Understanding Inspiration: Returning to the Biblical and Historical Definition

By Brent Madaris, DMin

A clear and accurate definition of the word, Inspiration, is greatly needed today.

I want to be unequivocally clear from the beginning: I believe the King James Bible is the Word of God. It has been my Bible in the study, in the pulpit, in the classroom, and in the counseling room. I have no desire for another. I have no need for another. I have no desire to correct or critique it. My confidence in it is full and unwavering. Yet I also believe that some correction is needed among us—not to the Bible itself, but to certain ways we have come to speak and think about how God gave and preserved His Word. My purpose is not to weaken anyone’s confidence, but to strengthen it by bringing our understanding into closer harmony with what the Scriptures themselves teach about inspiration and preservation. My purpose with this article is to help us think biblically about what we mean when we speak of inspiration and preservation.

Over time, the word inspiration has been used in ways that differ sharply from its biblical and historical meaning. What once referred specifically to God’s direct act in giving His Word has, in some circles, been stretched to include translations or even devotional impressions. This shift in language has produced confusion about what we actually mean when we say, “The Bible is inspired.” Before we can understand preservation or translation rightly, we must recover what inspiration truly is—and what it is not.

The Problem of Redefinition

Among Independent Baptist churches, few theological terms are used more often—or with less precision—than inspiration. Out of a sincere and rightful love for the King James Bible, many have spoken of it as “the inspired Bible.” Yet in doing so, we have allowed our terminology to drift from the way Scripture itself defines inspiration. The issue is not with our Bible, but with our understanding of how God gave His Word. If we are to speak rightly about preservation and translation, we must first return to a biblical understanding of inspiration. In truth, inspiration refers to the original writings of Scripture, not to every translation or edition. To claim otherwise risks conflating inspiration with preservation or translation, and thereby undermining, diluting, and weakening the very doctrine we seek to defend.

The Biblical Meaning of Inspiration

The Greek term θεόπνευστος (theopneustos) in 2 Timothy 3:16 is typically translated “given by inspiration of God.” The word literally means “God-breathed.” Scripture is not something into which God breathed; rather, it is something God breathed out. God authored His Word through human instruments. As 2 Peter 1:21 says, “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

Inspiration, then, describes the unique, unrepeatable act by which the Holy Spirit superintended the human authors of the biblical writings so that—even while they used their own personalities, styles, and vocabularies—the product was exactly what God intended. Thus, the Scriptures are the very Word of God—authoritative, trustworthy, and free from error as God originally gave them, and faithfully preserved for us today.

This is what the word "Inspiration" means, and what it implies.

Stated another way, the KJV faithfully transmits the inspired words of God preserved in the Hebrew Masoretic Text and the Greek Textus Receptus.

The Historic Understanding of Inspiration

From the earliest centuries of the church, the doctrine of inspiration has meant that God gave the actual words of Scripture through human writers. For example, early church fathers such as Justin Martyr called the Bible “the very language of God,” and Gregory of Nyssa referred to it as “the voice of the Holy Spirit.”

In more recent evangelical theology:

“Inspiration is … a supernatural influence exerted on the sacred writers by the Spirit of God, by virtue of which their writings are given divine trustworthiness.”— B. B. Warfield

“Inspiration is a superintendence of God the Holy Spirit over the writers of the Scriptures, as a result of which these Scriptures possess divine authority and trustworthiness.”— Edward J. Young

“Inspiration is … God’s superintendence of the human authors so that, using their own individual personalities, they composed and recorded without error His revelation to man in the words of the original autographs.”— Charles C. Ryrie

Paul Enns summarizes five essential elements in a proper definition of inspiration: (1) the Holy Spirit’s superintendence, (2) human authorship through personality, (3) the result of an inerrant written Word, (4) inspiration extends to the very words, and (5) inspiration applies to the original manuscripts. (Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology, p. 160)

A useful definition from Mark Cambron (in his Bible Doctrines: Beliefs That Matter) reads:

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God … The literal meaning of inspiration is God-breathed. … We believe in the verbal inspiration of the Word of God. The words, not merely the thoughts, are inspired, as given by God in the original.”— Mark G. Cambron

Edward Hills makes the following statement concerning inspriation:

“But if the doctrines of the divine inspiration and providential preservation of the Scriptures are true, then THE ORIGINAL NEW TESTAMENT MANUSCRIPTS WERE WRITTEN UNDER SPECIAL CONDITIONS, UNDER THE INSPIRATION OF GOD, AND THE COPIES WERE MADE AND PRESERVED UNDER SPECIAL CONDITIONS, UNDER THE SINGULAR CARE AND PROVIDENCE OF GOD.”— Edward Hills

Thus, the historic orthodox view is that inspiration concerns how Scripture came into being, not how it has been transmitted, copied, or translated.

