The phrase, “Given by inspiration of God,” or “Inspired of God,” occurs, as is well-known, but once in the New Testament—in the classical passage, to wit, 2 Tim. 3:16, which is rendered in the Authorized Version, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” and by the Revised Version, “Every Scripture inspired of God is, etc.” The Greek word represented by it, and standing in this passage as an epithet or predicate of “Scripture”—θεόπνευστος—though occurring here only in the New Testament and found nowhere earlier in all Greek literature, has nevertheless not hitherto seemed of doubtful interpretation. Its form, its subsequent usage, the implications of parallel terms and of the analogy of faith, have combined with the suggestions of the context to assign to it a meaning which has been constantly attributed to it from the first records of Christian interpretation until yesterday.
This unvarying understanding of the word is thus reported by the leading lexicographers: Schleusner “New Test. Lexicon.” Glasgow reprint of fourth Leipzig edition, 1824: 1
“θεόπνευστος, ου, ὁ, ἡ, afflatu divino actus, divino quodam spiritu afflatus, et partim de hominibus usurpatur, quorum sensus et sermones ad vim divinam referendi sunt, v. c. poëtis, faticidis,
prophetis, auguribus, qui etiam θεοδίδακτοι vocantur, partim de ipsis rebus, notionibus, sermonibus, et scriptis, a Deo suggestis, et divino instructu natis, ex θεὸς et πνέω spiro, quod, ut Latinum afflo, de diis speciatim usurpatur, quorum vi homines interdum ita agi existimabantur, ut notiones rerum, antea ignotarum, insolito quodam modo conciperent atque mente vehementius concitata in sermones sublimiores et elegantiores erumperent. Conf. Cic. pro Archia c. 14; Virgil. Aen. iii, 358, vi, 50. In N. T. semel legitur 2 Tim. 3:16, πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος omnis Scriptura divinitus inspirata, seu, quæ est originis divinæ. coll. 2 Pet 1:21. Syrus.… scriptura, quæ per spiritum scripta est. Conjunxit nempe actionem scribendi cum actione inspirandi. Apud Plutarchum T. ix. p. 583. ed. Reiske. θεόπνευστοι ὄνειροι sunt somnia a diis immissa.”
Robinson “Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testament,” new ed., New York, 1872:
“θεόπνευστος, ου, ὁ, ἡ, adj. (θεός, πνέω), God-inspired, inbreathed of God, 2 Tim. 3:16 πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος.—Plut. de Placit. Philosoph. 5. 2, τοὺς ὀνείρους τοὺς θεοπνεύστους. Phocylid. 121 τῆς δὲ θεοπνεύστου σοφίης λόγος ἐστὶν ἄριστος. Comp. Jos. c. Ap. 1. 7 [αἱ γραφαὶ] τῶν προφητῶν κατὰ τὴν ἐπίπνοιαν τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ μαθόντων. Cic. pro Arch. 8, ‘poetam … quasi divino quodam spiritu inflari.’ ”
Thayer-Grimm “Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament,” New York, 1887:
“θεόπνευστος,—ον, (θεός and πνέω), inspired by God: γραφή, i. e. the contents of Scripture, 2 Tim. 3:16 [see πᾶς I. 1 c.]; σοφίη, [pseudo-] Phocyl. 121; ὄνειροι, Plut. de plac. phil. 5:2, 3 p. 904f.; [Orac. Sibyll. 5, 406 (cf. 308); Nonn. paraphr. ev. Ioan. 1, 99]. (ἔμπνευστος also is used passively, but ἄπνευστος, εὔπνευστος, πυρίπνευστος, [δυσδιάπνευστος], actively [and δυσανάπνευστος appar. either act. or pass.; cf. W. 96 (92) note].)”
Cremer “Biblico-Theological Lexicon of New Testament Greek” ed. 2, E. T., Edinburgh, 1878:
“θεόπνευστος, prompted by God, divinely inspired. 2 Tim. 3:16, πᾶσα γραφὴ θ. In profane Greek it occurs only in Plut. de placit. philos. v. 2, ὄνειροι θεόπνευστοι (κατʼ ἀνάγκην γίνονται), opposed to φυσικοί. The formation of the word cannot be traced to the use of πνέω, but only of ἐμπνέω. Cf. Xen. Hell. vii. 4, 32, τὴν ἀρετὴν θεὸς μὲν ἐμπνεύσας; Plat. Conv. 179 B, μένος ἐμπνεῦσαι ἐνίοις τῶν ἡρώων τὸν θεόν; Hom. Il. xx. 110; Od. xix. 138. The simple verb is never used of divine action. How much the word corresponds with the Scriptural view is evident from 2 Pet. 1:21.”
And the commentators generally will be found to speak no otherwise. The completeness of this lexical consent has recently, however, been broken, and that by no less an authority than Prof. Hermann Cremer himself, the second edition of whose great “Biblico-theological Lexicon” we have just adduced as in entire agreement with the current view. The date of issue of this edition, in its original German form, was 1872. The third edition was delayed until 1883. In the interval Dr. Cremer was called upon to write the article on “Inspiration” in the second edition of Herzog’s “Realencyklopædie” (Vol. vi, sub voc., pp. 746 seq.), which saw the light in 1880. In preparing this article he was led to take an entirely new view 2 of the meaning of θεόπνευστος, according to which it defines Scripture, in 2 Tim. 3:16, not according to its origin, but according to its effect— not as “inspired of God,” but as “inspiring its readers.” The statement of his new view was transferred to the third edition of his “Lexicon” (1883; E. T. as “Supplement,” 1886) very much in the form in which it appears in Herzog; and it has retained its place in the “Lexicon,” with practically no alteration, ever since. 3 As its expression in Herzog was the earliest, and therefore is historically the most important, and as the article in the “Lexicon” is easily accessible in both German and English, and moreover does not essentially differ from what is said in Herzog, we shall quote here Dr. Cremer’s statement of the case in preference from Herzog. He says: