the scriptures are "God breathed" ...what does that mean?

Question

does that mean that the people that wrote it were inspired by God? or.... did God acctually wrote everything but just through them...like a computer???

Answer 1

This is Peter's comment on the subject:

"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."

II Peter 1:20-21

Answer 2

First, Craig R has inspiration and illumination confused. Inspiration applies to the guidance of The Holy Spirit working with the authors of scripture. Illumination applies to the ministry of The holy Spirit giving the believer understanding when they read inspired scripture. Inspiration ONLY applies to ORIGINAL texts of which we have NONE. All we have are copies of copies of copies, etc. they have been edited and interpreted too many times to keep track. No where does there exist a list of writings that are authoritative. All of the gnostic gospels are closer to the originals than anything in the bible and the church has not had the opportunity to edit and interpret the good stuff out. The authoritative voice of Jesus comes through loud and clear if you have ears to hear.

Answer 3

I have recently read a short book by Bishop Kallistos Ware called "How to Read the Bible".
It answers your question about the Bible being "God breathed":
" Since it is divinely inspired, the Bible possesses a fundamental unity, a total coherence, because the same Spirit speaks on every page. We do not refer to it as "the books" in the plural, ta biblia. We call it "the Bible," " the Book". It is one book, one Holy Scripture, with the same message throughout- one composite and yet a single story from Genesis to Revelation.
At the same time, however, the Bible is also humanly expressed. It is an entire library of distinct writings, composed at varying times, by different persons in widely diverse situations. We find God speaking here "at various times and in various ways." (Heb. 1:1) . Each work in the Bible reflects the outlook of the age in which it was written and the particular viewpoint of the author. For God does not abolish our created personhood but enhances it. Divine grace cooperates with human freedom: we are "fellow workers," cooperators with God (1 Cor. 3:9).....So it is precisely in the writing of inspired Scripture. The author of each book was not just a passive instrument, a flute played by the Spirit, a dictation machine recording a message. Every writer of Scripture contributes his or her particular human gifts. Alongside the divine aspect, there is a human element in Scripture, and we are to value both.
Alongside this human element, however, we are always to see the divine aspect. These texts are not simply the work of the individual authors. What we hear in Scripture is not just human words, marked by greater or lesser skill or perceptiveness, but the uncreated Word of God Himself-the Father's Word "coming forth from silence," to use the -phrase of Saint Ignatius of Antioch- the eternal Word of salvation."
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I hope this helps.
God Bless

Answer 4

God instructed certain people to write the word. He never wrote it. So God breathed means that the Bible was God inspired.

Answer 5

Scripture was inspired by God and in some instances, told directly to the authors.

But, it was inspired by God, but written by men...this is one of the reasons scriptures vary. The authors are all writing from different points of view and there recollection of events might be different than others.

Answer 6

It's difficult to say. The word we translate "scripture" in the verse to which you're referring simply means "writings". It doesn't refer specifically to our Bible, but rather to things that are written. At best it refers to the books we know as the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. But it could also refer to other writings outside those collections of books.

It could mean that the very words were given by God to the human authors. It could also mean that God breathes life into those words. That is, when a person indwelt by the Holy Spirit reads the words written in the Bible, God gives them meaning to that person so that they can act on what they read and put them into practice in their life.

The Old Testament writers often used the phrase, "Thus saith the Lord..." to lead a statement that came directly from God. This leads one to wonder who saith-ed the things that came in between those statements. That is, if God specifically said certain things that the writer recorded, then are the other things the writer wrote just his own ideas? If not, then why didn't any of the writers say, "I am recording word-for-word what God has given me to write in this entire document..."?

In the New Testament, Paul in several places records his own opinions and identifies them as such. On a couple of issues raised by the Corinthians Paul said he had no instruction from God but would offer his own opinion. Paul seemed to feel free to intermix his own point of view with material he received from God.

So it's a good question and none of the commonly offered answers (see below) are completely right.

Answer 7

It doesn't mean either of the things that you mention. Some people sat down and wrote what they were thinking. Later people decided that what was written earlier was "God inspired", but I doubt that any of the original writers deceived themselves in that way.

Answer 8

Those who wrote scripture were prophets. In Amos it says that surely God will reveal nothing save He tells his secret to His servants the prophets.

Answer 9

inspired by God and he wrote through them.. those might mean the same thing. right?
If we believe anything good we do is not ourselves but God working through us then those two are very similar.

Answer 10

It depends on the person. The only thing EVER written by God were the 10 commandments...

The Prophets were told things directly by God Himself...but the Gospels(of the new testament) are just their view on the events of Jesus' life.