Is the Bible Inspired? – Paul Dazet
The Bible is inspired not because it is inerrant, but because the Spirit still breathes through its human words to lead us to Jesus, and form us into people of love.
Wrestling With What That Really Means
What is the Bible?
That question might be the most important one facing the church today.
It sits underneath nearly every major conflict, whether we’re talking about LGBTQIA+ inclusion, women in ministry, immigration, politics, or how we talk about justice, war, or identity. So much of our disagreement comes down to how we read the Bible, and what we believe it is.
Because if the Bible is inerrant, if every word is equally weighted and perfectly reflects the voice of God, then we’re forced to treat it like a divine rule book or a textbook. Every verse must be obeyed as if it dropped straight from heaven, even when those verses contradict each other. That approach often leads us into a world of never-ending proof-texting, because in that view, every verse is the final word.
But what if that’s not how the Bible works?
What if, instead, the biblical writers were inspired, not overridden, and the Holy Spirit continues to teach us through the text today?
That changes the question entirely.
Now we’re not asking, “What did the verse say?”
But “What is the story revealing?”
We’re asking:
- What is the Spirit teaching us through this?
- How does this point us to Jesus?
- What does this show us about how to be human in light of Christ?
These aren’t abstract ideas for me. This is the question I’ve devoted my life to.
I read the Bible daily. I’ve created a Bible reading plan to help people trace the story of God. I’ve studied theologians and scholars across traditions and perspectives. I’ve wrestled. I’ve wept. I’ve changed my mind more than once.
I don’t have it all figured out.
But here is where I am right now, in this season of unlearning and relearning, of being formed by the Spirit into something (I hope) more like Jesus, more rooted in the fruit of love.
And I offer this reflection not as a final word, but as an open-handed invitation to keep wrestling with me.
Let’s start with the truth about the Bible that many Christians realize.
Not Everyone Believes in Inerrancy
One of the biggest misunderstandings in American Christianity is the belief that all “real” Christians affirm the Bible is inerrant, that is, without error in every word, fact, and claim. But that simply isn’t true.
While inerrancy has been championed by some conservative evangelical and Reformed groups, especially since the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy in 1978, it is not the historical or theological norm across Christianity.
In fact, many denominations and traditions hold to a high view of Scripture without requiring it to be flawless.
Here’s a quick overview:
🕊️ Wesleyan / Methodist
- See Scripture as the primary authority for faith and life, interpreted in light of reason, tradition, and experience (Wesley’s Quadrilateral).
- Emphasize the transforming work of the Spirit through Scripture—not its scientific or historical precision.
🕊️ Anglican / Episcopal
- View the Bible as “containing all things necessary to salvation,” while also affirming its human composition and context.
- Encourage reading Scripture through reason, tradition, and community discernment.
🕊️ Eastern Orthodox
- Deeply revere Scripture, but view it as part of the living Tradition of the Church.
- Do not emphasize propositional inerrancy.
- Scripture is mystical and sacramental, pointing to Christ, the Living Word.
🕊️ Anabaptist
- Follow a Christ-centered reading of Scripture.
- Believe Jesus is the final Word, and the Bible must be interpreted through Him.
- Emphasize nonviolence, simplicity, and discipleship over doctrinal precision.
🕊️ Lutheran (ELCA and others)
- Hold Scripture as authoritative for salvation.
- Recognize historical and scientific limitations in the text.
- Emphasize a Law and Gospel framework and Christ at the center.
🕊️ Pentecostal / Charismatic (many expressions)
- Have a high view of Scripture’s authority, but depend heavily on the Spirit’s illumination.
- Tend not to engage in doctrinal debates about inerrancy; instead, focus on experiencing God through Scripture.
🕊️ Catholic
- Affirm that Scripture is inspired, but read it through the lens of church tradition and magisterial interpretation.
- Do not teach inerrancy in the Chicago Statement sense.
- Inspiration applies to truths necessary for salvation, not necessarily every detail.
🕊️ Quaker (Religious Society of Friends)
- Do not treat the Bible as the final or infallible authority.
- Emphasize the Inner Light of Christ, and use Scripture as a devotional companion, not a rule book.
