June 3 I Monday

2 Chronicles 19-20

John 13:21-38

“For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”    —2 Peter 1:21

While the Bible appears to be compiled by many writers, there is only one overall author. Paul reveals to us that author is God because “All Scripture is God-breathed,” or as the King James Version says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16). There were human writers, of course, whether it was Moses, David, Jeremiah, Matthew, John or Paul, but behind each of them, God breathed the truth. This does not mean that God breathed into the writers, but that God breathed out His truth. There is a difference.

If we say, “God breathed into the writers,” it could mean one of two things: first, it could denote that a writer wrote whatever he wanted and God breathed His authority over the writing; or second, that God dictated the writing to the writer. But since the truth originates from God, the correct understanding is that He breathed out His truth through these writers.

  Many of the Old Testament writers pointedly say, “The Word of the Lord came to me saying…”  How God spoke to them, we do not know, but we do know that God did not simply dictate to every writer. Rather, God wrote through the personality of the writer. The Words that God inspired did not come to form without it going through the mind, thinking and emotions of the writer. This is why we can detect the personality of the writer.

For instance, in the New Testament, it would be hard to imagine John writing the things that Paul wrote. We might call Paul “the scientist” and John “the artist.” Paul was trained as a Pharisee and a lawyer, which is why we would expect him, and not John, to write the Book of Romans because Romans is the kind of writing produced by a legal mind. John was a romantic visionary; some even call John “the Apostle of Love,” as he keeps writing about love––because that is John! There is nothing contradictory about their writings, just different personalities.

The Holy Spirit breathed into John His message, just as He did to Paul. We can see that God takes these different personalities and speaks through them. This is why it is so important to never be afraid of being ourselves because God works in a variety of ways. Our personalities and life experiences are what make us different from one another. If God could use human authors just as they are to write the Bible, He could use us exactly as we are in service to Him.

Prayer: Almighty God, thank You that You use me just the way that I am in Your service. Help me to embrace who You have created me to be as I minister to others.