How do we know the Bible is the Word of God?

Why is the Bible any different from all other religious books? It’s a question people often ask. There are seven reasons why we say the Bible is God’s Word, why we bank our lives on the Bible and why you should too…

First because of its internal consistency. The Bible contains 66 books written by 40 different authors in 3 different languages over the course of 1500 years. And yet they all paint a picture of one story that revolves around the one true God creating men and women, who sin against God, and God making a way of restoration for all things through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

All 66 books contribute to that story and the good news of Jesus. If you were to ask 40 people at random for their views on God, what’s wrong with the world and how things can be put right, there is no way that they would agree. But the message of the 40 authors in the Bible is coherent and consistent from start to finish.

Second because of the Bible’s manuscript reliability. We base our knowledge of world history on writings where we frequently only have a handful of manuscripts. But we have over 5000 full or partial manuscripts of the Greek New Testament. More manuscripts are discovered every year. None of those new discoveries has ever resulted in a major revision. That makes the Bible the most reliably attested document in human history.

Third because of its historical accuracy. Over and over again the Bible has been proven to be historically, geographically and archaeologically accurate. One non-Christian, non-Jewish archaeologist said, “It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference.”

Fourth the Bible has predicted history. It contains thousands of prophecies fulfilled with uncanny precision, including more than three hundred specific prophecies in the Old Testament that are fulfilled in detail in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The odds of that happening by chance are less than 1 in 2 followed by a thousand zeros! One scholar says, “The very dimension of the sheer fulfilment of prophecies in the Old Testament Scriptures should be enough to convince anyone that we are dealing with a supernatural piece of literature.”

Fifth the Bible contains eyewitness testimony. In many cases the authors were writing down either what they saw themselves or what they learned from others who were there and saw what happened. And keep in mind that those who wrote the books of the Bible were often persecuted or even martyred for what they were writing. But they wrote it anyway. Pascal said, “I believe the witnesses who get their throats cut for what they’re writing.”

Sixth there is the Bible’s timeless authority. Century after century the Bible has shown itself to be our Judge. Its authority has been attacked, questioned, criticised, disputed and denied in every age by different people. But the Bible still stands. The French atheist philosopher Voltaire once claimed, “100 years from now the Bible will be a forgotten book.” But, interestingly, after Voltaire died, the house in which he lived became a printing press for the distribution of Bibles across the World. Today most people have forgotten Voltaire. But they have not forgotten the Bible.

But lastly I bank my life on the Bible because of its supernatural authenticity. By that I mean that throughout history wherever the Bible has gone it has supernaturally changed lives. It has brought peace and joy and eternal life to those who open it, read it and then bank their lives on it. That’s why we say to everyone who asks us, whoever they are, that the Bible is necessary for your life.

I’m a good person, surely God isn’t going to send me to hell?

Firstly, I hear you: it appears contradictory for the Bible to say God is love but that he’s also going to send people to hell. It may even sound very narrow-minded to you for the Bible to say that good people who care for their loved ones, are ethical and responsible employees and give back to the community are going to end up in hell simply because they don’t believe or ascribe to the Christian faith.

I think what we generally mean when we say, “I’m a good person,” is, “I’m a better person than some other people” meaning criminals and rapists or even just people who hoard wealth or cheat on their spouse. As a piano teacher, if I were to say, “I’m a good pianist”, I would mean I’m a better pianist than my pupils but compared to Yuja Wang, I’m pretty rubbish. 

The way the Bible views goodness is different. It’s not a ladder that we can climb up in order to reach God, and be proud of where we are on the ladder compared to other people. Goodness isn’t relative, which is actually good news because if it was, how would we ever know whether we’ve been good enough for God? According to the Bible, no one is good but God alone. God is the very definition of goodness. And no one in all of history has ever met God’s standards for goodness. No one.

I also think it’s a misunderstanding to assume that God wants people to go to hell. He doesn’t. The God of the Bible is a generous God. He is love, light, life and goodness itself and he created us to share in that. We were the ones who turned away from Him to define our own standards of goodness. We turned towards death, darkness and disconnection. And because God loves us, he’s angry about this - much like a loving parent. God doesn’t want anyone to go to hell. John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him wouldn’t perish (meaning experience hell) but would have eternal life.”

I said earlier that no one in all of history has ever met God’s standards for goodness. But that’s actually not true. God’s Son, Jesus, once lived among us and Jesus’s life met God’s standards for goodness perfectly. And then, Jesus faced the death, darkness and disconnection from God that we all deserve on our behalf, so that we wouldn’t have to.

So we can either continue striving for and asserting our own goodness and refusing any gift from God that we haven’t earned. And the Bible says the result of that will be death, darkness and disconnection from God. Or we can accept that we’ve fallen short of God’s goodness, accept the free gift of forgiveness He offers us through Jesus and know with certainty that we have been welcomed with open arms into a future with God that is richer and fuller than anything you can imagine.

If you would like to know more about accepting this free gift, please get in touch with us.

I believe in God, but what's the point of church?

If I have a personal relationship with God, why do I need to attend a local church? After all, some of the best Bible teaching and worship is live-streamed on Sundays from churches all over the world. Why can’t I just stay at home and enjoy these online ministries?

From earliest times Christians have maintained that God does not save people from sin without also saving them into the local church. For example, Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (248-258) famously said, “outside the church there is no salvation” (Letters 73.21). D.L. Moody, the American evangelist and author declared, “Church attendance is as vital to a disciple as a transfusion of rich, healthy blood to a sick man.” And more recently John Stott wrote, “I hope none of my readers is that grotesque anomaly, an unchurched Christian. The New Testament knows nothing of such a person. For the church lies at the very centre of the eternal purpose of God” (The Living Church).

But what lies behind their convictions? Simply put, the Bible.

God’s Word in the New Testament pictures the Christian life as a community project.  We are bound together. We are variously described as the flock of Christ (Luke 12:32), the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5), and God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:16).

But perhaps the most striking image of all is of Christians as the body of Christ. It is an image that pictures not only our dependence on the head, the Lord Jesus, but also our dependence on one another. This is the argument that the apostle Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 12:12 where he says, “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.”

Elsewhere Paul uses the language of a man and women being joined together in marriage to describe Christians in a local church being “joined together” to become a holy temple in the Lord (Ephesians 2:21). This understanding of the local church is what lies behind nearly 60 “one another” statements in the New Testament. For example, believers are to “love one another” (Romans 13:8), “encourage one another” (1 Thessalonians 4:18), “pray for one another” (James 5:16). And it’s only in the local church where believers can experience true “fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7).

But above all, Christians gather together in the local church to be taught God’s Word in community. Hebrews 10:25 commands us not to give up meeting together, which in the context refers to the formal gathering of God’s people for Bible teaching and worship.

The point is that when we meet at church to sit under God’s Word, I know what you have heard and you know what I have heard. There is a loving accountability between us for the way that we respond that is missing when I listen to sermon downloads by myself at home. Sitting under God’s Word together and responding in worship together is God’s life-support system for every believer.

You can’t have a groom without a bride. Christ is our bridegroom. He loves His bride, the local church. And so must we. Not in theory or from a distance. But in person, in the flesh, every week for our good and for God’s glory.