Bible/Scripture (Inspiration/Syngery)
- Michael Haldas
- Jul 25
- 2 min read
“The Fathers understood the Bible to be unlike other texts in that there are always two authors working in synergy to produce each verse: God and the human subject. They did not believe that the Holy Spirit possessed the individual, using them merely as a scribe; rather, it was a bona fide act of “in-spiration,” the Spirit of Truth guiding the writer and perfecting his gifts as he worked.” (Fr. Joseph Lucas)
“Since it is divinely inspired, the Bible possesses a fundamental unity… 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 author’s particular viewpoint.” (Metropolitan Kallistos Ware)
“If one assumes that Scripture is in any sense inspired by God, and that it thus speaks of true realities, and that its goal is to lead you to a life-transforming experience of God, then you will assume that John, and Paul, or even Moses, for that matter, are each speaking about essentially the same realities and experiences, though from the perspective of their different cultures and contexts. But if you remove that level of spiritual reality and interpret the Scriptures “as if there is no God,” then each author’s work becomes an isolated text, and even passages become isolated “bits,” and lots of ink is spilled in trying to show where the authors got their ideas from, and other secondary matters largely irrelevant to those in both the New Testament and patristic traditions.” (Dr. Mary S. Ford)
“…the entire Bible is inspired by God Who in this sense is its one original author, the Church Tradition considers the identity of the human authors as incidental to the correct interpretation and proper significance of the books of the Bible for the believing community. In no case would the Church admit that the identity of the author determines the authenticity or validity of a book which is viewed as part of the Bible, and under no circumstances would it be admitted that the value or the proper understanding and use of any book of the Bible in the Church depends on the human writer alone.” (Fr. Thomas Hopko)
“…we must strive to distinguish between genuine inspiration and our own opinion. To do this, we must read the scriptures in the spirit in which they were written. Above all, that means that we read it prayerfully, reverently, and expectantly. But understanding the scriptures with the mind as well as the heart takes a historical mindset. That historical sense frees us from the confines of the ways of thinking of our time, and it places our thoughts into a different worldview…The Scriptures are valued not simply as a historical record or a source of inspiration, but as the ultimate standard by which we measure theological truth. As the Word of God, the Scriptures also sanctify and transform us by orienting us toward God and cementing our relationship with Him.” (Fr. Basil, Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou)
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