The Bible itself consistently claims to be God’s message to us.
Imagine you are in a court of law and the Bible is on trial. You are counsel for the defense. What witnesses can you call to give testimony to the truthfulness and the authoritative infallibility of the Bible?
I think I would appeal to at least three different sources. The first would be the Bible writers themselves, the human instruments through which the revelation was given. Two Bible writers were kings. Two were priests. One was a physician. Two were fishermen. Two were shepherds. Paul was a Pharisee and a theologian. Daniel was a statesman. Matthew was a tax collector. Joshua was a soldier. Ezra was a scribe. Nehemiah was a butler. The list goes on.
As we begin to take the testimony of the 40 or more writers who wrote over a period of 1,600 years, we discern a common air of infallibility, beginning with Moses who wrote the Pentateuch and ending with the apostle John who wrote Revelation. With a few exceptions they were the simplest kind of men, without formal education, yet these fishermen, farmers, shepherds, and a tax collector were confident that they were setting down the Word of God.
That is astounding. Several thousand times in the Bible, in one way or another, these men who wrote the Bible claimed to be writing the Word of God.
If I were to sit down and write something and announce, “This is the revelation of God,” people would say, “Who do you think you are?” I would be very self-conscious about making any declaration that what I had written was God’s Word—but not the Bible writers. There is no self-consciousness, no effort to convince us that they were really relating the Word of God. They made the claim, and that settled it.
No Apologies
You will not find in the Bible any statement such as these: “Friends, this may sound ridiculous, but this is the Word of God.” “You may find this very hard to believe, but God actually gave me these words.”
Recall how Peter was in Jerusalem preaching and firing off all kinds of wonderful messages when He was hauled before the Sanhedrin for trial. Did he say, “Now I realize that we are ignorant and unlearned Galileans. I know you’re not going to believe us. But what do you think? Can we speak God’s Word to you?”
Of course not. There was an air of authority about Peter’s preaching, an infallibility to his witness. He could boldly declare, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
All the Bible writers wrote with the same authority. Though they lived in different times and circumstances, they wove a perfect theme that never contradicts itself, that is, in fact, the Word of God.
These writers touched on many areas. The Bible contains history that can be verified. The Bible contains science, which is factually correct: “He hangs the earth on nothing” (Job 26:7). The Bible talks about medicine and gives laws of health. Doctors today can verify that the Bible has information that can contribute to a healthy life. There is also commentary on ethics in the Bible; and there is practical wisdom essential to leading a happy life.
Sometimes it takes scientists a long time to catch up with what the Bible has been saying all along. It wasn’t until the sixteenth century that William Harvey discovered the workings of the circulatory system in the human body. Yet the first book in the Bible declares that the life of the flesh is in the blood (Gen. 9:4).
Herbert Spencer, who died in 1903, announced that everything in the universe fits into five categories—time, force, action, space, and matter. Everybody said, “Wonderful.” But Moses wrote in the first verse of the Bible, “In the beginning [time] God [force] created [action] the heaven [space] and the earth [matter]” (Gen. 1:1).
Then there is prophecy. For example, the Bible predicted that Babylon, the greatest city of the ancient world, would be destroyed. At the time, that statement was scorned as irresponsible—it was comparable to saying that the Boy Scouts would demolish New York. It couldn’t happen. Yet Babylon was destroyed just as the Bible said. Such examples are numerous.
Whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scripture might have hope. —Romans 15:4—
The only reasonable source for such vast amounts of information was certainly outside the writers. If God didn’t write the Bible, then who did? Mere men acting on their own could never have done it.
His Word
What are the claims of Bible writers? Let’s call the Old Testament authors into our courtroom and ask them. They refer to their writings as the words of God 3,808 times. Once would be enough, but 3,808 times is more than sufficient. This amount of testimony builds a substantial case.
From Psalms 19 and 119, for example, come such statements as “The Law of the Lord is perfect” (Ps. 19:7). “I hope in Your Word” (Ps. 119:81). “Your Word is very pure” (Ps. 119:140). “Your Law is truth” (Ps. 119:142). “All Your commandments are truth” (Ps. 119:151). “Every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever” (Ps. 119:160). “My tongue shall speak of Your Word; for all Your commandments are righteousness” (Ps. 119:172).
