How did the 40 different authors who wrote the 66 books of the Bible know what to write? We say that the Bible was "inspired by the Holy Spirit", but what does that mean anyway?
Inspiration took many forms. It's important to understand what we mean by "inspiration". The word actually has a lot to do with "respiration"; breathing. To say that the writers were inspired literally means that they "breathed in" what God spoke (see 2 Timothy 3:16) . The Hebrews writer says "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways".(Hebrews 1:1) Let's look at a couple of those various ways.
To the prophets, guys like Isaiah, Elijah, Moses, plus all those guys you don't know much about like Obadiah and Nahum, God spoke specific words and told them to repeat them verbatim. The phrase "the Lord says" appears 185 times in the NIV. And that's just scratching the surface.
Some writers, like Matthew and John, wrote down what they had seen with their own eyes. The inspiration came when they were reminded of what they had seen in vivid detail by the Holy Spirit (see John 14:25-26).
The Proverbs were written by men whose wisdom was a gift from God (see 2 Chronicles 1:7-12 and 9:22).
The Psalmists were inspired in very different ways. Some were prophets, speaking words from God, and some were simply men pouring out their hearts to God.
The historians, including the writers of many of the Old Testament books, search diligently for eye witness accounts and were led by the Holy Spirit to the truth. Luke, who wasn't an apostle, opens his Gospel with, "Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you".(Luke 1:3)
The key to accepting inspiration is to remember the amazing unity throughout scripture. The 40 writers never all met together, lived in different parts of the world, at different times, and in different circumstances, and yet the scriptures still speak of God in the same way.
But how do we know that there weren't changes made along the way? How do we know that there weren't copying errors or down right forgeries?
The scriptures were divinely protected. Throughout history, despite the hundreds and even thousands of hand written copies that were made from the original works, we can see virtually no flaws, and what flaws we do find are small spelling errors that do not change the meaning of the verses. The ancient Jews were meticulous in there copying of each manuscript, letter by letter, keeping strict count of each letter, word, line, column, and page. We know that if a single mistake was made, they would destroy the entire page and begin again. In 90 BC the Jewish elders "canonized" (or "recognized as authoritative and complete") the Hebrew scriptures at the Council of Jamnia. From 1947-1956 a collection of ancient copies called the Dead Sea Scrolls were found that confirm that the version of scripture we have is completely accurate and virtually identical to what was copied down thousands of yeas ago. As far as the New Testament goes, the works we have are the same ones that were recognized by the early church. They "canonized" the new scriptures which they called the New Covenant in 397 AD in the Synod of Carthage. We have 24,000 manuscript copies from ancient times; thousands more that all the copies we have of the writings of Homer, Plato, Aristotle, and Julius Caesar combined!
Three important things to remember: One - just because we call the Bible the Word of God doesn't mean that everything said in there is what God said. It just means that God inspired the writers to make sure that it was accurately written down. Two - the Bible doesn't contain everything. It is a historically accurate book, but it's not a history book (see John 21:25). Three- the Bible is not a book written in chronological order. It is a library, and as such it is organized by subject. First by Covenant, second by Genre, third by Author or Chronology:
Old Testament, 39 books
Law - 5 books (Genesis through Deuteronomy)
History - 12 books (Joshua through Esther)
Poetry - 5 books (Job through Song of Solomon)
Major Prophets - 5 books (Isaiah through Daniel)
Minor Prophets - 12 books (Hosea through Malachi)
New Testament, 27 books
History - 5 books (Matthew through Acts)
Paul's Letters to Churches - 9 books (Romans through 2 Thessalonians)
Paul's Letters to People - 4 books (1 Timothy through Philemon)
Other Letters - 8 books (Hebrews through Jude)
Prophecy - 1 books (Revelation)
Other Verses: 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuiking, correcting, and training in righteousness John 14:25-26 All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 21:25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