🕊️ Liberation Theologians / Global South Movements
- Read Scripture through the lens of the oppressed and marginalized.
- Emphasize stories of liberation, justice, and God’s preference for the poor.
- View inspiration as God speaking through struggle, not divine dictation.
🕊️ Post-Evangelical
- Believe the Bible is inspired, not inerrant.
- Trust that Scripture leads us to Jesus, but recognize its human fingerprints.
- Embrace wrestling, nuance, and Spirit-led interpretation as part of a maturing faith.
So let’s be clear:
The Chicago Statement represents a specific theological subculture, not the universal voice of the Church.
Remember the inerrancy statement wasn’t made until 1978.
Instead of defending a flawless book, many Christians across history and denominations have chosen to trust the flawless Christ the Scriptures point to.
And that changes everything.
So when people say, “Real Christians must believe the Bible is inerrant,” they’re actually speaking for a very narrow slice of the modern church, not the historic or global body of Christ.
Throughout history,
The misuse of inerrancy has caused real harm:
Fueling crusades,
Justifying slavery,
Silencing women,
Marginalizing LGBTQ+ people, and
Persecuting scientists.
When every word is treated as a direct, timeless command, without context or trajectory, the Bible becomes a weapon rather than a witness to Jesus.
This isn’t just a theological debate, it shapes lives, policies, and the witness of the Church in the world.
That’s why this question matters so much.
Because how we view the Bible will inevitably shape what kind of faith we practice.
Many of us were taught: If you’re a Christian, then “the Bible says it, that settles it.”
But that isn’t the universal view, not even among most Christian denominations. What many of us absorbed as “the only Christian way to read the Bible” is actually one specific stream of modern evangelical theology.
What Does the Bible Say About Its Own Inspiration?
Dan McClellan reminds us that many claims about the Bible’s “inspiration” are circular:
The Bible is inspired because the Bible says so.
But that logic doesn’t hold up, especially not in the ER of spiritual trauma, or in the quiet darkness of a deconstructed faith. It doesn’t meet us in the ache of grief or the rawness of injustice.
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.” (2 Timothy 3:16, NLT)
The word “inspired” here—theopneustos—literally means “God-breathed.” But notice what the verse emphasizes: not perfection, but usefulness—to form us in love.
It simply says Scripture is useful.
Useful for teaching.
Useful for shaping lives of love.
Useful for learning how to live rightly.
Not flawless.
Not divine dictation.
Not a fax from heaven.
Just… useful.
Breathed on.
Alive in the Spirit.
Still moving.
Rethinking “God-Breathed”
Zack Hunt captures it powerfully in Godbreathed:
“Inspiration isn’t about words on a page—it’s about the breath of God still moving among us.” (Godbreathed, Zack Hunt)
He compares the Bible to CPR: not a gentle breeze, but a jolt. A rush of breath into something lifeless.
Scripture doesn’t sit quietly on a shelf. It gasps, convulses, resurrects.
Brad Jersak describes this divine disruption as the voice of Jesus coming to us through a “kaleidoscope of human voices.” In his words:
“The Scriptures are inspired not because they are perfect, but because they bear witness to the One who is.” (A More Christlike Word, Brad Jersak)
Greg Boyd adds another dimension to this mystery. In Cross Vision, he writes:
“The cross is not only the definitive revelation of what God is like; it also reveals how God breathes into our brokenness—even when we misrepresent him.”
“The Bible is not a collection of divine behaviors we’re to imitate, but a story leading to the One who fully reveals the true character of God.” (The Crucifixion of the Warrior God, Greg Boyd)
Inspiration, then, isn’t about bypassing human imperfection. It’s about God working through it, accommodating himself to our limited understanding so that, over time, we might be led to the full revelation of Christ.
But… If It’s God-breathed, Why Is It So Messy?
“Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.” (Genesis 2:7, NLT)
God’s breath didn’t make Adam perfect. It made him alive. That’s how God works, through dust and breath, humanity and Spirit. That’s how I believe Scripture works too.
The same breath that gave him life didn’t eliminate his capacity for failure or fear.
God breathed into him anyway.
Which tells me something critical:
God’s breath isn’t about inerrancy.
It’s about animation.
Transformation.
Love.
