Providence means God is involved in history. Inspiration means God is involved in writing, preserving, and guaranteeing the Bible so that inspiration to read the Bible becomes available through reading, preaching, teaching, mediating, prophesying, worshiping, praying, singing, and hearing–inspiration breathed in continues breathing!
The Greek Language is God’s Choice
When we say that common Greek is the language of the entire Bible in Jesus’ generation, we are not diminishing Hebrew or saying Jesus was Hellenized. We are not saying Jesus has a Greek mindset or even that a Hebrew mindset is superior to the mindset of Jesus. Instead, we are talking about something superior to human language, conveyed by human language, strategically chosen by Holy Spirit.
That is, if Holy Spirit inspires a perfect communication of God’s mindset through human language, using Hebrew and Greek in the main, with translations from that source to all other languages being less than perfect in inspiration–and He does!–and the oldest complete Bible is Koine Greek, Holy Spirit wants it that way.
God involves Himself in the process of writing the Bible, and God involves Himself in guaranteeing we can identify what God says right now with complete confidence in the process that produces our current language versions.
God does not involve Himself in producing versions that answer to doctrinal idolatries. God does not inspire versions that do not say He is Creator of All in the most literal way possible. Additionally, God does not inspire translations or versions into the conversational gospel as He did the original text.
God also guarantees that the 66 books are the Bible, not additional literature included by other groups that fell away in the process of gaining “canon” finality. God does not say that Early Church fathers speak like Moses in the Tent of Meeting as they discuss things in correspondence, using language requiring translation and a set of presuppositions that belong to the father, not God.
No, none of this has “Bible” on the cover. Books quoted do not become part of the canon, so Enoch is not inspired like Matthew. Not the same thing, lacking the guarantee of inerrancy and relevancy.
The Bible. Stands. Unique.
Providence
So, we read common Greek to hear Jesus whether or not He was speaking Hebrew or Aramaic. Then, we look for the original in the Greek Old Testament comparisons with the oldest Hebrews copies–none of the copies predate the Greek version. The oldest Hebrew copies, made by hand, are 12 centuries after Christ, while the Septuagint arrives more than 200 years before Christ.
The point is that Providence preserves something, not man, that is identifiable without question, despite centuries of struggle, conflict, religion, human error, and doctrinal idolatry.
The Bible without tradition and superstition is still the Bible. The Bible is. The Bible can be translated, and is, into languages capable of expressing God’s mind so people who are spiritually alive by the Spirit can hear Truth in the Spirit that enters their minds through their spirits. Inspiration continues in this sense for the Bible, and no other literature shares this unique condition.
All writings other than this Bible call for a process that answers to this Bible.
So, Jesus’ words arrive in common Greek, but Jesus wasn’t Greek. Holy Spirit decides to tell what God says in this language. Holy Spirit guarantees His involvement in the inspiration process.
I read versions and paraphrases in comparison to the original text. I find no need to invest decades in determining whether or not some mysterious new revelation is available by juxtapositioning Hebrew letters–I know that is a prophetic part of inspiration because Holy Spirit remains involved in inspiring the reading of what He inspired at the time of its recording. I need to know that I can read my Bible and hear God saying something that arrives without errors.
Early Kingdom Fathers
I have studied the voice of “Early Church fathers” who had something to say about things without the context of what the Bible says. They are not offering any inspired insights more important, informative, or inerrant than the Bible. While that might be part of the lifelong study of truth about the Truth, it is not the Truth.
If your argument for an end-time scenario includes the Early Kingdom fathers, I ignore that argument and listen to the Bible. I do not retain these other writings in my reading because I wish to remain unfettered by the possibility of having them in my inspiration mindset.
To create a new Bible or other Bible, doctrine, system, conclusion, theory, or schism over uninspired writings is too obviously contrary to God’s intentions to be worthy of consideration. You look like Latter Saints reading their “Other Testament” hoax on a smaller scale when you quote anyone on the same level as the Bible.
And, you cannot say, “Origen said this, so we know the Bible means what Origen thought,” when you do not have the same context, inspiration, or intention reading Origen as you do reading the Bible. You argue about a statement written when Origen isn’t even addressing the issue you are proving with one of his phrases or comments poorly translated and out of context.
I have seen every offbeat wonder of doctrinal sci-fi proven by Early Church father comments, and none of it stands upright before one tiny puff of Bible breath.
Prophecy is Inspired But Not Inerrant
Prophecy is real, current, authoritative, creative, powerful, inspired by Holy Spirit, and valid. I practice it. I train prophets. I deal with prophetic communication 24-7. I follow a prophetic process to judge prophecy.
The process of reading the Bible hear God say what God says, and the process of receiving prophetic revelation now are two entirely different processes. Prophecy is not inerrant. The Bible is.
Inspiration to prophesy is not the inspiration to write Scripture. Likewise, inspiration in music lyrics is not the inspiration to write Scripture. Likewise, inspiration in preaching and teaching is not the inspiration to write Bible books.
I read the book of Enoch. I didn’t alter one thing about my life and ministry. I read it. I put it down. I moved on. I did not meditate upon it or ask Holy Spirit to open His inspiration about it. Holy Spirit inspired a quotation from Enoch, but He did not inspire the book of Enoch, or it would be in the Bible. It is not.
Jesus quotes Scripture. Jesus quotes someone else. Jesus quoting someone else does not make the writings of that person part of the Bible. Jesus says the old covenant portions of the Bible are God’s Word. Jesus says His words are God’s Word.
Conclusion
Providence means God is involved in history. Inspiration means God is involved in writing, preserving, and guaranteeing the Bible so that inspiration to read the Bible becomes available through reading, preaching, teaching, mediating, prophesying, worshiping, praying, singing, and hearing–inspiration breathed in continues breathing!
