Category:Inspiration

In`spi*ra"tion, n. Etym: [F. inspiration, L. inspiratio. See Inspire.]

1. The act of inspiring or breathing in; breath; specif. (Physiol.), the drawing of air into the lungs, accomplished in mammals by elevation of the chest walls and flattening of the diaphragm; -- the opposite of expiration.

2. The act or power of exercising an elevating or stimulating influence upon the intellect or emotions; the result of such influence which quickens or stimulates; as, the inspiration of occasion, of art, etc. Your father was ever virtuous, and holy men at their death have good inspirations. Shak.

3. (Theol.)

Defn: A supernatural divine influence on the prophets, apostles, or sacred writers, by which they were qualified to communicate moral or religious truth with authority; a supernatural influence which qualifies men to receive and communicate divine truth; also, the truth communicated. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. -- 2 Timothy 3:16 The age which we now live in is not an age of inspiration and impulses. Sharp. Plenary inspiration (Theol.), that kind of inspiration which excludes all defect in the utterance of the inspired message. -- Verbal inspiration (Theol.), that kind of inspiration which extends to the very words and forms of expression of the divine message.

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Inspiration - That extraordinary or supernatural divine influence vouchsafed to those who wrote the Holy Scriptures], rendering their writings infallible. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God" (R.V., "Every scripture inspired of God"), 2 Timothy 3:16. This is true of all the "sacred writings," not in the sense of their being works of genius or of supernatural insight, but as "theopneustic," i.e., "breathed into by God" in such a sense that the writers were supernaturally guided to express exactly what God intended them to express as a revelation of His mind and will. The testimony of the sacred writers themselves abundantly demonstrates this truth; and if they are infallible as teachers of doctrine, then the doctrine of plenary inspiration must be accepted. There are no errors in the Bible as it came from God none have been proved to exist. Difficulties and phenomena we cannot explain are not errors. All these books of the Old and New Testaments are inspired. We do not say that they contain, but that they are, the Word of God. The gift of inspiration rendered the writers the organs of God, for the infallible communication of His mind and will, in the very manner and words in which it was originally given. As to the nature of inspiration we have no information. This only we know, it rendered the writers infallible. They were all equally inspired, and are all equally infallible. The inspiration of the sacred writers did not change their characters. They retained all their individual peculiarities as thinkers or writers. (See BIBLE; WORD OF GOD.)