Why You Can and Ultimately must Trust the Bible!

2 Peter 1:21: …for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.  

“Why do you believe the Bible is God’s Word?” There couldn’t be a more important question for believers to answer as more people are becoming skeptical of the Bible and hostile to the faith.  

Just recently, theologian of the year, pop singer Miley Cyrus, enlightened her adoring fans. Regarding Christians who believe the Bible, and who therefore oppose homosexual marriage, “Those people [shouldn't] get to make our laws…” Regarding the Bible and specifically the Old Testament Story of Noah. “We’ve outgrown that fairy tale, like we’ve outgrown (expletive) Santa and the tooth fairy.” For the record, Jesus affirmed the whole Old Testament and specifically mentions Noah (Matthew 24:37&38).   

This has profound political implications. A very prominent Presidential candidate out of one side of their mouth said, “deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.” Our Christian faith has to be changed so every woman can get an abortion. Out of the other side of their mouth they say they read and memorize the Bible. Apparently, they missed the Sixth Commandment; “Thou shalt not murder.”  

What do you say to the “Mileys” of this world? How are you going to stand up to mounting pressure at work or school or in your own home to deny the scripture, the Gospel and its moral teachings? You must be absolutely convinced of trustworthiness of the Bible! I am going to share how you can.  

First, let’s step back and ask ourselves, “How can we know anything is true?”Then we will examine how we know “holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”  

We all believe a large variety of things for different of reasons. We believe the sky is blue. We believe that people have two parents. We believe that the area of the US is 3.79 million miles. What is the justification of our beliefs? If we can’t justify a belief, it’s merely an arbitrary opinion and not considered true knowledge at all.We don’t have to take anyone’s arbitrary opinions seriously, especially Supreme Court Justice Kennedy’s made right to sodomy.  

Knowledge requires you have a sound justification to authorize it. What generally passes for authorization in academia are 1.) Direct experience, 2.) Scientific observation or 3.) Expert testimony. The authority we have for believing sugar is sweet is firsthand sensory experience. The authority for believing we have two parents is scientific necessity, even though no one has ever studied every single birth in human history. What justifies believing the US is 3.79 million square miles? It is the generally accepted position of experts.  

There is a significant problem with all three of these justifications; experience, science and expert testimony. They all ultimately rely on human observation. This begs a prior question few people ask. What authorizes you to base your beliefs on experience, science or expert testimony?   Why can’t I believe what I feel after taking LSD or after fasting myself into hallucinations? You might say that’s arbitrary, but so is observation.  

The obvious problem with human observation is its profound limits and fallibility. Claiming observation is the final standard is both arbitrary and self-refuting. Observation ultimately never really is anybodies true, final authority. Why? It’s impossible.  

Has anyone ever observed that observation is the final authority? What? Where can we go to observe that observation is the final authority so it can be proven? It can’t be observed with our most powerful microscope or strongest telescope. So when someone says their final authority is observation they’re either trying to deceive you or they are self-deceived. They actually have another ultimate authority they either are unaware of or refuse to admit.  

It’s critical people know their true, final authority. Eternity is stake! While everyone has a final authority, not everyone has the right one. A final authority is just that, the last place to which one can appeal. When you finally run down the long string of reasons people have for their views all the way back to the very beginning, it ultimately comes down to this; People trust in their own ability to independently determine what is true.  

Their own beliefs, opinions and values are their real god. Their self-made ideas consist of a contradictory amalgamation of life experiences, faulty reasoning and mixed feelings, plus the influence of trusted authorities like parents, teachers, etc. This is the stuff out of which they have created their own unique beliefs. Ultimately, when you reject God’s truth you end up replacing it with lies.  

This kind of independent, autonomous reasoning is exactly what Satan used to tempt Eve.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field… He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Genesis 1:1-5  

The siren song of Satan in popular culture is, “Forsake God, make your own decisions, create your own rules, live your own life.” This is the Spirit of our age, not the ethic of Jesus. He calls us to deny ourselves pick up our cross and follow him by obeying His commandments to love God with all our heart, mind & strength and love each other according to His Word.  

What is the basis for knowing the Bible is true? “For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself.” Hebrews 6:13: There is no higher authority to which God can appeal, so He invokes an oath against His own faithful and true character as the basis for man’s confidence in His promises.