God didn’t micromanage Adam into robotic obedience.
He breathed into dust, and
Gave him the capacity:
To love,
To choose,
To walk with God freely.
And even when Adam fell,
The breath of God didn’t leave the human story.
It kept moving.
It still is.
Scot McKnight puts it this way:
“The Bible is God speaking in the language of humans… with all the beauty and baggage that entails.” (The Blue Parakeet, Scot McKnight)
Peter Enns echoes:
“The Bible is both fully divine and fully human. Just like Jesus.” (The Bible Tells Me So, Peter Enns)
In other words,
Scripture is incarnational,
God’s breath animating
Human voices,
Cultures, and
Limitations.
It’s not sanitized.
It’s embodied.
That means the Bible bears the marks of its authors,
Their fears, flaws, and blind spots.
But it also bears the fingerprints of God.
Just like Jesus.
Jesus wept.
He bled.
He broke bread with sinners.
He was tempted,
He was misunderstood, and
He was crucified.
And still,
He revealed the heart of God perfectly.
So it doesn’t surprise me that the Bible, too, is messy.
God has always chosen to breathe through broken humanity.
So of course both God and humanity come through in the pages of Scripture.
The Word Became Flesh… Not Text
“Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son… The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God.” (Hebrews 1:1–3, NLT)
Scripture tells a story of increasing clarity. The prophets glimpsed it. But Jesus embodied it. He is the final Word, the clearest picture of who God really is.
Keith Giles says it like this in Jesus Unbound:
“We honor the Bible most when we let it point us beyond itself—to Jesus. He is the true Word of God, not the book about him.” (Jesus Unbound, Keith Giles)
Brad Jersak offers a playful but profound reminder:
“The Word of God was inspired, inerrant, and infallible… and then he grew a beard.” (A More Christlike Word, Brad Jersak)
That’s the pivot.
The Word wasn’t meant to stay on the page.
The Word became human.
Moved into our neighborhood.
Sat with sinners.
Was misunderstood, mocked, crucified – and raised.
“So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.” (John 1:14, NLT)
Rachel Held Evans said:
“If you’re looking for Jesus, the Bible is where you start. But it’s not where you stop.” (Inspired, Rachel Held Evans)
Brian Zahnd echoes this:
“The Bible is the inspired telling of the story of Israel coming to know their God… but the story doesn’t stop until we arrive at Jesus.” (Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God, Brian Zahnd)
So yes, the Bible is inspired.
But not like a spreadsheet.
More like a poem.
A song.
A testimony from people who walked with God through
Fire and famine,
Exile and return,
Crucifixion and resurrection.
So What Do I Believe Now?
I believe the Bible is inspired.
Not because it never gets anything wrong,
But because God still breathes through it.
Because I’ve seen it
Spark healing,
Invite honesty, and
Expose injustice.
Because I’ve wept with the psalms and
Found hope in the prophets and
Been undone by Jesus.
And because I’ve learned to trust that
God still works through brokenness.
If I believe that about myself,
Why wouldn’t I believe it about the text?
The Bible isn’t a tool for certainty.
It’s a companion for the journey.
A witness to the Word.
A story soaked in Spirit.
A library of grace, and
God’s breath is still moving through its pages.
A Final Thought for the Weary and the Wondering
Maybe the question isn’t:
“Is the Bible inspired?”
Maybe it’s:
“Can the Bible still inspire us, into deeper love, into holy questions, into Jesus – when we stop needing it to be something it never claimed to be?”
Maybe the breath of God is still moving.
Maybe inspiration isn’t about escaping the humanity of the Bible, but entering it.
And maybe that’s where we’ll find the Spirit.
Not in certainty.
But in the breath that brings dead things back to life.
“So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.” (John 1:14, NLT)
This is what I believe today:
The Bible is inspired not because it is inerrant, but because the Spirit still breathes through its human words to lead us to Jesus, and form us into people of love.
Reflection Question:
- How might your relationship with the Bible change if you stopped asking it to be perfect, and started listening for how it breathes Jesus into your life?
Thanks for reading A Wounded Healer’s Journal – reflections on hope, healing, and transformation by Pastor Paul Dazet. This post is public so feel free to share it. Share
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