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Verse:But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. —2 Corinthians 4:7
Many people wonder about the originality of the inspired writings: Can a true prophet copy from uninspired sources? If he or she does so, would those portions remain an uninspired island within the inspired writings? And furthermore, if a prophet does not provide the reference to the original source of information, would he or she be guilty of plagiarism? Over the centuries, it was a common practice to use others’ ideas without providing references to the original sources.
A classic example is William Shakespeare, who, according to Ralph W. Emerson, “did owe debts in all directions, and was able to use whatever he found.”13 But in modern times, new regional and national acts have become stricter in regard to copyrights. In the United States, the Copyright Act of March 4, 1909 (which went into effect on July 1, 1909) was the first federal law to effectively ensure literary, artistic, dramatic, and musical rights. So, it is quite unfair to judge classic authors (including prophets) based on our modern copyright laws and practices. A thorough study of the Bible can unveil several instances in which its writers used uninspired sources. For instance, Paul quoted Epimenides of Crete (Acts 17:28; Titus 1:12), Aratus of Cilicia (Acts 17:28), and Menander (1 Corinthians 15:33). Jude quoted the pseudepigraph of 1 Enoch (Jude 14, 15).
The book of Job contains several uninspired speeches accusing Job of doing evil. The Bible even quotes some of Satan’s lies (Genesis 3:1–5; Matthew 4:3–11). Thus, prophetic inspiration does not imply absolute originality but only the divine assistance through the Holy Spirit for the reliable communication of truth and an unbiased account of facts. We need at least a basic knowledge of how inspiration works in order to avoid distortions and misconceptions. Our focus should not be on the imperfect container that carries the message but rather on the content of the infallible message.
“The treasure was entrusted to earthen vessels, yet it is, nonetheless, from Heaven. The testimony is conveyed through the imperfect expression of human language, yet it is the testimony of God.”14 The Bible does not just contain God’s word; it actually is His word!