The Error of “Double Inspiration”

When one claims a translation such as the KJV is “inspired,” one is effectively positing a second act of divine breathing. That would mean: God inspired the Hebrew and Greek original writings (Autographs); then again, God inspired the English words in the translation. But nowhere does Scripture teach such a second act.

The translators of the KJV themselves were careful. In their 1611 Preface (“The Translators to the Reader”), they affirmed that “the very meanest translation of the Bible in English…containeth the Word of God,” yet they did not claim the translation itself was inspired. Their task was translation of what was already inspired.

When inspiration is applied to a translation in the full sense, several dangers follow: it conflates inspiration with preservation or translation, undermines the doctrine of original autographs, and may lead to a rigid insistence that one edition (or one translation) is uniquely and infallibly inspired.

Inspiration vs. Preservation

It is important to make the distinction:

• Inspiration refers solely to the giving of Scripture by God through human authors.

• Preservation refers to God’s ongoing providential keeping of His Word through history.

While inspiration was a miraculous event, preservation is primarily providential. The God who “breathed out” Scripture also promised to preserve it: “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever.” (Isaiah 40:8) And again: “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)

We may not claim absolute scientific certainty for every detail of textual transmission, but we may claim maximum certainty—a faith-grounded confidence that God has preserved his Word in usable form for his people. As some defenders of the traditional text put it, this is not a matter of human genius, but of divine faithfulness.

How a Faithful Translation May Be Called “The Word of God”

Many believers wonder: “If inspiration applies only to the originals, how can we say the KJV is ‘the Word of God’?” Here is a balanced way to explain it:

A translation like the KJV may rightly be called the Word of God in English because of three facts:

1. Text Base – The KJV is translated from a text base (Hebrew Masoretic and Greek Textus Receptus) that reflects the traditional, received Scriptures of the believing church.

2. Translation Approach – The translators embraced verbal-plenary inspiration in principle and sought word-for-word accuracy, not free paraphrase, thus maintaining the closest possible fidelity to the original words.

3. Transmission & Reception – God has providentially used the KJV in the life of the church for centuries—showing it to be the Word of God for many generations.

Thus, when people read the KJV, they are reading what theologians term a faithful translation of the preserved inspired originals. Because of its faithfulness and because it carries the authority of God’s Word to English readers, one may say: “This is the Word of God” — not because the English was inspired anew, but because it accurately and reverently reflects what God originally inspired.

It must be stressed, however, that to maintain this confidence does not require claiming that no variant or textual question exists in the history of transmission. Rather, it rests on the conviction that God has preserved His Word with maximum certainty, and the KJV translators, in their time, had access to a text base and translation method worthy of full confidence.

In short: we honour the KJV by believing it, obeying it, and preaching it—not by attributing to it what belongs only to the original act of inspiration.

A Word of Warning About Modern Textual Uncertainty

By contrast to the traditional text approach, modern critical editions (e.g., UBS, Nestle-Aland) often portray the text base as subject to varying degrees of uncertainty. This methodology may lead to a relativistic view of Scripture whose certainty is diminished.

In opposition, we hold to maximum certainty rather than maximum uncertainty. We have no reason to fear textual variations that do not affect core doctrine; instead, we rejoice that God has kept His Word intact and accessible to his people.

Conclusion

Inspiration belongs to the original writings of the Bible, in which God gave His very words through men whom the Holy Spirit directed and controlled. To extend the term to a translation is to shift the doctrine of inspiration into preservation or translation-theory and to risk doctrinal confusion. Yet this does not weaken our confidence in a translation such as the KJV. Because it faithfully transmits the inspired Word, we may and should call it “the Word of God” in English, while maintaining theological integrity.

Let us then honour the inspired Word by believing it, obeying it, and proclaiming it—trusting God’s unfailing promise: “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever.” (Psalm 119:160)

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Sources Cited

Cambron, Mark G. Bible Doctrines: Beliefs That Matter. Florida Bible College.

Enns, Paul. The Moody Handbook of Theology. Moody Press, 1989.

Ryrie, Charles C. A Survey of Bible Doctrine. Moody Press, 1972.

Warfield, B. B. The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible. Presbyterian & Reformed, 1948.

Young, Edward J. Thy Word Is Truth. Eerdmans, 1957.

Hills, Edward F. The King James Version Defended, 1956