INSPIRATION is strictly the act of dr wing physical breath into the lungs as opposed to "expiration..
_ . _ _ : : llz- the term is used generally of analc_ : us mental h ::: _.:::. : __ us w speak of a sudden spontanec::: :s an "iris.:: ::. n The specially used in theology for the c: _. io-17 dire:::_ = er the divine infuence, as the
Greek t e : e: ria ( a Timothy flit to). Similar in meaning is e::: husiasm (from ivOovo'ia e from ii't os). Possess:on by the (r. was rr_::.:: d as necessarily accompanied in:
stimulation of the The Doctrine of Communion.—The possibility of a human being becoming the habitation and organ of a divinity is generally assumed in the lower religions. In the popular religion of China some of the priests, the 13'u. claim to be able to take up into their body a god or a spirit, and thereby to give oracles. The Maoris at the initiation of the young men into the tribal mys: ; n es sing a song. called
to the mystic wind by which : __ believe their god makes his presence known. An Australian woman claimed to have heard :he descent of the god as a rushing wind. In some savage tribes : ood is drunk to induce the ire:: spiration : music and da ncing are widely employee purpose. Dionysus. the god of wine in Greece. was a _: _ :I-le god of inspiration : and
their orgies the worshippers believed them selves to enter in: o real union with the deity. In Delphi the Pythia. the pries• who delivered the oracles, was
by the vapour what ~ rose iron: a well. thro :cd a small hole in the ground. As the cn c.es were often they were
preted by a prophet. In Rome the ::. _:.._tun of N 1:--:a was derived from the nyn-
Ez eria : and great value was a ::..:led to the books of the Cunzaean Sibyl. In Arab:: the k.aizin ,ries: ) was recognised as the channel of divine c ::::unication. Inspira tion may mean only possession by the deity. or it may mean fur ther that the person so ::s_sessed becomes the channel through which the deity reveals has word and will. (See I. A. Macculloch's Com psra.tive.
t 9a ? .1 Prophecy in the Old Testament in its beginnings is similar to the phenomenon in other religions (t Sam. ix. S, x. to–it). The prophesying in which Saul took part probably included violent movements of the body, inarticulate cries, a state of ecstasy or even frenzy. The phrase "holy spirit" in Acts, as applied to the Apostolic Church, probably indicates a similar state of religious exaltation; it was accompanied by speaking with tongues, inarticu late utterances which needed interpretation (I Cor. xiv. 27). In every religious revival, when the emotions are deeply stirred, simi lar phenomena are met with. Such a movement was Montanism in the 3rd century. At the Reformation, while Luther was at the Wartburg, fanaticism broke out, and spread from Wittenberg; prophets went about declaring the revelations which they had received. The Evangelical revival in the i8th century also had its abnormal religious features. The Revival in Scotland in 186o was marked by one curious feature—the Gospel dance—when in their excitement men and women got up and spun round and round till they were exhausted. Spontaneous praise and prayer marked the revival in Wales in I9o5–o6.
as represented by the writings of the prophets, arose out of this state of religious exaltation, but left behind many of its features. The function of the prophets was to interpret the course of history as the divine providence for the chosen people Israel, so as to communicate God's Word and Will in judgment or in mercy. They were divinely endowed for this function by their inspiration. While these prophets seem to have continued in the exercise of all their normal faculties, which were stimulated and not suppressed, yet they do claim a distinctive divine activity in their consciousness, and distinguish with confidence their own thoughts from the revealed word. That abnormal psychic states, such as visions and voices, were sometimes experienced is not improbable (see Theodore H. Robinson, Prophecy and the Prophets), but the usual prophetic state seems to have been one of withdrawal of attention from the outer world, absorption of interest in the inner life, devout communion and intercession with God, and the divine response in a moral or a spiritual intuition rather than an intellectual ratiocination. Possession by the Spirit in its external manifestations is ascribed to Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Saul, Elijah; but even when the same language is used of the later prophets, it is probably such an inward state as has just been described which is to be assumed.
