Is the Bible God's Word?
The Bible contains 66 books written by more than 40 writers.
It has 2 major sections:
- The Old Testament (OT) is the Old Agreement between God and man. It consists of 39 books.
- The New Testament (NT) is the New Agreement between God and man. It consists of 27 books.
OT section of the Bible is incomplete without the NT section, because the fulfillments of many of the Old Testament prophecies are found in the New Testament. Therefore, those who proclaim only the Old testament, proclaim only partial truth.
The first book Genesis in the OT was written by Moses around 1500 BC. The last book, Revelation in the NT was written by John the disciple of Jesus, around 100AD.
Therefore, the time taken to write the whole Bible from beginning to end was about 1600 years. (See the diagram below)
The Bible begins with the book of Genesis by telling us how God created the world and everything in it.
It was impossible for Moses to write down in such detail about creation without the help of someone with superior knowledge because he was not living when God created the world.
Therefore, if the account were true, it could have come by supernatural inspiration.
The Bible ends with the book of Revelation, which tells us how God will judge the world, eliminate sin, and set up His eternal righteous kingdom.
Again, it was impossible for John to write about future events in such detail without the help of someone with supernatural knowledge of the past, present and future. (Hebrews 1:1-2).
The Bible is a UNIQUE BOOK. It is progressive revelation of God's plan with no contradictions.
How to know that the Bible is God's inspired Word?
Let me share with you an illustration to clarify this.
Suppose a Manager of a company dictated 66 letters to 40 secretaries over a period of 10 years to send to a particular client. We could file all 66 letters into one folder, because the author of all these letters is the Manager who dictated them and not the secretaries who wrote them.
Similarly, the Bible contains 66 books written by more than 40 writers over a period of 1600 years. This only means that the Author of all the 66 books is the same person. As the whole Bible took 1600 years to write from beginning to the end, the only person who could live 1600 years or more is God.
Therefore, we can conclude that God is the Author of the Bible. What does the Bible say about its authority?
What does the Bible say about its own authority?
The Bible says,
- No prophecy was ever thought up by the prophet himself.
But know this first of all, that 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 (2 Peter 1:20-21).
- It is given by God to give us wisdom to accept God's salvation and help us to do good to everyone
... and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:15-17).
- The prophets themselves did not fully understand what the Spirit of God within them was talking about
As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow (1 Peter 1:10-11).
- God has actually given them the Holy Spirit to explain the Holy Spirit's facts
For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words (1 Corinthians 2:11-13).
Also Fulfilled prophecy proves that the Bible is God's Word.
Fulfilled prophecy reveals that God exists and the Bible is God's inspired word
For example consider just two prophecies about the birth of Jesus:
| Prophecy | Reference | Date | Fulfilled reference | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virgin gives birth | Isaiah 7:14 | 750 BC | Matthew 1:18-25 | 1 AD |
| Birth place of the Messiah | Micah 5:2 | 700 BC | Matthew 2:1-6 | 1 AD |
In both cases, the prophets who wrote them and all their contemporaries died within 100 years. Thereafter, millions of people were born and died during the following 750 years between the date of prophecy and its fulfilment. Yet what they wrote was fulfilled to the very word hundreds of years later.
As dead people cannot keep their promises, we can conclude that these words were not of the prophets' themselves, but of God who inspired them to write. We can see the INVISIBLE HAND of GOD working to fulfill these prophecies hundreds of years later. Space will not permit me to list all the various prophecies and their fulfilment here. Thus it proves that the Bible is God's inspired word.
IT ALSO PROVES THAT GOD EXISTS
and He is Almighty, Omnipresent, Omniscient, Faithful and Trustworthy.
- ALMIGHTY or All Powerful: There is nothing impossible with God. The virgin birth is humanly impossible, but for God nothing is impossible.
- EVERYWHERE PRESENT or Omnipresent: He was present when He inspired his prophets to write, He was present at the time when it was fulfilled and He is alive even today to fulfill some more prophecies that need to be fulfilled in the future. He is the eternal God.
- ALL KNOWING or Omniscient: He knows everything about the past, present and the future. That is why He could prophesy through the prophets what happened and also what is going to happen in the future. That is why He could inspire Moses to write down how He created the world (the book of Genesis) even though Moses was not present at the time. For the same reason, He inspired John to write what is going to happen far into the future (the Book of Revelation), and all other books of the Bible through the rest of the writers.
- FAITHFUL or Promise Keeping: for He has kept all His promises and predictions of the future no matter how many there are.
- TRUSTWORTHY: As He has proved faithful in the past, we can TRUST Him to fulfill all the future promises too.
In summary we KNOW that: GOD EXISTS, He is ALIVE and He is ACTIVE. The Holy Bible is God's inspired Word with special messages to meet man's present and future needs. JESUS is the promised MESSIAH, the Son of God and the Saviour of the world.
What is the Purpose of the Bible?
- "To make us wise to accept His salvation" (deliverance from eternal death) by trusting in Christ Jesus, and
- "To equip (strengthen) us to do good to everyone" (2 Timothy 3:15-17).
If the Bible is meant for us to accept God's salvation through Jesus Christ, then it is only logical that we receive Him as our Saviour and Lord.
Probably you may be asking, How can I receive this SALVATION that God offers?