The prophet Amos testified, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (3:7). God told His prophets what He was going to do, and the testimony of these Old Testament writers is that God breathed the very words of the Bible.
What about the New Testament writers? Did they believe what the Old Testament writers believed? At least 320 quotations in the New Testament come directly out of the Old Testament. Check, for example, the words of Paul: “For whatever things were written before [the Old Testament] were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). Paul considered the Old Testament writings Scripture.
Peter said that holy men of God wrote as they were borne along by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21). Peter believed that the Old Testament was inspired. The writer of Hebrews said that “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets” (Heb. 1:1). That writer believed the Old Testament was the Word of God. James, in a passage describing the authority of the Old Testament writings, called them “Scripture” (James 4:5).
The Witness of the Book of Acts
There are many illustrations of how New Testament writers referred to the Old Testament, and indicated their belief that God wrote it. Consider these in the Book of Acts.
In his sermon Peter said, “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus” (Acts 1:16). This is a conclusive statement that the Old Testament was equally inspired by the Holy Spirit. In fact, Peter was saying that the Holy Spirit used David’s mouth to speak. This is a New Testament writer’s view of the Old Testament inspiration.
In Acts 4:25 is another example: “Who by the mouth of Your servant David have said.” A better translation would be, “Who, by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant David, have said.” Here is a quotation from the Old Testament that is not only assigned to David but also to the Holy Spirit. So again we find that the Christians in the early church believed that what came through David’s mouth was equally the Word of God.
These are only two illustrations from Acts underscoring the fact that the New Testament writers believed that the words of the prophets in the Old Testament Scriptures were in fact the words of the Holy Spirit. There are many other examples that we could cite.
The Witness of the Epistles
A further element concerns us. Do New Testament writers ever say that other New Testament writers are inspired? Is there any testimony from New Testament writers about other New Testament writers? A verse from 1 Timothy sets us off on an exciting investigation: “For the Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,’ and, ‘The laborer is worthy of his wages’ “ (5:18). We read that first principle in Deuteronomy 25:4. Paul quotes that verse and calls it “Scripture,” and then goes on to say, “The laborer is worthy of his wages,” which are the words of the Lord Jesus recorded in Luke 10:7. In one verse, Paul is saying that both the Old Testament and the New Testament are Scripture. So here is a New Testament writer corroborating the New Testament as Scripture.
The Book of 2 Peter provides further support:
And consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. (2 Pet. 3:15, 16)
Peter was saying, “I’m telling you what our beloved Paul said.” In doing that, Peter declared that all of Paul’s letters are Scripture and do what the other Scriptures do—instruct us in the ways of God. What Paul wrote was as much the Word of God as the Old Testament. This is one of the great statements on New Testament inspiration. It covers Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.
What about John and the Book of Revelation? At the beginning of each message to the seven churches John testified, “These things says He,” referring to the Lord Jesus (Rev. 2:1). He also wrote, “Let him hear what the Spirit says” (Rev. 2:7). John was saying that all of Revelation was coming from Jesus Christ through him and that the whole is the message of the Holy Spirit. Throughout Revelation John included such expressions as “These are the true sayings of God” (Rev. 19:9), and “These words are true and faithful” (Rev. 21:5).
Taken together, we have established the fact that the Gospels, the Epistles, and the Book of Revelation were inspired by God. The testimony of the New Testament writers was that they were writing the Word of God.
Jesus and the Record
In addition to the testimony of the writers themselves, we have a second witness—the Lord Jesus Christ. He had a number of vital things to say about Scripture. He declared that He was the theme of all Scripture. Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39).
Not only did Christ teach that He was the theme of all Scripture, but He also said that He came to fulfill all Scripture. He said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matt. 5:17). He looked at His cross and said, “The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him” (Matt. 26:24). He told Peter that He didn’t need the protection of his sword, for if He wished He could call down thousands of angels for assistance. “But how then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?” (Matt. 26:54). Jesus came to fulfill Scripture. He saw Scripture as pointing to His own life and death; every detail of it had to be fulfilled.
In a strong statement concerning Scripture, Jesus said, “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). He meant that what God said was true and what was prophesied in Scripture would take place. He even compared the duration of Scripture to the duration of the universe. He said, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail” (Luke 16:17). “All things that are written by the prophets… will be accomplished” (Luke 18:31).
Jesus’ view of Scripture then was that it was the Word of God and that what was written was certain to come to pass. He even called attention to individual words.
