All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
If you were God and wished to convey your Word to mankind — what system would you use? Verbal to each and every person? Hardly. Music — okay, but scarcely effective. Thunder and lightning? Noisy and certain to attract attention, but not really communicative.
Perhaps use people to spread your word verbally. Well, yes, but not the best way to truly get the message to all whom you wish to hear it.
So, what method would you use? Conceivably, you very well could work through humans to accomplish the goal of delivering your Word in a manner they could understand.
And this brings us to the Bible.
Sixty-six different books. Written by 40-some authors in three different languages on three different continents over a period of (give or take) 1,500 years.
The writing styles vary from narrative historical to prose, to poetic, poetic songs, sermons, private letters, and even apocalyptic. And yes, biographical narrative.
The book very much resembles a tapestry, which displays a wonderful, beautiful image on one side, and then, when turned over, shows us consistent threads running throughout the work. We see consistent themes running from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21: “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.”
The great biblical themes — God’s revealed work of creation, provision, judgment, deliverance, his covenants, and his promises.
We have been put here by a power far greater than ourselves, and our Creator never changes. Our Creator loves us so much that he sent his son for our eternal salvation, to save us from ourselves.
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them” (John 3:36).
And, of course, our Creator’s words are true and can be relied upon. But a question remains: wasn’t the Bible written by men? If so, how can we call it God’s Word?
It is, in fact, a common objection we hear. Atheists and other opponents of the Bible claim that our faith is worthless and blind and without any evidence.
The Bible is impossible for them to believe because it was written by men and is entirely unsupported by science, and the stories are too preposterous to believe.
Stories within the Bible, such as Jonah and the big fish or even Daniel in the Lion’s Den, are considered absurd, and that’s before we even get to the gospels.
The miracles of Jesus, his death, and in particular, his resurrection, as dismissed as fairy tales or mythology, or worse, all written to control or coerce others.
It seems that because the books of the Bible are “religious” works, contain miracles they don’t believe in, or make “rules” they don’t want to follow — the Bible is dismissed with an easy argument. What is dismissed is any and all evidence of the historicity of the books of the Bible.
However, even many believers today dismiss much of the Bible because “it was written by men.” In fact, there was a recent reply to a social post that a woman lived only by the red-letter words of Jesus and entirely dismissed any other books of the New Testament because they were all written by men.
This woman thus justified accepting what she wanted to accept — and dismissing all that she found difficult or might have disagreed with.
The dismissal of the balance of the New Testament being written by men is the basis of the argument.
Of course, then using the Bible as a means to teach people about God and Jesus proves to be a challenging task. Quoting verses and sermons will have zero impact. Why would they read or believe words from a book they don’t believe in?
On the other hand, the fact is that the books in the Bible were indeed penned by men. Unlike what some would choose to believe, it was not written by some super-secret group with the intent to enslave and control people. Nonetheless, the letters, books, sermons, and poems were all written down by men and collected by men.
So, what is the truth?
Many have tried to prove the Bible to be false or to even find something incorrect or untruthful within the Bible. All have failed. After all, prove something false, and the inerrancy of the Bible comes into serious question, as certainly would God’s involvement.
On the contrary, however, with each generation, more and more information within the Bible has been proven accurate. Certainly, a lack of error must apply to both matters of science as well as matters of faith.
Of course, much of the writing of the Bible involves verifiable information, dealing with historical facts and circumstances of each era. Almost the entirety of the gospels detail events done in public:
A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road (Matthew 21:8).
It also stands to reason that any such writings of men from more than 2,000 years ago would make some scientific error. Something that was believed to be true then would have been proven untrue by now. But no such error has ever been found.
The historical documentary evidence is clear about each and every book of the Bible. But with the New Testament in particular, there exist thousands more ancient manuscripts than any other ancient writing with a virtual 100% consistency of texts.
Further, the theology and the faith message are consistent throughout the writings. Even among a multitude of so-called “versions” and translations, there is not a shred of theological difference.
But what is missing is any documented evidence of denial of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus from that era from either the Romans or the Jews, who had a great deal to gain by shutting down the Christian movement.
The evidence represents something greater than a collection of writings by mere men. But is that enough?
On the very first page of the Book of Genesis, we are introduced to the “Spirit of God.”
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (Genesis 1:1-2).
This opening setting of creation is full of mystery and power, and divinity. And humans have yet to enter the picture. While during this time, we see the Spirit of God working alone, what would make us doubt that the same Spirit could and would work through mankind?
The Bible is full of stories of the Spirit empowering and inspiring humans — from Joseph’s interpretation of dreams (Genesis 41:38) to Moses leading the Jews out of slavery (Exodus) to David slaying Goliath (1 Samuel 17:1-51) and so many more, all the way on through to the gospel stories of the Messiah and Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).
Throughout the Bible, the Spirit’s work became visible through the actions of men. Indeed, if God’s works are visible through men, then it stands to reason that God’s divine Word is communicated in the same way. Not because he had to, but because he chose to deliver his Word to mankind through men.
Chapter 2 of the Book of Genesis seems to be a closer look at the creation of Adam and Eve. Greater detail than the seeming passing glance in chapter 1.
Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Genesis 2:7).
The breath of God. The mere thought is incredibly overwhelming.
In what many believe is Paul’s final letter, he wrote this to his dear son in the Spirit, Timothy.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
With so many of the historical characters of the Bible, we see the results of their Spirit-inspired actions, and we also see their humanness — their weaknesses and helplessness, and all too often their immorality.
Yes, the Bible was recorded and written down by men, and in those writings, we see the personality, the humanness — of each writer. But the writings themselves represent the very words that God — through his breath, through his Spirit — wanted each to write down.
God’s meaning and God’s chosen human authors were each shaped by their own experiences and their own perspectives. Each one is under the influence of the breath — the Spirit — of God.
We read King David’s last words:
These are the last words of David: “The inspired utterance of David, son of Jesse, the utterance of the man exalted by the Most High, the man anointed by the God of Jacob, the hero of Israel’s songs: “The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; his word was on my tongue (2 Samuel 23:1-2).
For further reading:
Do We Know When the Bible Was Written?
What Does it Mean That the Bible Is God-Breathed?
What Does it Mean That the Bible Is Divinely Inspired?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Red Goldwing
Greg doesn’t pretend to be a pastor, a theologian, or a Bible expert, but offers the perspective of an everyday guy on the same journey as everyone else – in pursuit of truth.
Greg can be reached by email or on Facebook @ Greg Grandchamp - Author.