In other words, the Bible ought to be believed because it claims to be the Word of God. Understood one way this sounds absurd. Humanely speaking just because someone makes a claim to authority doesn’t necessarily make the claim true. But, in the case of God and the Bible we say it IS true. Why?  

The Bible must necessarily be self-authorizing because there can be no authority more ultimate than God Himself! You would not expect God to say believe the Bible is the Word of God because some great politician, or theologian, or even Miley Cyrus herself says so.The Bible is true because God, who cannot lie, reveals all Truth.“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face.” Psalm 89:14  

Truth is derived from Him and apart from Him there is no truth. Every rival claim against God’s ultimate authority has to be challenged because they’re all ultimately false. Man’s observations are at best limited and very often wrong. Science is always changing and constantly having to correct itself. So called “experts” can usually be found on opposite sides of virtually any issue.  

Some might say arguing from the Bible to prove the Bible is circular reasoning. This is true, but this is what every other competing worldview does. It is inescapable. Man must begin his reasoning from some place. Logic demands any ultimate authority must be a self-authenticating one. Christians start with most ultimate being there is, even Almighty God and His self-authenticating Word. Everyone else starts with fallible, finite man and his own vain reasoning, or some counterfeit scriptures. The question remains, “Are you justified in your starting place?”  

Only God is justified in his own truthfulness. In the Book of Romans, the Apostle Paul systematically lays out the case all men are guilty before God because all men have sinned. They have violated God’s law revealed in nature, in their conscience and written by Moses.Sinful man objects, makes himself the judge and wants to put God in an orange jumpsuit and drag Him into their petty little court to accuse Him. What does the inspired Apostle say when man puts God on trial? “Let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You [God] may be justified in Your words, And may overcome when You are judged.” Romans 3:4  

God’s self-authenticating Word is the measure of the all things, including the church and its ministers. Here is how some very wise men have articulated it. “The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, and obeyed, depends not upon the testimony of any man, or Church; but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the author thereof: and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God.” WCF, Chap.1, par. IV  

The whole authority for believing the Bible is found in God alone. Not partially from God plus other evidence, testimonies or arguments from manmade sources. The Bible is its own divine, self-authentication. Today in France held at the International Bureau of Weights and Measure, there is a platinum bar called the standard meter. Have you ever wondered how long is an exact meter and who decides? It makes sense there has to be a standard for all the other measures. This standard platinum meter judges every other meter. Therefore, the standard meter is self-authorizing. Likewise God’s Word by definition must be and is self-authorizing.  

Jesus assumed this when commanded his followers to believe and obey His Word merely on the authority of His speaking it; “You have heard it said, but I say unto you!” This would be the height of presumption unless Jesus can self-authorize His message. Jesus did prove He was the Divine Son of God by His resurrection from the dead.He defeated death and hell for the sake all whosoever will believe on Him!Therefore, Jesus has the absolute right to demand our faith and obedience to His Word.  

This offends the sensibilities of proud, autonomous man. “I am my own final authority and a law unto myself,” they protest. Today we even have many who call themselves Christians who consider only parts of the Bible to be true. God calls for complete, unconditional surrender to all its authority! All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17  

The Bible does not come to you as just one more human opinion you can take or leave with no consequences. It comes in the full authority of God Himself and demands even your thoughts and motives be subject and obedient to it. The grave consequences for rejecting biblical authority are both temporal and eternal. So, the Bible is to be believed because it claims to be, and is, the very Word of God. There is no higher authority that can be invoked.  

So, why do Christians affirm the Bible and others don’t? Are they somehow inherently smarter, better or more spiritual? NO! Jesus explained it this way. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” John 10:27 Only by the grace of God do Christians hear the voice of God in the Bible. When we heard the call to repent and believe nothing could have made more sense! Being made alive spiritually we longed to know the Bible. Only God and His Word satisfies the Christian’s deep spiritual hunger for the truth in Christ.  

Our belief did not make the Bible the Word of God. The popular bumper sticker is wrong: “God says it. I believe it. That settles it.” The Bible is the Word of God, and that settles it, even if no one believes it. Yet, because God has all authority over his creation we ought to expect some kind of evidence of that authority, and we see it in the Bible. We would expect God’s Word to be a wondrous book and unique among human literature, and it is. But, being persuaded by the evidence does not make God’s Word binding, it is binding independent of our subjective response.  

