2. In Its Own Words

Essentials

Holy Scripture: The Basics

How the Bible Testifies That It Is God's Word

by Benjamin Dean

Adapted from “The Holy Scriptures: God’s Word, Written in Human Words,” an updated version of Herman Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, trans. Henry Zylstra (Eerdmans, 1956), chapter 7.

Is the Bible just a collection of human writings about God, or is it God’s own Word in written form? The best place to begin answering is the Bible itself, which bears clear witness to its own origin. Here are four lines of that testimony.

God Told Them to Write It Down

First, God frequently commanded his prophets not only to proclaim his revelation by word of mouth, but to set it down in writing as well.

In Exodus 17:14 Moses is told to write the account of Israel’s hugely important victory over Amalek as a memorial in the book of God’s redemptive deeds. In Exodus 24:3, 4, 7 and 34:27 he is charged with writing down the laws by which God made his covenant with Israel. At the end of the wilderness wanderings, Moses records Israel’s journeys according to the commandment of the Lord (Num. 33:2). And the song Moses sings in Deuteronomy 32 was to be written out and taught to Israel, so that in later days of apostasy it would stand as a witness against them (Deut. 31:19, 22).

The prophets received similar commands in their own time.¹ Admittedly, these commands cover only a small part of Scripture. But they show us something important: the God who forbids anyone to add to or take away from his words (Deut. 4:2; 12:32; and Prov. 30:6) took special care over the written record of his revelation too.

The Writers Knew Whose Words They Were

Second, Moses and the prophets knew perfectly well that they were to proclaim the Word not only by speaking, but by writing.

Moses was specially called to lead Israel (Ex. 3), and the Lord spoke with him face to face, as a man speaks to his friend (Ex. 33:11). Over and over, each law is introduced with “And the Lord spoke,” “Then the Lord said,” and the like (Ex. 6:1, 10, 13 and so on). Throughout Scripture, the entire giving of the law is credited to the Lord. He showed his word to Jacob and his statutes and judgments to Israel; he did not deal this way with any other nation (Ps. 147:19, 20 and 103:7).

The prophets, too, knew where their message came from. They knew the Lord had called them² and that they had received their revelation from him.³ Amos spoke for them all: surely the Lord God will do nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7; compare Gen. 18:17). And they knew that when they wrote, they were proclaiming the Lord’s word, not their own. That’s why, like Moses with the laws, they so often opened their prophecies with “thus saith the Lord,” “the word of the Lord came to me,” or the “vision,” “word” or “burden” of the Lord.

The Scripture of the Old Testament, though written by various authors, is an organic whole whose author is God himself.

Jesus and the Apostles Agreed

Third, there is the witness of the New Testament. Jesus and the apostles often quote the Old Testament under the names of Moses, Isaiah, David and Daniel (Matt. 8:4; 15:7; 22:43; and 24:15).⁴ But just as often they use phrases like “It is written” (Matt. 4:4), “the Scripture has said” (John 7:38), or “the Holy Ghost says” (Heb. 3:7). In doing so they show that the Old Testament, though written by many authors, is one organic whole whose author is God himself.

They also say it plainly. Jesus declares that the Scripture cannot be broken, that is, robbed of its authority (John 10:35), and that he came not to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfil them (Matt. 5:17 and Luke 16:27). Peter calls the prophetic word sure, a light on our path, because prophecy never came by the will of man; holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:19-21; cf. 1 Peter 1:10-12). And Paul says the Scriptures can make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, because every Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16).

Christ Equipped His Witnesses to Write

Fourth, Jesus left no writings of his own, but he chose, called and qualified his apostles to be his witnesses.⁵ He equipped them with special graces and powers,⁶ and above all he gave them the Holy Spirit, who would bring to their remembrance everything Jesus had told them (John 14:26) and guide them into all truth, including the truth about things to come (John 16:13). So in the end it is not merely the apostles who testify about Jesus; it is the Holy Spirit testifying in and through them (John 15:26-27). Just as the Son came to glorify the Father, the Spirit comes to glorify the Son, receiving from him all that he speaks (John 16:14).

Their mission stretched beyond Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to every creature and the ends of the earth.⁷ That commission implied a command to testify in writing too. If the promise given to Abraham was to reach all mankind in Christ, it had to be written down, preserved and spread to all peoples. So the Spirit guided the apostles to reach for the pen almost naturally.

The Gospel writers tell us exactly why they wrote. Matthew sets out the history of Jesus Christ, the Son of David (Matt. 1:1). Mark shows how the gospel began with Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1:1). Luke writes a careful, orderly account so that Theophilus can be sure of what he has been taught (Luke 1:1-4). John writes so that we may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and have life in his name (John 20:31), and in his first letter he declares what he has seen, heard and handled so that we may share fellowship with the Father and the Son (1 John 1:1-3).

Paul is convinced that Jesus Christ himself called him as an apostle (Gal. 1:1), that he received his gospel by revelation,⁸ and that by both word and pen he proclaims the Word of God.⁹ He even says that anyone who preaches another gospel is accursed (Gal. 1:8). And at the very end of Scripture, John warns of heavy punishment for anyone who adds to or takes away from the words of his prophecy (Rev. 22:18-19).

Put it all together and the message is unmistakable: by its own testimony, the Bible is God’s Word, written by his command through people who knew whose words they carried.

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1
Isa. 8:1; 30:8; Jer. 25:13; 30:2; 36:2; Ezek. 24:2; Dan. 12:4; and Habak. 2:2. ↩︎
2
1 Sam. 3; Isa. 6; Jer. 1; Ezek. 1-3; Amos 3:7-8 and 7:15. ↩︎
3
Isa. 5:9; 6:9; 22:14; 28:22; Jer. 1:9; 3:6; 20:7-9; Ezek. 3:16, 26, 27; Amos 3:8, and the like. ↩︎
4
Isa. 1:1; 2:1; 8:1; 13:1; Jer. 1:2; 4:11; 2:1; Ezek. 1:1; 2:1; 3:1; Dan. 7:1; Amos 1:3, 6, 9, and other places. ↩︎
5
Matt. 10:1; Mark 3:13; Luke 6:13; 9:1; and John 6:70. ↩︎
6
Matt. 10:1, 9; Mark 16:15ff.; Acts 2:43:5:12; Rom. 15:19; and Heb. 2:4. ↩︎
7
Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:15; and Acts 1:8. ↩︎
8
Gal. 1:12; Eph. 3:2; 1 Tim. 1:12. ↩︎
9
1 Thess. 2:13; 2 Thess. 2:15; 3:14; 1 Cor. 2:4, 10-13; and 2 Cor. 2:17. ↩︎