Why is the Bible considered the living work of God when many of the writers talked about very personal things at times and even put in their own opinions?
This is a question about the inspiration of Scripture. Although we can’t understand completely exactly how God inspired his word through the hands of the writers of Scripture, passages like 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tell us that God breathed the Scriptures and they are profitable for believers.
The views on inspiration range from God dictating word for word everything to the writers of Scripture and making them write them down by the Holy Spirit to God barely having any influence on the human writers of Scripture.
I settle on the idea that even down to the words God inspired the writing of Scripture. But he also allowed the human authors to write through their own eyes, as it were. After all, every writer of Scripture came from a culture and background. It would be impossible to filter out these parts of that person as they wrote Scripture.
A lot of the writers of Scripture were influenced by the cultures around them and wrote Scripture sometimes in response to those cultures. One example is Paul, who even quotes from Greek poets to make his points. Moses may have written the creation narrative in response to the narratives produced by the nations around Israel.
Beyond this, the personal experiences the writers of Scripture include can be beneficial for us. These are people got handpicked to write his words. They are holy and righteous people that made mistakes in their past. But we can learn from those mistakes, and the Holy Spirit would not have allowed anything in God’s Word he did not want there.
Even the negative stories and things that are put in the Scriptures are beneficial to us. They show us that people are human and not perfect. They also show us that God can use even those who sinned against him and made mistakes in their lives. It shows God’s grace is greater than sin.
As far as them including their own personal opinions, you may be referring to Paul who includes his opinions on marriage throughout 1 Corinthians 7. In such a case, he makes sure that you understand it is his opinion, and not the Lord’s.
However, as I mentioned before, Paul was chosen by God to write the Scriptures. The opinions he has and introduces must be agreeable to God or God wouldn’t have allowed him to write those things. I am not aware of any other writers who expressed their own opinions without letting us know as Paul did.
We do not completely understand the inspiration of Scripture. But we know that Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for each of us. Even when it comes down to personal opinions that are found in Scripture, we can trust that God allowed those things to be placed there. We must trust that he chose the people he wanted and gave them the words to speak for him.
