How Can Scripture Be Fully Human and Fully Divine?
Question 1102
If Scripture is the Word of God, how can it also be the work of human authors? Does the human element compromise its divine authority? Or does the divine element override the human contribution? This question parallels one of the great mysteries of our faith – how Jesus could be fully God and fully man – and the answer reveals something beautiful about how God works in and through His creation.
The Analogy with Christ
The early church fathers noticed a parallel between the written Word and the living Word. Just as Jesus is fully God and fully man without confusion or mixture, so Scripture is fully divine and fully human. This is sometimes called the “incarnational analogy” for Scripture.
When Jesus walked the earth, He was not partly God and partly man, nor did His deity cancel out His humanity or vice versa. He was completely both. He grew tired (John 4:6), yet He calmed storms (Mark 4:39). He wept (John 11:35), yet He raised the dead (John 11:43-44). He asked questions (Mark 9:21), yet He knew all things (John 21:17). The two natures existed in perfect union in one person.
Similarly, Scripture does not have divine parts and human parts. Each passage is simultaneously the Word of God and the word of human authors. When Paul wrote his letters, he was making real arguments, addressing real concerns, using his own vocabulary and rhetorical style. Yet what he wrote was “the word of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). The divine and human dimensions are fully present throughout, not divided between sections.
The Human Dimension
The human characteristics of Scripture are evident everywhere. Different authors write with different styles – compare the elegant Greek of Hebrews with the simpler Greek of Mark. Authors reflect their backgrounds – Luke the physician uses medical terminology, whilst James the practical pastor gives earthy illustrations. Authors address specific situations – Paul writes to churches facing particular problems, not abstract theological treatises.
Authors also show emotion. David’s Psalms range from ecstatic praise to bitter lament. Jeremiah weeps over Jerusalem’s coming destruction. Paul expresses exasperation with the Galatians: “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” (Galatians 3:1). These are not robotic recordings of divine dictation but the passionate expressions of real people.
Authors even acknowledge their sources. Luke mentions “those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses” (Luke 1:2). The writer of Kings repeatedly refers to “the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel” as a source for further information (1 Kings 14:19). The human authors gathered, researched, reflected, and composed.
The Divine Dimension
Yet this thoroughly human book is also thoroughly divine. “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Timothy 3:16) – not just the prophecies or the commandments but all of it. The historical narratives, the poetry, the proverbs, the personal greetings at the end of Paul’s letters – all bear the character of divine authorship.
This divine authorship means Scripture carries divine authority. When Scripture speaks, God speaks. Jesus could say, “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35), treating even obscure Old Testament passages as permanently binding. He could base arguments on the tense of a verb (Matthew 22:32) or the number of a noun (Galatians 3:16), because the very words were God’s words.
The divine authorship also ensures Scripture’s truthfulness. God cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18). If Scripture is His Word, it must be true in all it affirms. This does not mean Scripture uses modern scientific language or provides exhaustive information on every topic. But what it does say, it says truthfully. The human authors were preserved from error in what they wrote.
How Both Fit Together
How can we hold both together? The key is understanding that God works through means, not despite them. He did not override the human authors but worked through their personalities, experiences, and abilities. He prepared them through their life circumstances, guided their thoughts as they wrote, and ensured that the words they chose – really their words – were also exactly His words.
Think of a master craftsman using different tools for different jobs. Each tool has its own characteristics – a chisel works differently from a saw – yet the craftsman uses each according to its nature to accomplish his purpose. God “used” the human authors not as passive instruments but as active participants, each bringing their distinctive gifts to the task.
This is concurrence – God’s sovereign working alongside and through human agency without violating it. It is the same principle by which God sovereignly works in providence generally (Proverbs 21:1; Acts 4:27-28), but in inspiration, He worked with special care to ensure the result was exactly what He intended.
We should not be surprised that we cannot fully explain the mechanics of this. We cannot fully explain the incarnation either. But we can affirm what Scripture teaches about itself: it is God’s Word through human words, divine truth in human language, the breath of God carried by human voices. The mystery does not undermine our confidence; it deepens our wonder.
Conclusion
Scripture is fully human and fully divine because God chose to work through human authors rather than around them. He prepared them, moved them, and superintended their writing so that the result was simultaneously their authentic expression and His authoritative Word. We need not choose between divine authority and human authorship any more than we need choose between Christ’s deity and humanity. In both cases, we bow before a mystery that reveals God’s wisdom and love – a God who does not stand aloof from His creation but enters into it, working through human means to accomplish divine purposes.
“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” 1 Thessalonians 2:13
Bibliography
- Bavinck, Herman. Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 1: Prolegomena. Baker Academic, 2003.
- Enns, Peter. Inspiration and Incarnation. Baker Academic, 2005.
- Ryrie, Charles C. Basic Theology. Moody Publishers, 1999.
- Warfield, B.B. The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible. P&R Publishing, 1948.
