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How Do We Know That the Bible Is Truly God's Word?

Michael Lawrence

The following is a transcribed Video Q&A, so the text may not read like an edited article would. Scroll to the bottom to view this video in its entirety. 

“The Bible truly is the Word of God. We know that for several reasons, but the most important reason I think is because of Jesus. Jesus declared that the Old Testament was the Word of God. Again and again, He spoke about what was written in the Old Testament, not just as if it was written by men, but as if it had the authority of God's Word himself. Jesus tells us in his use of the Old Testament that the Old Testament is the Word of God. Why should we trust Jesus? Well Jesus got up from the dead. He was not only crucified for our sins, but three days later He was raised from the dead. That empty tomb means that we need to pay very close attention to everything that Jesus said. Jesus tells us that the Old Testament is the word of God, and He tells us that he Himself is the Son of God, speaking the very words of the Father.

Jesus and his words are the Word of God. Then He also told us that he was going to send the Spirit to lead his Apostles into even more things that he had to say, but He couldn't say to them at that point. That's really what we get in the rest of New Testament. It's not simply the words of the Apostles who were the close associates of Jesus, walked with Him in His life, and witnessed His resurrection, but the words that the Apostles wrote down were inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that Jesus promised He would send to lead them into even further truth.

Whether we're thinking about the Old Testament, whether we're thinking about the rest of the New Testament, we know that they are the Word of God, totally true, totally trustworthy… because of Jesus and what He said and what He did. If there had been no resurrection, then all we've got in the Bible are religiously inspiring writings, but because of the resurrection we can be confident that it is the Word of God itself.”