A feature inseparable from this later phase of prophecy is pre diction. For the warning or the encouragement of the people the prophet as Jehovah's messenger declares what He is about to do. Thus the fall of Samaria in 722 B.C., the deliverance of Jerusalem in 7o1, the overthrow of the kingdom of Judah in 586, the return from exile in 537 were all heralded by prophecy. This prediction was no shrewd political conjecture, but an application to existing conditions of the permanent laws of God's government. The abnormal phenomena of inspiration, the presence and operation of the Holy Spirit, in the Apostolic Church, have already been noticed.
While Paul does not deny nor depre ciate these charisms, as tongues, miracles, etc., he commends as the more excellent way the Christian life in faith, hope and love (I Cor. xii. 31) . The New Testament represents the Christian life as an inspired life. It is living communion with Christ, and therefore constant possession of the Holy Spirit. Every Christian, in the measure in which he has become a new creature in Christ, is a prophet, because he knows by the enlightening of God's Spirit "what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Ro mans xii. 2) . An occasional state of divine possession in the other religions becomes in the prophets of Israel a permanent endow ment for a few select agents of God's revelation; but when that revelation is consummated in Christ, inspiration becomes the universal privilege of all believers.
While there is much superstition in the view of inspiration found in many religions, and much imposture in the claims to the possession of it, yet it would be illogical to conclude that this feature of religion is altogether human error and not at all divine truth. Man's knowledge of God is conditional, and therefore limited by his knowledge of the world and himself, and has accordingly the same imperfection. The reality of a divine communion and communication with man is not to be denied because its nature has been imperfectly apprehended. We must estimate the worth of inspiration by the higher and not the lower stages, by the vision of an Isaiah or the consecration of a Paul; but at the same time we must be prepared to recognise its lowly beginnings.
In dealing with the inspiration of the Bible, to which the use of the term has in the Christian Church been largely restricted, it is important to remember that inspiration is primarily personal ; and that it assumes varied forms and allows varying degrees.
Other religions besides Christianity possess their sacred scrip tures and the claim of inspiration is advanced for some of them, as by Hinduism for the S'ruti (hearing) writings as distinguished from the Sruriti (recollection), Zoroastrianism for the Zend Avesta, Islam for the Koran. But Buddhism advances no such claim for its Tripitaka (three baskets), nor Confucianism for its classics.
The Pentateuch was accepted as authoritative law by the Jewish Church in 444 B.C. About two centuries later the Prophets (including the histories as well as the prophetic writings proper) were also acknowledged as sacred scriptures, although of inferior authority to the Law. In the century before the Chris tian era the Writings, including Psalms and Proverbs, were in cluded in the Canon. Palestinian and Hellenistic Judaism dis agreed about the recognition of the books now known as the Apocrypha. The writers of the New Testament use the Old Testa ment as holy scriptures, as an authoritative declaration of the mind and will of God; but the inaccuracy of many of the quota tions, together with the use of the Greek translation as well as the original Hebrew, forbid our ascribing to them any theory of verbal inspiration. By the middle of the end century the four Gospels were probably accepted as trustworthy records of the life of Jesus. The Epistles were accepted as authoritative in virtue of apostolic authorship. By the end of the 3rd century the use and approval of the churches had established the present canon.
The doctrine of the inspiration of these writings in the Jewish and Christian Church now claims attention. Inspiration is first of all ascribed to persons to account for abnormal states, or excep tional powers and gifts ; in this doctrine it is transferred to writ ings, and its effects in securing for these inerrancy, authority, etc., are discussed with little regard for the psychic state of the writers.
The New Testament affirms the inspirations of the Old Testa ment (Matt. i. 22, xv. 4, Mark xii. 36, Acts i. 16, Romans iii. 2, ix. 25, Heb. i. I, I Peter iv. II). The term is used in regard to the Scriptures in 2 Timothy iii. 16. The Spirit of Christ is said to have been in the prophets (I Peter i. I I) ; and it is affirmed that "no prophecy ever came by the will of man; but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter i. 21). The con stant use of the Old Testament in the New confirms this doctrine of inspiration.
