Dr. Dan Hayden •
My glasses had gotten dirty—even for me. Usually I do not even notice the smudges and film of dirt that accumulates periodically on my lenses, so someone has to tell me, “Why don’t you clean your classes?” This time, however, I was trying to read the posted menu at a fast food counter, and all I saw was a blur.
At first I thought my eyes were getting worse; but soon the real problem dawned on me. I had been sweeping out the garage that morning and the dust in the air had coated my glasses. It was bad. Well, I did what I usually do in that situation. I stuck one side of the glasses at a time up to my mouth, and exhaled. My breath condensed on the glass surface and provided the moisture that was needed to remove the dirt. Then I began rubbing the lenses with a handkerchief, and soon they were clean again. It’s a common procedure, and all of us who wear glasses know how to do it.
Actually, there are a number of common ways in which we see our breath. Our glasses fog up when we breath on them. On a cold day, our warm breath will condense in mid-air as an evidence of how cold it really is. Breathe on a cold pane of glass and it will immediately become cloudy with the condensed moisture fogging the surface. You can even write your name with your finger on that glass (or maybe a heart, if you’re in the mood). In all of these situations our breath takes form. What could not be seen, now becomes visible.
This is what the Bible says concerning itself. It states that Scripture is God’s breath, having taken form—the invisible Word of God systematically condensed on the scrolls of prophets and apostles, as God inscribed His truth on the pages of Scripture. All Scripture is God-breathed.
This is the truth that is expressed in 2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is inspired of God and is profitable…” The phrase “inspired of God” is the Greek word theopneustos. This is a compound word where the noun for “God” (Theos) is combinded with the word for “breath” (pneuma). In English, we observe this Greek word in our word “pneumonia”—a disease of the lungs that affects our breathing. Actually, the Greek worn pneuma can also mean “wind or spirit,” depending on the context. It is indeed the word used for the Holy Spirit—Hagios Pneuma.
When used in a compound, such as theopneustos, however, the translator is challenged to catch the meaning that is being expressed by the compound nature of the word. Here the King James Versions translates this word by “is given by inspiration of God,” whereas the New American Standard says simply “is inspired by God.” The New International Version may be closest to the real meaning, though, when it says, “is God-breathed.” All Scripture is the breath of God having taken form on the pages of a book.
This is certainly an astonishing truth. The Bible is not just claiming for itself that it is a collection of writings by prophets and apostles about God. Rather, it is saying that the Bible is really the Essence of God Himself who breathed on holy men, so that what they wrote was actually His breath condensing through their pens. Because of this the Bible is literally “the word of God.” All Scripture is theopneustos.
This article was first published in the Autumn 2002 issue of Sola Scriptura magazine.