Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

Mind: How Did Prophecy Come to a Prophet?

Scripture is "inspired by God" (TEV, JB, NASB, NLT, Phillips, RSV, Williams) or "is given by inspiration of God" (KJV, NKJV). Two somewhat mislead ing translations are: "Every scripture inspired of God" (ASV) or "every inspired scripture has its use" (NEB). The most literally accurate transla tion would make the Scriptures "God-breathed" (as in Amplified,Inter linear,Message, NIV, Rotherham). The Expositors Bible Commentary says: "All Scripture is God-breathed. That is exactly what the Greek says. The adjective theopneustos (only here in the NT) is compounded of theos, 'God,' and the verb pneo, 'breathe.' This is one of the greatest texts in the NT on the inspiration of the Bible." 24 Alan M. Stibbs, British theologian, adds this insight: "The word 'inspired,' ...indicates rather how the writing came into being.It asserts that the writing is a product of the creative activity of the divine breath. ... Scripture has in its origin this distinctive hallmark,that it owes its very existence to the direct creative activity of God himself." 25 Harold Lindsell,noted biblical scholar and seminary professor,says: "God indeed is the author of Scripture,and Scripture is the product of His creative breath.The emphasis is not on inspired writers as much as it is on inspired Scripture.Scripture is 'breathed out.' This is not to sug gest that the Holy Spirit did not move on the writers themselves,but that the writers produced a product,which,while it was their own,was also the Word of the Living God." 26 Edward J. Young,noted professor and Hebrew linguist,says: "The true meaning is passive,'that which is breathed out by God.' ...Timothy ... is being asked to place his confidence not in writings which merely express the hopes and aspirations of the best of men,but rather in writings which are themselves actuallybreathed out by God,and consequently of absolute authority." 27 The key word found in 2 Peter 1:21,our second important text,is moved: "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (KJV, emphasis added).Thiscomment explains how God gave the prophets a "God-breathed word." The word translated "moved" comes from the Greek phero, which justifies a stronger translation: "to bear or carry." This "figure of speech is borrowed from the nautical vocabulary,in the sense that a sailboat is carried along by the wind." 28 The NIV says: "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 Amplified gives additional insight: "For no prophecy ever originated The Significance of Moved

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