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Given by Inspiration of God, August 1
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
2
Timothy 3:16
.
The Bible points to God as its author; yet it was written by human hands;
and in the varied style of its different books it presents the characteristics of
the several writers. The truths revealed are all “given by inspiration of God”;
yet they are expressed in the words of men. The Infinite One by His Holy
Spirit has shed light into the minds and hearts of His servants. He has given
dreams and visions, symbols and figures; and those to whom the truth was
thus revealed have themselves embodied the thought in human language.
The Ten Commandments were spoken by God Himself, and were written
by His own hand. They are of divine and not of human composition. But the
Bible, with its God-given truths expressed in the language of men, presents
a union of the divine and the human. Such a union existed in the nature of
Christ, who was the Son of God and the Son of man. Thus it is true of the
Bible, as it was of Christ, that “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among
us” (
John 1:14
).
Written in different ages, by men who differed widely in rank and occupa-
tion, and in mental and spiritual endowments, the books of the Bible present
a wide contrast in style, as well as a diversity in the nature of the subjects
unfolded. Different forms of expression are employed by different writers;
often the same truth is more strikingly presented by one than by another.
And as several writers present a subject under varied aspects and relations,
there may appear, to the superficial, careless, or prejudiced reader, to be
discrepancy or contradiction, where the thoughtful, reverent student, with
clearer insight, discerns the underlying harmony.—
The Great Controversy, v,
vi
.
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