for the Bible only such inspiration as was necessary to secure accuracy in regard to these. The theology and the morality of the Bible are inspired, but not its history, See also:science, See also:philosophy. This distinction is already anticipated in See also: See also:Paley and J. J. I. von Dellinger. It is to be observed that it See also:lays emphasis on the See also:necessity of correct views about doctrine and conduct; and this is an intellectualist standpoint which is not in See also:accord either with the See also:character or the influence of the Bible. Further, it does not explain how the same human mind can by divine inspiration obtain infallible knowledge in some matters, and yet be left prone to err in others. Again it does not take account of the fact that the teaching of the Old Testament as regards belief and morals is progressive; and that the imperfections of the earlier stages of the development are corrected in the later. That it is an advance on the other theories must be acknowledged, as from this standpoint errors in history or science arc no difficulties to the believer in the Bible as so inspired. It is necessary here to add that this emphasis on the See also:infallibility of the knowledge of doctrine and morals communicated by the Scriptures had as its legitimate inference in the patristic and See also:medieval See also:period the claim that the Church alone was the infallible interpreter of the Scriptures. The See also:fourth theory—that of the Reformers (though not of their successors, the See also:Protestant scholastics)—might be called that of vital inspiration, as its emphasis is on religious and moral life rather than on knowledge. While giving to the Scriptures supreme authority in all matters of faith and doctrine, the Reformers laid stress on the use of the Bible for edification; it was for them primarily a means of See also:grace for awakening and nourishing the new life in the See also:hearts of God's people. By the enlightening See also:work of the Spirit of God the World of God is discovered in the Scriptures: it is the testimonium Spiritus Sancti in the soul of the Christian that makes the Bible the See also:power and wisdom of God unto salvation. By thus laying stress on this redemptive purpose of the divine revelation, the Reformers were delivered from the bondage of the See also:letter of Scripture, and could See also:face questions of date and authorship of the writings frankly and boldly. Hence a See also:pioneer of the higher See also:criticism in Great See also:Britain, W. See also:Robertson See also: But See also:Gregory the Great called the writers of Scripture the calami of the Holy Spirit. After the Reformation the Protestant Scholastics revived this view. See also:Gerhard, See also:Calovius and See also:Quenstedt agree in ascribing to the Scriptures absolute infallibility in all matters, and describe the writers as " amanuenses of God, or Christ," " hands of the Spirit," " clerks," " secretaries," " manus et Spiritus sive." The See also:Formula consensus Helvetica probably reaches the extreme statement, when it declares that the Old Testament was " turn quoad consonas, turn quoad vocalic, sive puncta ipsa, live punctorum saltem potestatem, et turn quoad res, turn quoad verba Oeb,rvevo-See also:ros." Seeing that the vowel-point See also:system was introduced by Jewish See also:scribes centuries after the books were written, this statement shows how recklessly theory may override fact. Of this theory, which has now few See also:advocates, it is sufficient to say that it ignores all the data the Bible itself offers. On the one See also:hand it is impossible to maintain the inerrancy of the Bible in matters of science, philosophy, history, and even in doctrine and morals there is progress; on the other hand the personal characteristics, the historical circumstances, the individual See also:differences of the writers are so reproduced in the writings that the action of the human See also:factor must be frankly and fully recognized as well as the divine activity. The second theory is that of dynamic influence or degrees of inspiration. While the Spirit controls and directs, the human See also:personality is not entirely suppressed. Even Philo recognized that all portions of Scripture were not equally inspired, and assigned to Moses the highest degree of inspiration. The Jewish rabbis placed the Law, the Prophets and the Writings on a descending See also:scale of inspiration. " The schoolmen followed them, and some distinguished four degrees of influence: superintendence, which saved from See also:positive error; See also:elevation, which imparted loftiness to the thought; direction, which prompted the writer what to insert and what to omit; and See also:suggestion, which inspired both thoughts and words " (M. See also:Dods, The Bible, its Origin and Nature, p. 118, 1905). The co-operation of the divine and the human factors is recognized in See also:Augustine's saying about the authors: " Inspiratus a See also:Dee, sed tamen homo." It is interesting to See also:note that See also:Plutarch had to account for the same human peculiarities and imperfections in the Pythian responses as the Christian apologist in the Bible, and he offers a similar explanation. " If she were obliged to write down, and not to utter the responses, we should not, I suppose, believe the hand-writing to be the god's, and find See also:fault with it, because it is inferior in point of calligraphy to the imperial rescripts; for neither is the old woman's See also:voice, nor her diction, nor her See also:metre the god's; but it is the god alone who presents the visions to this woman, and kindles See also:light in her soul regarding the future; for this is the inspiration " (op. cit. p. 119). While degrees of inspiration must be recognized, the distinction must be made objectively, and not subjectively. We may say that where the revelation is the clearest, there inspiration is the fullest, that nearness to the perfect fulfilment in Christ of God's progressive purpose deter-mines the degree of inspiration; but we cannot formulate any elaborate theory of the operation of the Spirit from the stand-point of the psychic states of the writers. While subjectively we cannot See also:separate the divine and the human spirit in the See also:process, so objectively we cannot distinguish the divine substance and the human See also:form in the product of inspiration. This theory neither See also:helps us to explain the origin of the writings nor guides us in estimating the contents. The third theory, which is a modification of the second, is that of essential inspiration, which distinguishes matters of his writing. (4) The purpose of inspiration is See also:practical; the inspired men are used of God to give guidance in belief and See also:duty by declaring the word and will of God as bearing on human life. (5) As revelation is progressive, inspiration does not exclude defects in doctrine and practice in the earlier stages and their correction in the later stages of development. (6) As the progressive revelation culminates in Christ, so He possesses fullest inspiration; and it varies in others according to the closeness of their contact, and intimacy of their communion with Him. (7) As the See also:primary function of Christ is redemptive, so the inspiration of the Bible is directed to make men " See also:wise unto salvation." (8) It is the presence and influence in the souls of men of the same Spirit of God as inspired the Scriptures which makes the Bible effective as a means of grace; and only those who yield themselves to the Spirit of God have the witness in themselves that the Bible conveys to them the truth and the grace of God. In addition to the books mentioned, see: A. B. See also:Bruce,The See also:Chief End of Revelation (1881); C. A. See also:Briggs, The Bible, the Church, and the Reason (1892); W. N. See also: B. See also:Davidson, See also:article " Prophecy " in See also:Hastings's Bible See also:Dictionary, iv.; A. E. Garvie, " Revelation " in Hastings's Bible Dictionary (extra See also:volume). (A. E. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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