There are abundant proofs the Bible is the Word of God.

• There’s the testimony of the God’s people over the centuries.
• Internally the Bible reveals spiritual realities in a manner you would you would expect from God.
• Historically the power of its teachings have enlightened and liberated whole nations.
• The message of the Bible has convicted and converted even the hardest of sinners, transforming them into godly saints.
• The Bible’s authority comports with God’s as the Lordof all Creation.
• The purpose of the Bible is evident throughout, which is to give all glory to God in the redemption of His people and by His victory over His enemies.
• In the Bible we find the only way of man’s salvation in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• Written over 1,800 years by over 40 different authors on the three different continents in three different languages, the message of the Bible retains internal agreement.
• There are hundreds of fulfilled, specific predictive prophecies.
• The science of archeology continues to support the historical truthfulness of the Bible.

Like God himself, we find in the Bible God’s perfection in its infallibility and inerrancy, but even with an abundance of irrefutable evidence it will be still be disputed and dismissed by the unbeliever. The Jews of His day asked Jesus for a sign. Jesus replied the only sign that He would give them was the sign of Jonah, referring to His resurrection on the third day. Even though the Jews heard from eyewitnesses, many who died for their testimony, that Jesus was raised, they did not repent and believe. In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Jesus concluded the parable with this statement. “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead. Luke 16:31  

Even if we could present Jesus physically alive today, skeptics would find a way to dismiss it. They might argue we simply don’t understand science well enough. Eventually, we will figure out how Jesus was naturally resuscitated. All the evidence in the world is not enough to persuade a proud, sinful heart.  

While man ought to believe the Bible based on its own authority and because of its internal and external proofs, yet it is God the Holy Spirit who must convince us to believe the Bible. Only He can change our stubborn, unbelieving mind so we might believe. [O]ur full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority [of the Bible], is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts. (W.C.F. Chapter 1. Para. V)  

The Word and Spirit work together to convince us. The Spirit does not add authority to the Bible, rather it is the work of the Spirit that causes us to stop resisting God’s Word. It is not surprisingly the Holy Spirit, who inspired the Word of God, works with that same Word in the life of the believer, convincing him of the authority and truth of that Word. Christianity is not a blind leap into the dark. It is a leap into the arms of our loving Heavenly Father who has graciously revealed Himself by His Spirit by His objective covenant promises. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17  

God mercifully causes us to hear and believe His Word based on the authority of His own nature as the fountain of Truth. Jesus affirmed every tiny jot and tittle of God’s Word is true and He promised to send the Spirit of Truth to convict us of the truth of His Word.  

Christian, you can have the highest degree of confidence in the Bible as the Word of God. You are going to need it as the culture becomes more overtly hostile to Christ and His Word. We will be called upon to rely more deeply on His promises and live lives more worthy of Christ.  

What’s the alternative? Where else can we go? Jesus alone has the Words of eternal life! If you reject the Bible you’ll end up reducing your life to utter foolishness now and eternal condemnation in the life to come.  

May God grant us the boldness to never be ashamed or apologize for believing His Word. It is the power of God unto salvation to all whosoever will believe and a light unto the path of all His people.  

For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:38  

FOR EXTRA CREDIT  

There is one more very profound proof that the Bible is true: the impossibility of the contrary. The claim of biblical authority is not just a bare claim but is supported by the truthfulness of what it teaches, both internally in its system of doctrines, and externally in the real world. One way you can prove the Bible is true is because without it you can’t prove anything else. Either the Bible is true or some competing worldview is, either the atheistic worldview or some other rival religious system. Only a biblical worldview can account for reality because this is God’s world.  

Without what the Bible teaches you can’t prove anything to be true. You are left with either false, demonic gods or with matter and motion or time and chance signifying nothing. For example, without the biblical doctrine of creation you cannot account for science or logic. If there is no God, absolutely everything is reduced to meaningless chaos, even our thoughts. But no one can live as if that is true, because we know life is meaningful and there is a purpose to life.  

When you deny the truth of God’s Word you are left with utter foolishness, not just partial truth. There is only one sound starting point. Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.