Did God Write the Bible?
Every Christian conviction rests on one prior question: has God spoken? Everything we believe about the Trinity, the cross, salvation, and the life to come, we believe because the Bible says it. If the Bible holds only the best thoughts of ancient men about God, our faith is built on human opinion. If it is the Word of God, it speaks with His voice and carries His authority.
The Bible was written over roughly fifteen centuries by about forty human writers. They included a herdsman, kings, fishermen, a physician, a tax collector, and a tentmaker. They wrote in Hebrew, a little Aramaic, and Greek, on three continents, in palaces and prisons. Yet Scripture claims that this library has one Author behind its many writers. That claim is the doctrine of inspiration.
We confess that the Bible is God's revealed Word, inspired by Him in full and down to its very words. Theologians call this verbal, plenary inspiration. This article shows where Scripture teaches it, what the terms mean, how God used real human writers, and why the common alternatives fall short.
When you open your Bible, are you reading what men said about God, or what God says to you? Scripture's answer is that men truly wrote, and God truly spoke, so that every word is His.
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For Deeper Study
- The Inspiration and Authority of the BibleAmazon Benjamin B. WarfieldPresbyterian. The classic collection of essays defending verbal, plenary inspiration, including a study of the word God-breathed.
- Thy Word Is TruthAmazon Edward J. YoungA warm, readable exposition of the biblical doctrine of inspiration by an Old Testament scholar.
- From God to Us: How We Got Our BibleAmazon Norman L. Geisler and William E. NixAn accessible survey of inspiration, canon, transmission, and translation. Its authors favor the critical text, unlike this platform.
- Basic TheologyAmazon Charles C. RyrieA dispensational systematic theology written for church members. Its chapters on the Bible are clear and concise.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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Inerrancy and Infallibility
Because God cannot lie, His Word is true in all that it affirms and cannot fail in anything it promises.
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