If
there is no authoritative word from God,
then, for all intents and purposes, we are
but flotsam and jetsam cast about without
known purpose or direction on a vast and
turbulent sea. But if there is an
authoritative word from God, then it stands
to reason that, by listening to it, we will
gain insight into the nature and reason for
our existence and how we stand in
relationship to God and all else.
In this study, I present evidence far beyond
the threshold of proof that the Bible is the
Word of God. Attorneys have studied the
Bible to disprove it, and have come away
believers! If you are not yet convinced
that the Bible is the Word of God, I implore
you to give these evidences serious
consideration as the consequences for
believing or disbelieving the Bible could
not be more profound. Your eternal destiny
and the quality of your earthly life are at
stake. If you do know that the Bible is the
Word of God, these evidences will strengthen
your faith and increase your ability to
launch a strong defense against attacks on
your faith, and to logically present a defense to everyone
who asks you to give an account for the
hope that is in you (1 Peter
3:15).
It is because the authorship of the Bible is
such a critical and fundamental
issue that I have piled evidence on top of
evidence that it is the Word of God. I will
present evidence from within the Bible
itself and from the natural and sociological
sciences.
Faith Pushed Aside?
The believer may wonder if I push faith
aside by appealing to evidences, an
intellectual consideration. That is not the
case. God appealed to evidences to convince
Job to trust Him (Job 38-40). Furthermore,
to the intellectual, we must be as the
intellectual. Paul said,
| 20. And to the Jews I
became as a Jew, that I might win
Jews; . . . 21. to those who are
without law, as without law. . .
that I might win those who are
without law. 22. To the weak I became
weak, that I might win the weak; I
have become all things to all men,
that I may by all means save some.
~ 1 Corinthians 9:20-22
~
|
and in
Colossians 4:5-6, Conduct
yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders,
making the most of every opportunity.
Let your speech always be with grace,
seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that
you may know how you should respond to
each person.
The study is extensive, but - How do you eat
an elephant? One bite at a time!
Happy dining!
DEFINING TERMS
If I am to prove that
the Bible is the Word of God, I must first
define what I mean by “the Bible,” “God”
and “the Word of God.”
The Bible. I define “the Bible” as that
compilation of sixty-six books that
comprise the Protestant Bible, is
included in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman
Catholic Bibles, and includes all of the
thirty-nine books held sacred by Jews.
God. I define “God” as the one true God of
the Bible who eternally exists as three
divine Persons in one Supreme Being. He is
divine spirit, is everywhere present
(omnipresent), knows all things past,
present, and future (omniscient), and is
all powerful (omnipotent). God has other
attributes, but the ones I have noted
include all of the attributes necessary
for Him to have authored the Bible.
The Word of God. One of the biblical uses
of “the Word of God” is in reference to the total
content of the Bible itself. As such, “the
Word of God” is the total message that God
spoke to chosen men who, under His
initiative, power and superintendence,
wrote that message in the sixty-six books
of the Bible infallibly (with unfailing
accuracy) and inerrantly (without error).
I. THE TESTIMONY
OF THE BIBLE ITSELF
Dr. Charles Ryrie said,
"The Bible, . . . like any other witness,
has the right to testify on its own
behalf." (2) If the Bible declared
that it was not the Word of God, then the
matter would be settled out of hand. If it
made no declaration at all, then its lack
of testimony would lend no strength to any
claim that it is the Word of God. But the
Bible repeatedly and emphatically claims
that it is the Word of God and contains in
its narrative actual statements made by
God. It even goes so far as to tell us how
God conveyed the biblical narrative to us.
These claims are repeated strongly and
unwaveringly and need to be examined and
reckoned with.
If you believe that the
Bible has been authored by God, the
scriptures that declare God’s authorship
will serve as affirmation to you. If you do
not yet believe that the Bible has been
authored by God, you can be sure that I
will not say to you, “Believe that the
Bible is the Word of God because it says
that it is, and the Word of God can be
trusted.” To do so would be a begging of
the question as the matter in question
would be presented as a presupposition. If
you are in the latter category, then
accept these scriptures as the testimony
of the defendant in your court of
judgment. Then consider the evidence that
will follow.
