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by Katie Erickson

After many months (like 18) of writing on the book of Judges, we’re starting a new series this week. We’ll be writing on various topics and sharing what the Bible says about them, to help us all stay grounded in a Biblical foundation in life.

But before we just jump into topics, we need to dig into why the Bible can be trusted as an authority on all of these topics. Why the Bible? Why not any other book, person, etc.?

A number of years ago, I wrote a post on Biblical Authority; you can check it out here. Everyone has different people or things in their life that they consider to be an authority. Each source of authority can have little or a lot of weight in life, depending how much we count on them to advise and inform our worldview. Many of our writers have written on this topic over the years (including Bill Seng’s 10 reasons to believe the Bible over other religious texts a few years ago, starting here), but we hope to write on it again for you our readers as we kick off this series.

My standard mode of operations to share on the authority of the Bible is to look within the Bible itself. Some may say this is circular logic, but what better source is there than the inspired word of God Himself? The assumptions in this are that God exists and that the Bible IS His inspired Word. I believe those two points, partly because I have no reason not to. God has proven that He exists and is God, and as His creation, I trust the Word of the supreme Creator of the universe. These are the assumptions I’m coming from in writing this post, so please take that into consideration as you read on.

So on that note, what does the Bible say about its own authority?

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “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 Peter 1:20-21 says, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

These passages show that the Bible was given to us by God Himself, both through His direct speech to humankind and through divine inspiration. There are over 4,000 times in the Bible that God speaks directly to humankind! All of the writers of Scripture were divinely inspired by God Himself regarding what to write. They may not have had direct knowledge of certain historical events they were writing about, but God inspired them with all of the information they needed. Because of God’s divine inspiration, the Bible is inerrant in its original autographs.

So what if someone wants to test these claims about the Bible? Well, approximately 2500 years ago, God spoke such a test through the prophet Isaiah. Check out the following passages:

“‘Present your case,’ says the Lord. ‘Set forth your arguments,’ says Jacob’s King. ‘Tell us, you idols, what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear. But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; whoever chooses you is detestable.’” (Isaiah 41:21-24)

“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” (Isaiah 42:8-9)

“This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come—yes, let them foretell what will come. Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.” (Isaiah 44:6-8)

“Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.” (Isaiah 46:9-11)

These passages show us that we can test the Bible by testing its claims, and looking at history to see whether the events it foretold have come to pass (spoiler alert: they have!). The only way that ALL of the many prophecies in the Bible could have come to fruition in the manner that they did is if the prophecies were divinely inspired.

There is so much more that has been written and that we could write on regarding this topic of “Why the Bible?”, so stay tuned for more from our other writers, and I’d also encourage you to search through our previous blog posts for more on this as well.

If you’re seeking and wondering why you should believe the Bible as true and authoritative in your life, I encourage you to contact us by leaving a comment here on the blog or through Facebook. We’d love to talk with you more about this!

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