Hypertext Webster Gateway: "inspiration"
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)
Inspiration
that extraordinary or supernatural divine influence vouchsafed
to those who wrote the Holy Scriptures, rendering their writings
infallible. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God"
(R.V., "Every scripture inspired of God"), 2 Tim. 3:16. This is
true of all the "sacred writings," not in the sense of their
being works of genius or of supernatural insight, but as
"theopneustic," i.e., "breathed into by God" in such a sense
that the writers were supernaturally guided to express exactly
what God intended them to express as a revelation of his mind
and will. The testimony of the sacred writers themselves
abundantly demonstrates this truth; and if they are infallible
as teachers of doctrine, then the doctrine of plenary
inspiration must be accepted. There are no errors in the Bible
as it came from God, none have been proved to exist.
Difficulties and phenomena we cannot explain are not errors. All
these books of the Old and New Testaments are inspired. We do
not say that they contain, but that they are, the Word of God.
The gift of inspiration rendered the writers the organs of God,
for the infallible communication of his mind and will, in the
very manner and words in which it was originally given.
As to the nature of inspiration we have no information. This
only we know, it rendered the writers infallible. They were all
equally inspired, and are all equally infallible. The
inspiration of the sacred writers did not change their
characters. They retained all their individual peculiarities as
thinkers or writers. (See {BIBLE}; WORD OF {GOD}.)
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Inspiration \In`spi*ra"tion\, n. [F. inspiration, L. inspiratio.
See {Inspire}.]
1. The act of inspiring or breathing in; breath; specif.
(Physiol.), the drawing of air into the lungs,
accomplished in mammals by elevation of the chest walls
and flattening of the diaphragm; -- the opposite of
expiration.
2. The act or power of exercising an elevating or stimulating
influence upon the intellect or emotions; the result of
such influence which quickens or stimulates; as, the
inspiration of occasion, of art, etc.
Your father was ever virtuous, and holy men at their
death have good inspirations. --Shak.
3. (Theol.) A supernatural divine influence on the prophets,
apostles, or sacred writers, by which they were qualified
to communicate moral or religious truth with authority; a
supernatural influence which qualifies men to receive and
communicate divine truth; also, the truth communicated.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. --2
Tim. iii. 16.
The age which we now live in is not an age of
inspiration and impulses. --Sharp.
{Plenary inspiration} (Theol.), that kind of inspiration
which excludes all defect in the utterance of the inspired
message.
{Verbal inspiration} (Theol.), that kind of inspiration which
extends to the very words and forms of expression of the
divine message.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
inspiration
n 1: arousal of the mind to special unusual activity or
creativity
2: a product of your creative thinking and work; "he had little
respect for the inspirations of other artists"; "after
years of work his brainchild was a tangible reality" [syn:
{brainchild}]
3: a sudden intuition as part of solving a problem
4: arousing to a particular emotion or action [syn: {stirring}]
5: the act of inhaling [syn: {inhalation}, {breathing in}]
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