Prophets: Human quills of God

In our modern era, the idea that the entire Bible is God's written word is not taken seriously enough, even within the Church. Some people, professing themselves to be Christians, are often reluctant, even ashamed, to take the Bible as if God breathed it. This is especially true when the Bible contradicts modern culture. Yet, as you look through scripture, you'll notice it often quotes itself. But it doesn't just quote itself. It quotes itself as if God Himself had written it. Take the chart in the header image, for example. It is by no means extensive, but notice that in each New Testament quote, someone else's words are taken as if they were spoken by God.

The most noteworthy example is the last one. The others are all intended as prophesy, but Job 5:13 records the words of Eliphaz, an arrogant heretic in the process of accusing Job of being punished by God for craftiness. Yet, in Eliphaz's grievous error, for which God directly commanded him to repent (Job 42:8), he delivered a truth that Paul would later draw on to illustrate the problem with relying on worldly wisdom.

The word of God is so extensive that the words spoken directly by a fool are called the word of God purely because it is written in His scriptures. Peter's words, therefore, are clearly true: no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. The prophets were guided by none other than the Holy Spirit.

So what does this mean for us? It should convince us that even the bits of the Bible we don't like are important. Far more valuable than the word of man. Those who are reluctant to trust the scriptures should be reluctant to mistrust them. Those who are ashamed of God's word should be ashamed of their shame. Those who conform scripture to their culture should step out of their culture and conform themselves to the word of God. Not a single stroke of a quill should be added, removed, or neglected, because even the errors of men can bring about God's truths, and the greatest wisdom of all humanity pales in comparison to the least of the wisdom of God.