People are often surprised when you show them the Bible’s explicit references to the Greek gods and goddesses popularly worshipped at the time of the writing of the New Testament.

For example, in Acts 14, is a great little passage that tells of how after Paul healed a lame man the people were convinced he was the god Mercurius (and that Paul’s companion Barnabus was Jupiter) come down from Mount Olympus.

As the account, reported on by Luke the historian, goes, “And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked:
[9] The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,
[10] Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.
[11] And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.
[12] And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.
[13] Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.
[14] Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
[15] And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein.”

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In Paul’s end statement he succinctly delivers the doctrine of “natural revelation,” which says proof of a living Creator is made known simply by looking at creation.

“In other words, there’s something about the glory, power and deity of God that men know and learn from creation,” says Jordan. “Psalm 19:1 says, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.’

“Paul writes, ‘For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.’ When it says ‘the invisible things,’ that’s God’s essence; who He is—His attributes; His character.

“There’s a revelation of that in creation. The clarity of it is very obvious and that’s why Paul says they’re without excuse.’ There’s the old saying, ‘You don’t meet any 10-year-old atheists.’

“God’s given the revelation and it’s clear. Now, men get away from it and reject it and, as a result, develop intellectual, philosophical and theological systems to try and deny the existence of God, but God put the knowledge there.

“As Paul puts it, ‘Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.’ No. 1, the natural revelation’s in creation and, No. 2, it’s in man. It’s in two places. Humans have that innate knowledge. God puts it in them.

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The doctrine of “special revelation” can be found summed up in Hebrews 1:1, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.”

“In other words, at different times and in different ways, God has spoken—He’s revealed Himself,” explains Jordan. “For example, in Genesis 18, He talked to Abraham. They sat in a tent and communed and so forth; Abraham fixed him supper. In Exodus 3, He appeared to Moses in the burning bush and spoke to Moses and dealt with him.

“In Genesis 32, God wrestled Jacob. How’d you like to have a wrestling match with the Lord?! I mean, they’re out on the ground tumbling in the dirt and rolling down the hillside! Now that’s a special manifestation from God Himself to man!

“We see in Matthew 16:17 how God the Father gave a special revelation to Peter in the person of Christ: ‘And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.’

“In Galatians 2:2, Paul says, ‘I went up by revelation . . .’ Paul got some information from God that told him to go up to Jerusalem. That’s special revelation.

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While the Bible makes it abundantly clear the issue in inspiration is what’s written down on paper, the majority of people pass the Book off as simply being inspired in the same way, say, as William Shakespeare’s tragedies, or Homer’s Odyssey, or Mohammed’s Koran, or Dante’s Divine Comedies.

“They’ll tell you the Bible is just a high level of human achievement, written by gifted, smart men, no doubt, but not God. They say you, as the writer, are inspired to write something and that’s what’s being ‘in the spirit’ is about.

“So when John says, ‘I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day and He commanded me to write,’ that’s meant to be just a poetic sort of elevated human spirit.

“Now, you want to write down II Peter 1: 20-21. In that passage, you’ll see that ‘no prophecy of scripture is by any private interpretation.’ That means it doesn’t have any private origin or meaning. The holy men of old wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. It came not by the will of men—it didn’t come out of man’s origin; it came from God!”

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A view that’s popular among even self-described “Bible believers,” including those who call themselves dispensationalists, is what’s called “dynamic inspiration.” It says it’s not the w-o-r-d-s that are inspired by God, but it’s content and concepts; the thought, the idea, the flow, the meaning behind the w-o-r-d-s.

“That word dynamic you hear a lot of times in Bible translations and stuff,” says Jordan. “Dynamic means living; alive. It means something you can’t just grab and make static.

“Dynamic theory says that only the main thought of a paragraph is inspired. In other words, God is living and His Word is living. It’s not a static word on a page, but it’s ideas and thoughts and the overall message—that’s the issue. Words only symbolize ideas and therefore it’s the ideas and concepts that are important.

“Now, the problem with that is Jesus says, ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away but my word shall not.’ And He said, ‘Not one jot, not one tittle. Not one littlest part of the littlest letter is going to pass away.’ So it isn’t just the thoughts and the flow that’s important; it’s the words themselves, even the letters.”

“You’ll see in the Bible there are times where the single letters in words make all the difference in the world—a whole argument will hang on one letter and one word. And Jesus did that. That’s the importance of words.”