FAITH ON TRIAL – Part 3b: Why the Bible?

Who said that the Bible is God’s words to us?

1) The writers of the Bible

2 Timothy 3 [16] All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness

1 Thessalonians 2 [13] Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God—which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe.

1 Peter 1 [20] Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. [21] For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2) Jesus Christ

The strongest argument for the divine inspiration of the Bible is the testimony of Jesus. Jesus claimed to be the divine Son of God and confirmed His claims through His sinless, miraculous life and resurrection. The events of His life have been recorded in the four Gospels, which have proven to be historically accurate and written by first century eyewitnesses. Since Jesus was God in human form, whatever He taught is true, and anything opposed to His teaching is false.

Jesus directly affirmed the authority of the Old Testament and indirectly affirmed the New Testament.

Luke 11 [51] “… from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah.”

Jesus identified the prophets and the Old Testament. He names Abel as the first prophet from Genesis, and Zechariah the last prophet mentioned in 2 Chronicles, the last book in the Jewish Old Testament.

Mark 7 [9] And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! The “commands of God” are synonymous with the Old Testament Scripture.

Matthew 5 [17] “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. [18] For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Jesus states that the “Law and the Prophets”, which refer to the Old Testament, are authoritative and imperishable. He affirmed that the Old Testament was the Word of God.

Jesus even specifically affirmed as historical several disputed stories of the Old Testament. He affirms as true the accounts of Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:4-5), Noah and the flood (Matthew 24:39), Jonah and the whale (Matthew 12:40), Sodom and Gomorrah (Matthew 10:15), and more.