David predicted that when the Messiah died on the cross, He would cry out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Ps. 22:1). While dying on the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). Psalm 22 also foretold that the suffering Savior would feel thirsty. On the cross Jesus cried out, “I thirst” (John 19:28).
Jesus believed in every word of the Old Testament. He corroborated the great truths of the Old Testament. For example, He confirmed the creation of Adam and Eve, in effect stating that what the Old Testament says about them is true. He said, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?” (Matt. 19:4, 5). Jesus believed that God created the universe as recorded in Genesis.
Jesus substantiated many other facts in the Book of Genesis—such as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the turning of Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt. In Mark 12 we read that He affirmed the call of Moses, and in John 6 He talked about the manna from heaven. He referred to the brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness by which Israel was healed (John 3). Over and over again, Jesus confirmed the authority of the Old Testament record.
Jesus also established the sufficiency of the Scripture to save men. In the account of the rich man and Lazarus, the Lord quoted Abraham from the perspective of Paradise, saying, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them” (Luke 16:29). He was saying that the brothers of the rich man didn’t need one to rise from the dead in order for them to be saved. The testimony of the prophets was sufficient to bring them to the knowledge of the truth.
Jesus also spoke of the ability of Scriptures to keep one from error, referring to those who had erred as doing so because they didn’t know the Scriptures (Mark 12:24, 27).
There is an interesting statistic about the Lord’s use of Old Testament Scriptures. Of the 1,800 verses in the New Testament which include quotations of Jesus, 180 of them, or one-tenth, come from the Old Testament. He who is the Truth, who is the Word, believed and submitted to the inspired writings of the Old Testament without reservation. If Jesus was committed to that, I’m certainly willing to be. If Jesus believed in the Old Testament Scriptures, I believe them also.
The Final Witness
We have considered the witness of the Bible writers and the witness of Jesus. We must also call the Holy Spirit as a witness. The belief that the Bible is the inspired Word of God is not the result of an intellectual decision. Rather it is the result of the work of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life. An individual won’t believe the Bible until the Holy Spirit has done His work of convincing that person.
Let’s sketch the argument. We believe the Bible is true because the Bible says it is true. “That’s circular reasoning,” someone objects. Good point. If a person doesn’t believe the Bible, he is not going to believe the Bible when the Bible says that it is the Word of God. On the other hand, if a person accepts the Bible as the Word of God, it is because the work of the Holy Spirit caused that truth to dawn on him.
People are not so stupid that they can’t understand the truth; they are hostile because they don’t want to accept the truth. People do not want to include God in their knowledge, so when they hear the preaching of the Cross they consider it foolishness (1 Cor. 1:21). The natural (unregenerate) man doesn’t receive the things of God (1 Cor. 2:14). In order for his abnormal and depraved mind to receive the truth of God, the Holy Spirit must work.
It is, therefore, impossible by argument, or by preaching alone, to cause someone to believe the Bible. Everyone is dependent on the internal work of the Spirit; but the Spirit cannot produce belief in the Word of God until a person has heard the Word of God. Paul asked, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14).
Time for Decision
Our case is finished. We have looked at the testimonies of the Old Testament writers and of the New Testament writers, of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit—all defending the inspiration of the Bible. It is a solid case. The only possible verdict is that the Scriptures are indeed God’s inspired Word.
What should be our response to this fact? We must practice Colossians 3:16: “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Our minds should be a tablet where the Word of God is written. We are to read it and study it with the useful Bible resources available to us, such as the MacArthur Study Bible and other Bible commentaries. We are to obey it and apply all of its teachings to our lives. Then, we are to pass it on.
It has been estimated that in one lifetime the average citizen will consume 150 head of cattle, 2,400 chickens, 225 lambs, 26 sheep, 310 pigs, 26 acres of grain, and 50 acres of fruits and vegetables. That’s a lot of food.
How much of the Word of God are you consuming? An outdoor bulletin board at a church in Quincy, Massachusetts, carried this message: “A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.”
You have in the Bible a genuine treasure.
THINK BACK
1. How would you characterize Old Testament writers’ view of their work?
2. What can we make of the fact that New Testament writers quoted from the Old Testament?
3. Who might we call the “final witness,” and why?
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MacArthur, J. (2003). Unleashing god’s word in your life (Page 60). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.