From “How to become a Christian”: Chapter 2 – What is the Bible? How did it come to be written and why should we believe it?
16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 (NASB)
Why should we believe the Bible?
Throughout this book there will be frequent quotations from the Bible. I have included these to explain and justify the points I am making. However, that begs the question “Why should we believe what the Bible says?” In part it is a matter of faith, but only in part. We can prove that the Bible is true. It is an extraordinary and unique book which came into existence by a series of miracles. Its contents are so amazing that they cannot be simply the words of men.
The Bible was physically written by men. Each book or letter reflects the different styles and personalities of those men. But each writer was inspired by God so that they were saying what God wanted to say to us through them. The Bible is therefore, in effect, written by God Himself. It is His own Word to us. That is why we must value it and devote our lives to learning it. It is infallible. Everything in it is true. It is not merely some men’s opinions. It is the truth, told to us by God Himself.
That puts it into a class of its own. By reading the Bible you can find out what God Himself wants to say to you. Once they realise that, how can any wise person not want to read it and reread it to find out what God wants to say? Therefore, I urge you to read the whole Bible for yourself. Look how it is amazingly interwoven, even though it was written in stages over about 1,500 years by 40 different people. Even a modern computer would not be able to arrange all the countless interconnections. It is like a “relational database” in computing terms. It is all cross referenced with itself and inter-related. There is no other book like it, anywhere in the world.
