According to the Random House Dictionary, the word inspire means "to infuse an
animating, quickening, or exalting influence into, or to communicate or suggest
by a divine influence." This definition indicates, when applied to the scripture,
that the stories and writings in the Bible did not come solely from the minds of
the respective authors, but rather from a divine source. This suggests that the
authors were scribes, reproducing what was instilled in them by God. This idea
is strengthened by looking at distinct examples from the scripture that show
that scripture is inspired, and not made up. By using the form of criticism
known as literary criticism, we can analyze certain installments of the
scripture and use them to prove that the scripture is, in fact, inspired, not a
collection of false statements.

There are times in the Bible and in Biblical history that the prophets
themselves are confronted with people doubting the validity of the scripture,
and trying to discredit it. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for
teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man
of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." Here Timothy is
relating a charge given to him by Paul. As a story that is being told, it can be
easily inferred that Paul had confronted opposition to the belief that scripture
was in fact inspired by God, and therefore valid. Using literary criticism
allows us to stay on the surface of what is being said, and not necessarily have
to dig behind it to find the true meaning (we'll leave that to historical
criticism) and therefore by looking at the phrase "scripture is God-breathed" we
can further say that God breathed His word into the authors, and they recorded
it. God can be viewed as an indirect author, and the inspiration for scripture.

"We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the
power and the comings of our Lord Jesus Christ but we were eyewitnesses of His
majesty." "Above all you must understand that no prophecy of scripture came
about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in
...