The Greek term has…nothing to say of inspiring or of inspiration: it speaks only of “spiring” or “spiration”. What is says of Scripture is, not that it is “breathed into by God” or is the product of the Divine “inbreathing” into its human authors, but that it is breathed out by God, “God-breathed”, the product of the creative breath of God… When Paul declares, then, that “every Scripture”, or “all Scripture” is the product of the Divine breath, “is God-breathed”, he asserts with as much energy as he could employ that Scripture is the product of a specifically Divine operation.
— Benjamin B. Warfield (1851–1921), Theologe
Related Bible passage: 2TI.3.16
Topics: The Bible & the Word of God
Occasions: For Reflection
Benjamin B. Warfield
Benjamin B. Warfield war ein US-amerikanischer presbyterianischer Theologe und lehrte von 1887 bis 1921 am Princeton Theological Seminary. Er gilt als einflussreichster Systematiker der sogenannten Princeton-Theologie und prägte maßgeblich die reformierte Lehre von der Verbalinspiration und Irrtumslosigkeit der Bibel sowie den Cessationismus. Für Bibelleser bietet sein Werk eine historisch wirkmächtige dogmatische Begründung für die Zuverlässigkeit des Bibeltextes, steht jedoch wegen seines als rationalistisch kritisierten Zugangs auch in der theologischen Diskussion.
All quotes by Benjamin B. Warfield (14)
[The Bible is] shallow enough for a child not to drown, yet deep enough for an elephant to swim.
Augustine of Hippo
A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.
Unknown
The Bible in the pulpit must never supersede the Bible at home.
John Charles Ryle
The Bible is almost bursting with good news for bad people.
Corrie ten Boom
Martin Luther
The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid.
Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Jesus was not a theologian. He was God who told stories.
Madeleine L'Engle