Before we examine extrabiblical
evidence from various fields, please consider the Bible’s
affirmation to believers and testimony to
all:
A.
The
Bible Claims it is the Word of God
1. The Bible Refers
to Various of Its Sections as the Word
of God
Some examples are as follows:
a. Sections of the Old Testament
1) The Law of Moses
In Deuteronomy 1:6, Moses said, The LORD our God
spoke to us at Horeb, saying, "You have stayed
long enough at this mountain [Sinai].”
The words spoken
to Moses by God at Horeb, which
were concluded by this
declaration, constitute the Law
of Moses, which comprises a
major portion of the books of
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and
Deuteronomy. Yeshua referred to the Law of
Moses as the commandment of God and the word of God (Matthew 15:3,6). He also quoted the
Law of Moses three times when the devil
tempted Him. In Matthew 4:4, He quoted
Deuteronomy 8:3; in 4:7, He quoted
Deuteronomy 6:16; and in 4:10, He quoted
Deuteronomy 6:13.
2) The Entire Old Testament
Yeshua held the entire Old Testament to
be the Word of God. He spoke of all the righteous
blood shed on earth, from the blood of
Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son
of Berechiah [not the prophet
Zechariah] (Matthew 23:35). Abel
was killed in Genesis (4:8), the
first book of the Old Testament,
and Zechariah was killed in 2
Chronicles (24:20-22), the last
book of the Old Testament
according to the Jewish
arrangement. Thus, by this
declaration, Yeshua declared the
entire Tanach (Old Testament) to be the Word of God.
b. Sections of the New Testament
1) All of Paul’s Letters
In 2 Peter 3:15-16, Peter referred to
all of Paul’s letters as Scripture:
| 15. just as also our
beloved brother Paul, according to the
wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16. as
also in all his letters, speaking in
them of these things, in which are
some things hard to understand, which
the untaught and unstable distort, as
they do also the rest of the
Scriptures, to their own destruction.
~ 2
Peter 3:15-16 ~ |
Paul wrote
thirteen of the twenty-seven books of the
New Testament. The apostle Peter called them
Scripture.
2) The Book of Revelation
John declared the Book of
Revelation to be the Word of God: The revelation of
Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to
show to His bond-servants, the things
which must shortly take place; and He
sent and communicated it by His angel
to His bond-servant John
(Revelation 1:1).
2. The Bible Claims that
It Is,
in Its Entirety, the Word of God
In light of all the Old Testament
scriptures quoted in the Book of Hebrews,
and all the New Testament teachings
alluded to in it (Hebrews 4:2, for
example), it is clear that the phrase, the word of God in Hebrews 4:12
(For the word of
God is living and active) refers to the
entire Bible. Paul wrote to Timothy, All Scripture is
inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16).
Peter referred to the Bible as the Word of the Lord :
| 23. You have been born again
not of seed which is perishable but
imperishable, that is, through the
living and enduring word of God. 24.
For, "All flesh is like grass, and all its
glory like the flower of grass. The
grass withers, and the flower falls
off, 25. but the word of the Lord abides
forever (Isaiah 40:6,
8)." ~ 1 Peter
1:23-25 ~ |
John recognized the entire Bible as the
Word of God:
|
18. I
testify to everyone who hears the
words of the prophecy of this book: if
anyone adds to them, God shall add to
him the plagues which are written in
this book; 19. and if anyone takes away
from the words of the book of this
prophecy, God shall take away from his
part in the tree of life and from the
holy city, which are written in this
book.
~
Revelation 22:18-19 ~ |
"This book" refers to the
Book of Revelation, if not the entire
Bible, and its dire warnings can only be
predicated upon John’s belief that the
Book of Revelation is the Word of God (He
declared that it is
prophecy);
but inasmuch as the Book of Revelation
alludes to hundreds of Old Testament
prophecies and to the core teachings and
prophecies of the New Testament, it is
clear that John recognized the entire
Bible to be the Word of God.
