“Why should we believe in the Bible?”

At the church where I serve we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled Skeptic. During this series we are spending our time looking at the eight common questions that skeptics pose as a challenge to the Christian faith. And as we go through this series, our hope and prayer is that we would address these eight common questions that skeptics pose to challenge Christianity in way that answers these questions and that equips us to have confidence and convictions about the nature and character of God and His activity in the world around us.

This week I would like for us to address the fourth of these eight common questions that those who are skeptical ask as a challenge to God and the Christian faith. And that question is this: “Why should we believe in the Bible?” Or more specifically, “Why should we believe that the Bible is the word of God?”

Usually, when I engage someone who has this skeptical question, the conversation goes something like this: “You Christians claim that the Bible is the very word of God. You Christians claim that in the Bible, God has miraculously made Himself know verbally. But why should I believe that? Why should I believe that the Bible is the way that God reveals Himself to us?”

Now the reason why this question is so important is due to the fact that, if the Bible is, in fact, the Word of God, then we can know what God is like. If the Bible is, in fact, the word of God, then we can know what God wants from us when it comes to a relationship with Him. And most importantly, if the Bible is, in fact, the word of God, then we have to take seriously the command and demands that it makes on our lives.

The challenge that this question presents surrounds how Christians explain and defend the claim that the Bible is the word of God. The challenge, if summarized in a single question, is this: “What proof can Christians present to prove that the Bible is the word of God?”

You see, similar to our conversation about the existence of God when we launched this series, as Bill Kynes points out, many people tend to approach the question of whether the Bible is the Word of God in the same what that they would approach the question “is the earth round?” In other words, many people want to approach the questions that surround the Bible with the same approach that they would use to determine something scientifically or to prove something logically. For many people, the driving assumption that drives their search for the answer to the questions surrounding the Bible is that only what can be known and proven scientifically counts as being true.

But, as we talked about earlier in this series, is that assumption true? Is only what can be known and proven scientifically true? After all, we all claim to know that things that are true that can in no way be proven by scientific methods. As a matter of fact, any time we make any kind of moral judgment we are making a statement that is outside the realm of what science can demonstrate as being true. Even ardent atheists agree with this reality.

In addition, there are many other things that we believe that exist but cannot be measured scientifically. For example, can you see an object called love? Does love exist as a material object that you can see and purchase at Wal-Mart? Can you measure love with a Geiger counter? Can you measure justice with a thermometer? No, you can’t. And in a similar way, scientific methodology is not equipped to determine or prove whether or not the Bible is the very Word of God.

So I would like to present seven different arguments for you to consider when it comes to the claim that the Bible is the word of God.  First, let’s take a minute to consider the claim behind the claim that the Bible is the word of God. After all, to claim that the Bible is the word of God is to claim that God is personal, isn’t it? Earlier in this series, we talked about the reality that the personal and rational nature of human beings is a reflection of the nature and character of God.

So, if that is true, then isn’t our ability to communicate itself also a gift from God? And if we can communicate in this way, couldn’t God do so as well? God is a personal being who created human beings for a relationship with Him and for relationships in community with others. And because of that reality it is not at all unreasonable to think that God would not desire to speak to us as well as part of that relationship.

However, this reality immediately provokes a question. And that question is this: Has God spoken to us? And more importantly, is the Bible the means by which God speaks to us? These questions lead us to the next argument that we need to consider, which is the Bible’s own claims.

The first thing that we need to understand is that the word Bible is not found in the Bible. As we will see, the word Scripture, or the Scriptures, is in the Bible. The word Bible simply means “book”. So the phase Holy Bible, just means “Holy Book”.

The second thing that we need to understand is that the Bible is not a book. Instead the Bible is a collection of letters that were written by more than 40 authors from every walk of life over a 1,600 year span that have been preserved and collected together in what we refer to today as the Bible. These letters were written in three different languages over the span of over 60 generations and are divided up into two main sections, which we refer to as the Old and New Testament.

The Old Testament, which records events of God’s activity in history from creation of the universe until the events surrounding the birth of Jesus, is comprised of letters written by prophets, who individuals who were messengers from God who were sent from God to deliver God’s message to humanity. For example, Moses was a prophet who wrote the Law, which are the first five books that are recorded for us in the Bible today. Another whole section of letters in the Bibles were written by various prophets. And other letters in the Old Testament were written by prophets were prophets by gift, such as Daniel, King David and King Solomon. These prophets claim to have been addressed directly by God and called by God to proclaim His message to humanity.

Similarly, the New Testament, which records events of God’s activity in history from the events surrounding the birth of Jesus through the birth and expansion of the early church, is comprised of letters written by “Apostles and Prophets.” These Apostles and prophets were individuals who had received specific spiritual gifts that enabled them to communicate God’s message to humanity and help lay the foundation for God’s new movement in history called the church.

God spoke through these human authors throughout history to communicate His message to humanity throughout history. We see this reality revealed for us by the Apostle Paul in a section of a letter in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of 2 Timothy. We see Paul say the following in 2 Timothy 3:14-17:

"You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 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."

Now when Paul uses the phrase “inspired by God” this phrase refers to a dynamic process that was led by the Holy Spirit where God worked through the personalities and life experiences of the writers of the letters that make up the Bible to place His timeless truths on paper. We see this dynamic process most clearly in the gospels, which are the accounts of Jesus life that are found in the Bible. We see a tax collector, a doctor, and two fishermen moved by the Holy Spirit to write about Jesus life.

Each one of the gospel writers had different levels of education and experiences that God used while inspiring, or moving them, to choose and write His timeless truth of His story of the rescue and redemption of selfish and rebellious humanity through Jesus life, death, and resurrection. One of the best ways to summarize this idea of inspiration is to think of inspiration as the process by which God worked to ensure that what God says the Bible says and what the Bible says God says.

Next, let’s take a minute to consider the argument surrounding the character and content of the letters that make up the Bible. The letters that make up the Bible consist of a wide variety of literary genre. The letters that make up the Bible contain history, poetry, proverbs, prophetic predictions, legal documents, worship songs, and letters.

Yet, in spite of the amazing diversity of genre, writers, languages, and time, these letters fit together to proclaim in a single united voice a grand story. And that grand story can be summarized as the revealing of God’s glory through His activity in the creation, pursuit, and rescue of rebellious humanity.

Tomorrow, we will consider how Jesus talked about the letters that make up the Bible...