When the authors of the various books of the Bible began their treatises, did they sit down, take pen in hand and say, “now what should I write?” Were the ideas, words, and concepts of their own making, or did God tell them what to write?  The answer is “yes” to both. Sometimes God did tell the authors to write specific information, but more often the authors wrote what they thought were their own words unknowingly being given to them by God’s Spirit. As 2 Peter 1:20-21 reminds us, “above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

The Bible teaches us that the Holy Spirit played a major role in the writing of the Bible. He worked with the human authors so that what they wrote was actually the words of God, and not men.  For example, in the Old Testament the Bible says that the Holy Spirit came on various prophets so they would know what to say or write. Ezekiel 11:5 says, “then the Spirit of the Lord came upon me, and he told me to say: “This is what the Lord says…” Zechariah 7:12 tells us, “They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.” Sometimes God even spoke to pagan prophets as Numbers 24:2 says, “when Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came upon him.”

Consider the book of Acts. Luke, the human author, researched the events immediately following the ascension of Jesus Christ and wrote them down on paper. As we read the book, we find that it follows a logical sequence, but the book also presents God as its central figure. Throughout history the church has recognized the fingerprints of the Holy Spirit throughout the events and the words which went into what Luke wrote. As such, conservative believers have said that the book of Acts was breathed into existence by God’s Spirit through the penmanship of the human author, Luke. Such a realization gives us encouragement that what we read in the Bible really is the Word of God.

Dana Arledge, Will Uminn, Phil Meade, Kevin Farmer