Don Stewart :: What Are the Parallels between the Writing of Scripture and the First Coming of Jesus Christ?

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The difficulty of the human and divine side of divine inspiration is similar to the problem of Jesus Christ, God the Son, coming into the world. Scripture teaches that Jesus was both fully human and fully God. It is difficult to accurately express how the two natures could be united in one person. In the same manner, it is difficult to explain how Scripture could have both a human and divine aspect at the same time. There are certain parallels between Jesus' coming and the writing of the Scriptures.

Jesus Was Divinely Conceived

Jesus was conceived when the Holy Spirit miraculously overshadowed Mary.

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you [Mary], and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35).

The Bible Was Divinely Conceived

Likewise, the Bible is the result of the Holy Spirit's divine inspiration with each author.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).

Jesus Was God In Human Form

Jesus took on human form through a human mother; the Scripture came to us through human authors using human language. The result was Jesus as the living word of God, the God-man while Scripture is the written word of God, the divine-human Bible.

The Human Jesus Was Perfect

Although Jesus became a human being He did not have a sin nature. He lived a perfect life while here upon the earth. In a similar way, human hands composed the Scripture but the result was God's perfect, error-free word.

Jesus Was Both Human And Divine

As Jesus Christ was both human and divine so is the Holy Scripture. The Bible is both a human work and a divine work. Human beings who were divinely inspired by God wrote it.

We Should Not Confuse The Two

It is important that we have the right balance between the human aspect of Scripture and the divine aspect. If we overemphasize the human part of Scripture, then we will make the Bible look like any other book. However, if we overemphasize the divine aspect then we will make the Bible a non-human work. God used humans and their language to communicate to other humans. In doing so, He had them write exactly what He wanted to say. While the process is a mystery, the end result is God's Word to humanity.

As Christ cannot be divided into human parts and divine parts, neither can Holy Scripture. It is fully human and fully divine.

They Are Both Divine Mysteries

Ultimately, it will have to be admitted that the composition of Scripture, like the coming of Jesus Christ to the earth, is a divine mystery. Paul wrote of Jesus' coming.

Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory (1 Timothy 3:16).

There are things about the process that we cannot understand. In the same manner how God could become a sinless human being is something we cannot completely understand.

We Should Not Press The Parallels

Consequently we should no press the parallels too much between the coming of Christ and the composition of Scripture. There are similarities between the two but there are also differences.

Summary

We find certain parallels between the divine composition of the Scriptures and the coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was both human and divine - the Bible is both human and divine. Jesus was conceived with a human mother but without a human father. Human hands wrote the Scriptures but it is not merely a human production. In addition, Jesus, though human, never sinned. The Bible, though produced by humans, does not have any errors. Like the coming of Christ, the human-divine composition of the Bible is a divine mystery.