Written by Pastor Jack WellmanWinkie Pratney
How do we know that the Bible is God’s revelation to mankind and not mankind’s revelation about God?
The Inerrancy of the Word
I often tell my church, “Today, part of my sermon will be perfect…the part where I read out of the Bible.” The Word of God is perfect but we are far from it. The Bible itself declares its perfection in Psalm 19:7a “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul” and “Every word of God proves true” (Prov 30:5a). I am probably telling you something that you already know but it is one of the proofs that the origin of the Bible is from God Himself and not a work of man. Man’s tendencies to err and God’s infinite perfection is an irreconcilable gap proving that God is the Author and not Man and that’s why it is perfect and without error and we are imperfect and have the propensity to make mistakes.
The Breath of God
God’s Word is declared to be God-breathed, meaning that it is fully inspired by God. The fact is that “no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (1 Pet 1:21) and that “no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.” (1 Pet 2:20). I wouldn’t want it if it was a product of man because how could it ever be trusted? We can conclude that not most of it or a great deal of it was from God but “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16-17). The Greek interpretation of the word “all” means….all! That is all of it is God-breathed. That leaves 0% as man-breathed or inspired.
He Speaks and it Comes to Pass
Another reason we know that the Bible is true is because whatever God speaks must necessarily come true because He has the power to bring about what He has spoken…even if it doesn’t come to pass for thousands of years. God asks the rhetorical question, “Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it” (Lam 3:37)? Even at the creation of the universe “he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm” (Psalm 33:9).
Conclusion
The phrase “Thus says the Lord” occurs over 400 times in the Word of God. This is God’s way of saying that even when the prophets spoke, it was God speaking through them and never the prophets own words, thoughts, or ideas. The finite mind of man cannot comprehend the infinite mind of God and that’s why He is God and we are not “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him” (1 Cor 2:16) and “Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD, or instruct the LORD as his counselor”(Rom 11:34)? The answer of course is no one.
