How Do We Know the Bible Is True?

Last Sunday I began a sermon series called “Truth Be Told:  Following Jesus in a World of Spin and Lies,” and we pondered the question of Pontius Pilate, “What is truth?” (John 18:38).  Along the way, I pointed to many New Testament passages in which Jesus claims to speak definitive truth (e.g., John 18:37) and even identifies himself as the very embodiment of divine truth (John 14:6).  I challenged the skeptical outlook that denies truth or suggests truth is personal and pliable (“my truth,” “your truth,” etc.).  We accept the existence of objective truth in numerous areas of experience (e.g., when it comes to gravity or traffic laws), so why not when it comes to God and the meaning of life?  Could it be that postmodern dismissals of definitive, knowable truth are often attempts to grasp control of one’s life and avoid dealing with the God who made us and calls us to account?

But claims for objective truth about God and reality based on Scripture push us toward even a more basic question:  Why believe the Bible in the first place?  Why take the Bible as God’s inspired, unparalleled, fully truthful, authoritative revelation of himself and his purposes?  This is a valid and extremely important question to ask, and how we answer it has implications for every aspect of our Christian lives.

It’s crucial to approach this question in a linear way.  That is, saying “I believe in Jesus because the Bible tells me to believe” is a circular argument:  we learn of Jesus from the Bible, and then we believe in Jesus because the Bible tells us to.  But why regard the Bible as true and trustworthy in the first place?

Let’s start with the story of Jesus in the Gospels.  And let’s begin by taking the Gospels simply as noteworthy historical documents.  In fact, there is no other ancient work that’s nearly as well preserved, in terms of the age, number, and distribution of copies, as the New Testament is.  Historians have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to study of the New Testament writings.

In the four Gospels we encounter Jesus of Nazareth, who’s presented as a commanding and captivating figure—his words, his personality, his healing touch, his dramatic actions, his penetrating insight into the deep recesses of the human heart (“He knows me!”)—all of these are striking.  Jesus is a man of truth and love; he gives hope to the hopeless, subdues demonic forces, and confronts the self-important.  Eventually he’s killed for threatening the religious and social status quo.  And after that, according to the staggering yet uniform witness of the New Testament and early Christian writings, he’s raised from the dead.  This is one exceptional person!  (The objection that a resur­rec­tion has no place in what we call “history” only holds water if you decide in advance either that there’s no God or that God can’t inter­vene in his created sphere.  I prefer not to be so closed-minded.)

If, as has been true for millions of people through the centuries, you meet this Jesus through the Gospel accounts and find that his words have the ring of truth and his love brings the comfort your heart has always longed for:  if you find that this Jesus knows you—both your intricate motives and deepest hopes—then, I believe, you’ll be drawn to entrust your soul into his eternal care.  Millions of people have come to Jesus this way—not because they were convinced in advance that the Bible was God’s Word, but because they read (or heard) the historical record and, upon “seeing” Jesus Christ, by God’s grace they were swept off their feet with love, thanks, and hope!  That is, they were born again and became authentic Christians.

From that point it’s pretty straightforward to develop a “doctrine of Scripture.”  Once you give your heart to Christ, it follows quite naturally to adopt Jesus’ view of the Bible.  And he saw the Bible, Old and New Testaments, as the uniquely inspired, authoritative, and timelessly truthful Word of God.  Jesus looked back on the “Law and the Prophets” as coming from God and certain to be fulfilled (Mark 12:36; Matt 5:17-18; Luke 24:44; John 10:35).  And he looked forward, delegating his authority to the apostles (Matt 10:40; John 13:20) to continue his ministry and interpret his life (John 20:21; 2 Cor 5:20).  The apostles realized that they spoke for God (1 Cor 14:37; 1 Thess 2:13; 2 Peter 3:16; 1 John 4:6) as they transmitted the definitive witness to Jesus’ life and teaching.

By taking this approach, we can put our confidence in the Bible not merely because it claims to be God’s Word (though it does), and not merely because someone may have told us we should recognize it as Holy Scripture (though we should).  Instead, we can embrace the Bible as God’s timeless truth for all of life because we know Jesus Christ, the living, reigning Son of God, our Savior—whose Word we trust completely!