By Whose Authority

Introduction

We are looking at some of the fundamental and foundational truths associated with our walk with God and our faith and practice as Christians. Last week we looked at how we got our Bible and tried to answer the question “how can we know for sure that what we have in our hands is reliable?” Today we are going to look at a similar question—“how can we know for sure that our Bible is inspired by God rather than the musings of men?” Last week we said that our discussion about the origination of our Bible assumed that God is and has been involved in the process of bringing his word to us. Today we start with three expectations about the inspiration of the words on the pages of our Bible.

We believe that God exists. God has chosen to reveal himself in a variety of ways. Romans 1 tells us that he has chosen to reveal himself through creation. Hebrews 1 tells us that he revealed his will through prophets, but the ultimate revelation of himself came in the person of Jesus. But the reason we know these things is because the Bible exists. What we call the Bible provides us a carefully written revelation about God and his plans and purposes. Because such a document exists from the Creator, then we can expect certain things to be true about this document.

First, the Bible would be completely and accurately true in all aspects. God claims to know all things; therefore, any document which comes from him must verify his complete knowledge so that there are no errors.

Second, the Bible needs to be coherent and a unity in all parts. There should not be any contradiction.

Third, the Bible would contain God’s will for his people so that we could enjoy fellowship with Him.

All three of these expectations call into question the integrity of God in his nature and character. Unless we can answer the question about inspiration of Scripture, then the nature and character of God remain in question.

Biblical Claims

Let’s see what the Bible claims for itself. It is one thing to claim that the Bible is God’s word. It is another thing for the Bible to claim that it is God’s word. Throughout the Old Testament it is obvious that the writers believed God was speaking through them. No fewer than 420 times in the first five books is it stated “Then the Lord said” or something similar to that statement. The prophets claimed that God was speaking through them as recorded in Jeremiah 1:9, Hosea 1:1, Amos 1:3, Micah 1:1, and Malachi 1:1.

In the New Testament, Jesus and his disciples confirmed that what was found in the Old Testament was from God. Jesus read the Old Testament. He quoted it. He lived by its commandments. He wanted others to read and understand. All of his quotes come from the Old Testament. He never changed the wording of the Old Testament. He confirmed the reality of Old Testament stories—Adam and Eve, Noah, Sodom, the bronze serpent, and Jonah. His affirmations appear throughout Matthew, Luke, and John.

Paul and Peter affirmed the inspiration of scripture in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and 2 Peter 1:20-21. Inspiration simply means that God used human beings to write down his thoughts, words, and purposes. The writers’ personalities come through but the words and thoughts are God’s. At times this would have been dictated. At other times a vision or dream was recorded. At times history is recorded without comment. Then we have examples of careful research, as seen in Luke 1:1-4, and deep feelings and emotions, as found in the Psalms. But all of these different types of writings came from God who wanted his thinking preserved for all generations.

The New Testament also claims to be God’s word. The gospel accounts signify the reality of Jesus’s life and the authors claim that he was and is God’s son. Peter in 2 Peter 3 compares Paul’s writings with Old Testament scripture. The entire Bible claims to be the word of God. So how do we verify this?

External Evidence

Let’s look first at external evidence. External evidence alone cannot prove the Bible to be inspired. External evidence can prove that parts are accurate. Archaeology has done much, especially in the last 150 years, to verify the validity of scripture. While we cannot cover all the discoveries made, each discovery has helped to verify the certainty of biblical claims. Many historians who do not believe the Bible to be God’s word have been silenced because of archaeological discoveries—obscure discoveries which verify some of the smallest details. For instance, Romans 16:23 mentions Erastus as the city director of public works. Paul wrote Romans from Corinth. In Corinth the name of Erastus with this title has been found carved in stone. Archaeology helps to clarify and verify certain facts, but it is not enough to prove the inspiration of scripture. For that we must look at the Bible very critically.

The Bible covers 2000 years. Forty different people wrote it. No other ancient book has captured the hearts of people. No other ancient book has more verification than the Bible. For instance, Plato’s works come to us from documents which are 1200 years after he wrote his work. The earliest copy of his work comes from 900 A.D. Plato died around 350 B.C. We only have 7 copies of his work, and from those seven copies we study Plato. Take another example—Homer’s Iliad. Written about 900 B.C., our earliest copy comes from 400 B.C.—a difference of 500 years. There are 643 copies of Homer’s Iliad from which linguists can work. What about the Bible? The New Testament was written between 40–100 A.D. by different writers. The earliest bit of the Bible we have is dated at 125 A.D., a time span of only 25 years. Would anyone like to guess the number of ancient copies including fragments or full copies of the New Testament are available to us? Over 24,000. Add to that another 15,000 fragments and copies in various other languages dating from the second century, and we see that the Bible is well attested.

Look at it another way. The New Testament has about 20,000 lines of text. The Iliad has 15,600. Only 40 lines of the New Testament are in doubt. 764 lines of the Iliad are in doubt. No other ancient literature is so well attested. No other ancient literature has come to us so intact. No other ancient literature has so many different places of origins—copies and fragments have been found in various countries and provinces demonstrating widespread copying and distribution—and yet are virtually in agreement.

Internal Evidence

But even these truths may not be convincing enough. Quickly, let’s look at some aspects of the Bible which verify its title as scripture.

There is one major theme in the Bible: sinful humanity is redeemed by the grace of God. From Genesis to Revelation, the message is that God cares about his creation and does what is necessary to bring it back into harmony with him.

There is a unity of structure: the Old Testament is the New concealed, and the New Testament is the Old revealed. Malachi ends with a prophetic message that God’s anointed is coming, and the New Testament begins with the advent of the Christ into this world. The Old Testament points to God doing something and the New Testament confidently points to Jesus as the fulfillment of those promises.

There is a unity of focus: Jesus Christ. The Old Testament anticipates his arrival. The New Testament reveals his coming and the implications for our lives.

Prophecy is given and fulfilled. The Bible at times makes a prediction about the future. Those predictions occur. How can this be explained except that God was speaking his words to writers so that all would come to faith?

Isaiah 13:17-22, written in the eighth century B.C., predicts that the Medes would completely destroy Babylon and that generations would not live here. In 539 B.C., the Medes destroyed Babylon. Years later Alexander the Great gave up his attempt to rebuild and repopulate the ancient city.

Ezekiel 26:3-5 and 26:14, written in the sixth century B.C., predicts the complete destruction of Tyre. It would be dismantled to be left as a bare rock and serve as a place to spread fishnets. Nebuchadnezzar from 587–574 B.C. laid siege to the city. The mainland was destroyed and the people fled to an island offshore. In 332 B.C., Alexander the Great tore down the ruins of the old mainland city using its stones, timbers, and topsoil to construct a land bridge over to the island. It was plundered once more in 314 B.C. Today the site of the mainland city is nothing more than a barren rock where fisherman can be seen spreading their nets.

So when we come to this precious document we handle it with great care. We read as fully as possible. We try to understand how those original authors meant for us to understand their culture and their thinking. And we approach the Bible with a sense of awe and reverence because it is a record of God’s will and his thoughts.

If the Bible is true and there is sufficient evidence to make a decision, then the words contained in the Bible provide what we need to understand our relationship with God and how much God wants to be in relationship with us. He invites us to come to him and live.

Follow Jesus

If you’d like to respond to this message or learn more about following Jesus, please reach out.