B.
The Bible Claims to
Contain Ver Batim Statements Made by
God
It stands to reason
that, if the Bible is the Word of God, it
would likely contain actual statements
made by God. If all such statements were
compiled, they would fill a large volume;
but here are some examples:
1. From the Old Testament
In Genesis 1, the words God said appear eleven
times and are followed by the words that
the writer claims God said (Genesis 1:3,
6, 9, 11, 14-15, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28,
29-30). Exodus 9:1 declares, Then the LORD said to Moses,
"Go to Pharaoh and
speak to him, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of the
Hebrews, "Let My people go, that they may serve
Me.'" In Joshua 1:1, The LORD spoke to
Joshua . . . saying. . . . In 1
Chronicles 17:3, The word of God came
to Nathan, saying . . . .
Exodus 24 refers to the Law of
Moses as All the words which
the LORD has spoken (vv. 3, 7) and all the words of the
LORD
(v. 4). In fact, God is said not
only to have spoken the Ten Commandments
(which appear in Exodus
20:2-17), but to have written them (Exodus 24:1, 32:16).
In numerous instances, the prophets
professed to record actual declarations
made by God. Some examples:
Thus
says the LORD . . . (Isaiah 56:1); Thus says the LORD of
hosts. . . . introduces a statement
purported to be made by God forty-nine times in Jeremiah
(Jeremiah 6:6, 9, et al);
Then the word of the
LORD came to me saying. . .
(Ezekiel 12:1). Bible teacher Winkey
Pratney writes, “‘The LORD spoke’ appears
560 times in the first five books of the
Bible and at least 3800 times in the whole
of the Old Testament!" (3)
2. From the New Testament
The New Testament contains numerous
statements purported to have been made by
God. For example, the four Gospels are
filled with the words of Yeshua, which He
Himself recognized as divine: Heaven and earth will pass
away, but My words will not
pass away (Matthew
24:35). In Acts 9:11 we read, the Lord said to him . . . . In 2
Corinthians 12:9, Paul testifies, And He has said to me
. . . . In
Revelation 1:8, John writes, as the oracle
of God, “I am
the Alpha and the Omega," says the
Lord God, "who is and who was and who
is to come, the Almighty.”
C.
The
Bible Claims to Tell Us How God
Conveyed His Word to Us
We are told in 2
Timothy 3:16, All
Scripture is inspired by God. The Greek
phrase translated inspired by God is
Theopneustos, which means
“God-breathed” and emphasizes the
exhalation of God. Inspiration, then, is
really outspiration, the
“outbreathing” of God. God “outbreathed”
the Bible through human writers.
2 Peter 1:20-21 makes the concept and
process of inspiration even clearer: No prophecy of
Scripture is a matter of one’s own
interpretation, for no prophecy was
ever made by an act of human will, but
men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke
from God.
"Prophecy" refers to revelation
received directly from God - directly, not by means
of an intermediate person, such as a teacher, or by
means of an intermediate means of communication,
such as a scroll or book. Such revelation was spoken
by God to prophets, people specially chosen by God
to hear revelation from Him infallibly and
inerrantly. God
inspired some of His prophets to write
down their revelations as Scripture. He
also inspired some of His compilers of
records and researchers to write down the
results of their labors as Scripture (See
Luke 1:1-4, for example). What Peter says
about the prophecy of Scripture -
that men moved by the Holy
Spirit spoke from God - applies, as
well, to the compiled records and research
results of Scripture because God inspired
the writing of them also.
But what does men
moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from
God
mean? The Greek word for moved is the same
word used in Acts 27:15 and 17 to refer to
a ship being driven
along the water
by powerful winds. A prophet was one whom
God moved upon in such a way that His Word
was both heard and delivered by that
prophet infallibly and inerrantly. We can
therefore conclude that all who wrote the
Scriptures - whether prophets, compilers
or researchers - were
driven along by the Holy
Spirit of God as they wrote their revelations,
compilations or research results. God “outbreathed”
the powerful Word-bearing wind of His Spirit into
the sails of His chosen vessels to drive them
along in the writing of His Word.