Contemporary Jewish thought, as expressed by Philo, Josephus, and the Talmud according to Weber, was in agreement with this view of the Old Testament. But the nature of this inspiration must be more closely defined, and hence have arisen a number of theories of inspiration which can be only briefly mentioned. The theory of verbal inspiration, which was held by Plato, Philo, the Apologists, the Fathers, and the Protestant Scholastics, ignores the data which the Bible itself offers. The theory of dynamic influ ence or degrees of inspiration recognises that the human personal ity is not entirely suppressed by the direction and control of the Spirit ; but it does not offer us any sure guidance in discriminating the human and the divine factor, and in estimating the value of the contents of the Bible. The theory of essential inspiration in claiming inspiration only in matters of doctrine and conduct (anticipated in Aquinas' distinction of direct and indirect inspira tion, and favoured by Erasmus, Hugo Grotius, Baxter, Paley, etc.) betrays a too intellectualist standpoint in the emphasis it lays on correctness in theology and ethics, and ignores the progressive character of revelation.
The theory of the Reformers (though not of their successors, the Protestant scholastics)—might be called that of vital inspiration, as its emphasis is on religious and moral life rather than on knowledge. While giving to the Scriptures supreme authority in all matters of faith and doctrine, the Reformers laid stress on the use of the Bible for edification ; it was for them primarily a means of grace for awakening and nourishing the new life in the hearts of God's people. By the enlightening work of the Spirit of God the Word of God is discovered in the Scriptures: it is the testimonium Spiritus Sancti in the soul of the Christian that makes the Bible the power and wisdom of God unto salva tion. By thus laying stress on this redemptive purpose of the divine revelation, the Reformers were delivered from the bondage of the letter of Scripture, and could face questions of date and authorship of the writings frankly and boldly. Hence a pioneer of the higher criticism in Great Britain, W. Robertson Smith, was able to appeal to this Reformation doctrine (quoted in Den ney's Studies in Theology, p. 205). The Reformers' application of this theory to the Bible was necessarily conditioned by the knowledge of their age ; but it is a theory wide enough to leave room for our growing modern knowledge of the Bible.
Briefly stated, these are the conclusions which our modern knowledge allows. (I) Inspiration, or the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit in the soul of man, cannot be limited to the writers of the Scriptures; but, comparing the Bible with the other sacred literature of the world, its religious and moral super iority cannot be denied, and we may, therefore, claim for it as a whole a fuller inspiration. (2) As different writings in the Bible have more or less important functions in the progressive divine revelation, we may distinguish degrees of inspiration. (3) This inspiration is primarily personal, an inward enlightening and quickening, both religious and moral, of the writer, finding an expression conditioned by his individual characteristics in his writing. (4) The purpose of inspiration is practical ; the inspired men are used of God to give guidance in belief and duty by declaring the word and will of God as bearing on human life. (5) As revelation is progressive, inspiration does not exclude defects in doctrine and practice in the earlier stages and their correction in the later stages of development. (6) As the progressive revela tion culminates in Christ, so He possesses fullest inspiration; and it varies in others according to the closeness of their contact, and intimacy of their communion with Him. (7) As the primary func tion of Christ is redemptive, so the inspiration of the Bible is directed to make men "wise unto salvation." (8) It is the pres ence and influence in the souls of men of the same Spirit of God as inspired the Scriptures which makes the Bible effective as a means of grace; and only those who yield themselves to the Spirit of God have the witness in themselves that the Bible conveys to them the truth and the grace of God.
addition to the books mentioned above, see: Bibliography.-In addition to the books mentioned above, see: A. B. Bruce, The Chief End of Revelation
C. A. Briggs, The Bible, the Church, and the Reason (1892) ; W. N. Clarke, The Use of the Scriptures in Theology (1906) ; H. E. Ryle, The Canon of the Old Testament (1892) ; B. F. Westcott, A General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament (7th ed., 1896) ; W. Sanday, Inspi ration (3rd ed., 1896) ; A. B. Davidson, article "Prophecy" in Hastings's Bible Dictionary, iv.; A. E. Garvie, "Revelation" in Has tings's Bible Dictionary (extra volume) . (A. E. G.)
