Why Do You Believe What You Believe?

Why do you believe what you believe?  I don’t mean about mun­dane things, but about monumental matters—especially the reality of God, truth for life, and the hope of eternal joy.  Answer:  because of what God teaches in the Bible.  But then, why believe the Bible in the first place?

Last Sunday I preached on this question, giving special attention to Matthew 4:1-11 where Jesus shows his rock-solid respect for the truth and authority of Scripture.  He says, “It is written,” over and over to fend off the Enemy’s temptations.  Scripture is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) in the hands of Christ.  And if he accepts the Bible as God’s Holy Word, surely anyone who trusts in Jesus as Lord and Savior should do the same!

In God’s Book for God’s People, John Stott notes that this is not circular reasoning:  we’re not just assuming what we want to prove.  Rather, we start with the New Testament writings as ancient history “with no preconceived doctrine of inspiration.”  “Through this historical testimony … the Holy Spirit brings us to faith in Jesus.  Then this Jesus, in whom we have come to believe, sends us back to the Bible and gives us in his teaching a doctrine of Scripture which we did not have when we started our reading.  For he now tells us that its historical testimony is also divine testimony, and that through the human agency of prophets and apostles his Father is bearing witness to him” (pp. 38-39).

So we believe the Bible because we know Jesus and trust him as the ultimate reliable witness to the truth, especially in regard to monumental matters.  And Jesus’ view of Scripture aligns with the inward testi­mony of the Holy Spirit, as John Calvin points out:  “And the certainty it [i.e., Scripture] deserves with us, it attains by the testimony of the Spirit.  For even if it wins reverence for itself by its own majesty, it seriously affects us only when it is sealed upon our hearts through the Spirit” (Institutes, 1.8.5).