So we see that the Bible not only declares
that it is the Word of God, but explains
how God delivered it to us.
Five more points need to be made about
inspiration that serve the purpose of this
study:
1. Inspiration applies only to the
writing of Scripture, not the inerrant
hearing of a word from God. The biblical
term for inerrant hearing from God is revelation,
though not all uses of revelation
in the Scriptures have this meaning. Not
all inspiration was preceded by revelation
(Luke 1:1-4), but most inspiration was. An example
of inspiration that was preceded by revelation
is: Then the
LORD said to Moses, "Write down these
words, for in accordance with these
words I have made a covenant with you
and with Israel” (Exodus
34:27). So under the inspiration of God,
Moses wrote the entire Law that God
revealed to him
- a major part of the Old Testament.
Whether the human author compiled
materials through strictly human means or
whether he received revelation from God,
God inspired him to write down what he
compiled or received for the sake of
producing an infallible and inerrant
record.
2. Inspiration includes superintendence.
God did not simply
drive His writers to
write: He superintended their writing so
that they wrote exactly what He wanted
them to write. He gave them free rein to
write in their own styles and
vocabularies, but His superintendence
assured that they wrote exactly what He
wanted them to write and not one concept
or word more or less.
3. On certain occasions, biblical
inspiration was accompanied by excited
emotional or mental states; but
inspiration is not, in itself, an
emotional or mental state. It is solely
the outbreathing of God upon His
chosen writers to write exactly what He
wanted them to write.
When we use the word inspiration
colloquially, that is, in everyday speech - and I
will be using it colloquially later in
this study - we do refer to an
elevated, excited, and even euphoric
emotional state that often precedes or
accompanies an insight into the natural
world, an invention, the creation of a
work of art, etc.; but it is important to
remember that the Bible's use of the word
is solely in reference to the writing of
the sixty-six books of the Bible, that it
carries in its meaning the sense of being
superintended by God, and that the canon
of Scripture is closed (Hebrews 1:1-2;
Revelation 22:18-19). People may sense the
presence of God as they paint, write music
or preach the gospel, but their works or
words must never be reckoned to be on a
par with Scripture as an authoritative,
supervised, infallible, inerrant word or
work from God.
4. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, ALL Scripture is
inspired by God. Inasmuch
as God outbreathed all of the
Scriptures, all of the Scriptures are
inspired to the fullest degree. Therefore,
all Scriptures are equally inspired: the
despondent words of Solomon in
Ecclesiastes as much as the words of Yeshua
in the Gospels. This does not mean that
God wants us to be despondent, but that He
moved and superintended Solomon to record
his despondency infallibly and inerrantly.
5. Inasmuch as inspiration refers to the
Lord’s direct work in and through the writers of the
Scriptures, it is only the original writings that
were inspired. Inspiration did not extend to copies of
the original writings, nor does it extend
to any translation or any other work.
(Nevertheless, the Scriptures that we have
today are accurate, as will be explained
below.)
To sum up, the Bible’s testimony to its
own divine origin is consistent, strong,
unwavering and certain.
II.
EVIDENCES
Some of the evidences that follow
cannot stand on their own as proof of divine
authorship, but add to the weight of evidence
presented. Others, however, lend much weight to the
claim that the Bible is the Word of God, while yet
others are sufficient in themselves to stand as
powerful proof that the Bible is the Word of God. We
will now examine a representative number of them.
