What is the Difference?—An esteemed brother thinks that there is perfect agreement between inspiration of ideas and inspiration of words (verbal inspiration), because words are symbols of ideas. It is possible that the two might be identical; but it is not at all probable. If God inspired the Biblical writers with merely the idea, which they are left to put into words of their own choosing, it follows that the writer must be capable of perfectly comprehending the ideas so as properly to express them with words; and it further follows that the minds of these writers must be able to grasp the infinity of the mind of God. For God spoke thru these men not alone that with which they were familiar, but that which they had no means of knowing, and in the nature of the case could not understand, which pertained to unrisen nations and future ages. Daniel expressly tells us that he did not understand what God moved him to write, and Peter tells us that the prophets searched their own writings to learn of the times of the Messiah, which they revealed to others, but did not themselves know. God took the man and used the best words that man was capable of using for the revelation of truth for all time; the meaning of these words is developed and revealed in the hearts and minds and lives of the people who receive them in the age and place where these words apply. There is a vast difference between verbal inspiration and idea inspiration.