The most common objection made concerning the Bible is that it can’t be trusted as God’s word because it was written by men and everyone knows men make mistakes. In actuality the Bible was written through men by God. In speaking of how the Bible was written, 2 Peter 1:21 tells us, “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” The Bible writers, therefore, were not inspired as great artists or inspired to produce great art, but the word translated “inspired” means, “God-breathed.” It literally conveys the idea of God breathing out the scriptures. Man, then, was only the instrument used by God to convey His thoughts in the Bible.
The Bible is not one book, but 66 books compiled under one binding, written within a period of 1500 years by about 40 different authors from all walks of life in varying occupations and written in three different languages on three different continents during periods of peace and periods of war. The Bible’s authors wrote exactly what God wanted them to write on hundreds of controversial subjects, yet with absolute harmony from the beginning to the end.
Think about this: if you were to interview five people of the same nationality, working at the same job, living in the same town during the same year, and you asked each one of them to speak their mind on one controversial subject, what are the chances they are going to agree? And yet despite all the differences in the lives of those who penned the Scriptures, the Bible is absolutely harmonious throughout. The Bible’s remarkable continuity, therefore, is evidence of its divine origin. And its unity is due to the fact that it has only true one author: God.
The Bible also served as the basis for modern scientific pursuits. In fact, modern science was birthed in the 17th century because of the prevailing belief in an unchanging God of order, purpose, and consistency; the same God portrayed in the Bible. It is filled with numerous scientific facts and has been at the forefront of unique, yet factual scientific understanding. When scientists thought the earth was flat, the Bible described the true shape of the earth (Isaiah 40:22) and how the planet is suspended by nothing (Job 26:7). Before oceans were explored, the Bible knew of the existing valleys and springs of the deep (Psalm 18:15; Job 38:16). It even mentioned the hydrologic cycle with great clarity thousands of years before science even had a drop of insight on the matter (Ecclesiastes 1:6-7).
It is also the only spiritual book that contains fulfilled prophecy. Events that the Bible foretold actually took place! Messianic prophecy, for example, foretold that the Messiah would be born of a virgin in Bethlehem, and that he would be rejected by his own people yet bear their iniquities and save his people from their sins, which ultimately came to fruition in the person of Jesus Christ who was crucified on the cross and proclaimed, “It is finished.”
The Bible is God’s living and powerful word. It can be trusted because it is inerrant, inspired, and infallible. And though it has no contradictions, it certainly has mistakes. The first mistake? When man rejected God back in the garden of Eden and refused to mind His words.
Please, don’t do the same thing.
— Adapted from a Living Waters Publications presentation
