Wednesday, April 13, 2022

David J. Burke (Christadelphian) and the vivifacationist (“life-giving”) meaning of θεοπνευστος

  

Attempts to define the process of inspiration are thwarted by lack of biblical data. II Timothy 3:16 describes inspiration as ‘God-breathed’ (This is the literal meaning of the Greek, which the NIV translates faithfully. The ESV has ‘breathed out by God.’), but does not explain what this means in practical terms. It may be a deliberate echo of the Genesis creation account, in which God breathed the breath of life into Adam. (David J. Burke, Servants of the Lord: A Bible Study Handbook [Bible Interpretation Series 1; Lively Stones Publishers, 2017], 25, emphasis added)

 

Further Reading

 

Notes from John C. Poirier, The Invention of the Inspired Text: Philological Windows on the Theopneustia of Scripture