Conclusion
“

For the only reason (I came to think) for God to inspire the Bible would be so that his people would have his actual words; but if he really wanted to have his actual words, surely he would have miraculously preserved those words, just as he had miraculously inspired them in the first place.

— Bart D. Ehrman

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "For the only reason (I came to think) for God to inspire the Bible would be so that his people would have his actual words; but if he really wanted to have his actual words, surely he would have miraculously preserved those words, just as he had miraculously inspired them in the first place." in the context of "Conclusion" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: Wikiquote: "Bart D. Ehrman" (Quotes, Misquoting Jesus (2005)) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Bart D. Ehrman

About Bart D. Ehrman

Bart D. Ehrman (born 5 October 1955) is an American New Testament scholar.