A. The
Bible Stands Alone in its
Uniqueness
1. The Bible
Is Unique in the Way
It Was Written
No other book was ever written as the
Bible was written. It was written over a
period of 1600 years in three different
languages (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek) by
about forty different men employed in at
least eleven different occupations (kings,
priests, prophets, soldiers, statesmen,
shepherds, fishermen, a tax collector, a
tent maker, a doctor, a farmer) and in at
least six different countries (Israel,
Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Arabia)
spanning three continents (Asia, Africa
and Europe). There are many compilations
of books in the world, but the Bible is no
mere compilation. It is a fully integrated
unit of sixty-six books combining to form
one Book. Consider the likelihood of the
production of such a book over a period of
1600 years. One might think that only God
could superintend such a project.
2. The Bible
Is
Unique in Its Subject Matter
The Bible is unique in much of its
subject matter, particularly in its
declarations concerning the fundamental
issues of existence and life, such as:
a. The
Bible Alone Declares How the
Universe Came to Be
According to Dr. Henry
Morris, “There are only three creationist
‘religions’ in the world - Christianity, Islam and
Judaism - and all three base their belief in
creation on the record of Genesis [1:1-2:25].
Without exception,” writes Dr. Morris, “all the
other religions and philosophies of the world have
based their beliefs concerning origins on some form
of evolutionism. That is, they all begin with the
universe (space, time, matter) already in existence
. . . . Only Genesis even attempts to tell us how
the universe itself came to be." (4)
b. The
Bible Alone Declares the Existence
of Only One God
During the entire span of time in
which the Bible was written, and
throughout the lands in which it was
written, the nations surrounding Israel
worshiped pantheons of gods. Yet, the
Bible declares the existence of but one
God.
1) In the Old Testament:
Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God,
the LORD is one (Deuteronomy
6:4).
2) In the New Testament:
We
know . . . that there is no God but one (1 Corinthians
8:4).
c. The
Bible Alone Declares a Loving God
Paul declared that the so-called gods
of the Gentile pantheons were actually
demons: The
things which the Gentiles sacrifice,
they sacrifice to demons, and not to
God (1
Corinthians 10:20).
In contrast to the pagan gods, some of whom
required child sacrifice of their worshipers, the
Bible does not portray
God as a monster given over to lusts
and jealousies and treacheries, but as One who sacrificed His own
Son, not only for His worshipers, but for the
whole world.
1) In the Old Testament:
|
4.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and
our sorrows He carried; yet we
ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted. 5. But he
was pierced through for our
transgressions, He was crushed for our
iniquities; the chastening for our
well-being fell upon Him, and by His
scourging we are healed. 6. All of us
like sheep have gone astray, each of
us has turned to his own way; but the
LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
to fall upon Him.
~ Isaiah 53:4-6 ~ |
2) In the New Testament:
For
God so loved the world, that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish, but
have eternal life (John 3:16).
d. The Bible Alone
Identifies Sin as a Condition of the
Human Spirit
Some religions identify evil in the
deeds of men, but only the Bible
identifies evil as an inherent (though not
original) condition of the human spirit.
Paul wrote,
9. Are
we [Jews] better than they [the
Gentiles]? Not at all; for we have
already charged that both Jews and
Greeks are all under sin; 10. as it is
written, "there is none righteous, not
even one.” (Romans
3:9-10)
For out of the heart
come evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witness, slanders.
(Matthew 15:19)
e. The
Bible Alone Declares that
Deliverance from Sin Is a Work of
God
Whereas some other religions and holy
books prescribe certain disciplines for
the overcoming of evil, only the Bible
declares that deliverance from the power
of sin is a work of God.
1) In the Old Testament
And
[a seraph sent from the Lord] touched
my mouth with [a burning coal] and
said, "Behold, this has touched your
lips; and your iniquity is taken away,
and your sin is forgiven.” (Isaiah 6:7)
2) In the New Testament
He
[the Father] saved us . . . by the
washing of regeneration and renewing
by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out
upon us richly through Jesus Christ
our Savior. (Titus 3:5-6)
(Notice how all three Persons of the
Godhead are active in the work of
salvation.)
I have
been crucified with Christ; and it is
no longer I who live, but Christ lives
in me; and the life which I now live
in the flesh I live by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me, and
delivered Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20)
