I.        INTRODUCTION

A.      The creation around us and within us gives evidence of God’s existence.  Although we cannot see God, there is sufficient evidence around us that we may believe in God through faith (Psa. 19:1-6; Heb. 11:1, 3).

B.      However, observing God’s creation alone cannot reveal God’s will for mankind.  To reveal His will, we have the Bible, which Christians believe is God’s inspired message for all people.

                                                             1.      The Bible makes this claim of itself in many passages, including 2Timothy 3:16-17 – “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

                                                             2.      To truly believe this claim, we need to appreciate the full depth and application of this statement.  We will attempt to do this by answering the following questions in this lesson:

a.       What does inspiration by God mean?

b.       How can we know that the Bible is inspired by God?

c.        To what extent is the Bible inspired by God?

d.       How can we know that the original, inspired writings of the Bible have been preserved?

e.        Have the inspired writings of the Bible been lost in translation?

II.      INSPIRATION BY GOD

A.      Let us first understand why we use the term “Scriptures” in reference to the Bible.

                                                             1.      The word “scripture” in a general sense simply means something written.

                                                             2.      However, “Scripture” in Bible terms specifically refers to the written word of God.  Notice some examples:

a.       In John 10:34-36, Jesus equated Scripture to the Law and the word of God.

b.       In Luke 24:44-45, Luke described the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms as “the Scriptures.”

c.        In Luke 4:21, Jesus called the book of Isaiah “Scripture.”

d.       The apostle Paul quoted Deuteronomy 25:4 with Luke 10:7 and called them both “Scripture” (1Tim. 5:18).

e.        In 2Peter 3:16, Peter grouped Paul’s epistles with “the rest of the Scriptures.”

B.      The phrase “inspired by God” is descriptive of the process by which the Scriptures came into being.

                                                             1.      The Scriptures are the written word of God, but this does not mean that God penned the words Himself.  He employed men for task of writing down the words.

                                                             2.      The process by which God gave His word to the men who wrote it is inspiration.

a.       The phrase “inspired by God” comes from one Greek word, theopneustos, which means “God-breathed.”  This indicates that the words of the Scriptures came from within God.

b.       God interacted with the men who wrote the Scriptures by means of His Holy Spirit.  Notice 2Peter 1:20-21.

i.         The word translated “moved” in verse 21 is the same word translated as “driven” in Acts 27:17 regarding the wind driving a ship.

ii.        Therefore, we may understand that the Holy Spirit breathed God’s word into His prophets and moved them to speak it and write it.

C.      Other writings also claim to be inspired by God, but there is evidence to prove the Bible’s inspiration.

                                                             1.      The unity and accuracy of the Bible is proof of its inspiration by God.

a.       Books authored by men are always subject to contradictions, inaccuracies, and mistakes.  The absence of these in the Bible proves that it is not the work of men.

b.       Consider the strength of this evidence:

i.         The Bible was written by about forty different men from different cultures over a period of about 1600 years.

ii.        There are thousands of agreements by the writers on points of history, culture, geography, biography, and doctrine.

iii.      Most of these points are also in agreement with other historical writers and have been proven by archaeology.

iv.      For mere men to undertake such a scope of work over such a period of time without disagreements and mistakes would be impossible.  The only acceptable explanation is that which the Bible gives of itself – it is the work of God.

                                                             2.      The fulfillment of prophecy is another proof of inspiration by God.

a.       Prophecy is the speaking forth of the mind and counsel of God.

b.       Many prophecies of the Bible contain predictions of future events.  If the Bible is inspired by the omniscient, omnipotent God, then those predictions must be accurate (Jer. 28:8-9).

c.        The Bible is filled with prophecies that predicted specific events before they happened.

i.         For example, Isaiah prophesied that Cyrus would return the Jews to rebuild the temple at least 142 years before Cyrus’ decree (Isa. 44:28-45:7; 2Chron. 36:22-23).  Isaiah prophesied at least 94 years before the temple was even destroyed.

ii.        Also, the Old Testament contains over 300 prophecies of the Christ, all of which Jesus fulfilled hundreds of years after they were written.

                                                             3.      Because the statements of the Bible which can be tested are proven to be true, we must also accept the truthfulness of its claims which cannot be tested.  Therefore, the Bible becomes a credible witness to itself, and its testimony is that it is inspired by God.

D.      The evidence and testimony prove that the very words of the Bible are inspired by God.

                                                             1.      There are some people who accept the Bible’s teachings on morality but reject its accounts of creation, miracles, and other unnatural events.  Some say that it is inspired in “sense” but not in “sentence,” meaning that it is like any other great work of literature.

                                                             2.      However, consider what the Bible says of itself:

a.       More than 3800 times in the Old Testament, the claim is made that the Scriptures are the word of God (Ex. 17:14; 2Sam. 23:2; Jer. 1:9).  Psalm 119 alone exalts the Scriptures as the word of God 175 times.

b.       In the New Testament, Jesus recognized that every word of the Law was of divine origin.

c.        The Lord told His apostles that God would tell them what words to say (Matt. 10:19-20).

d.       The apostle Paul described His teachings as being verbally inspired by God, given by His Holy Spirit (1Cor. 2:11-13; 1Thess. 2:13).

                                                             3.      Again, if the many points we can test prove to be true, then we must believe all that the Bible says about itself.  Therefore, we must accept that the Bible is inspired in word and not just in sense.

III.   PRESERVATION

A.      Despite many years of transmission from generation to generation, we can be confident that the message that was inspired by God when it was originally written has been preserved down to us today.

                                                             1.      Robert Dick Wilson, a Princeton University professor who was thoroughly acquainted with forty-five languages, concluded that we can be certain that the Old Testament we have today is substantially the same text that was in possession of Christ and the apostles.  He said, “I have come to the conviction that no man knows enough to attack the veracity of the Old Testament.  Every time when anyone has been able to get together enough documentary ‘proofs’ to undertake an investigation, the biblical facts in the original text have victoriously met the test.”

                                                             2.      As for the New Testament, scholars are now in possession of over 5300 ancient Greek manuscripts (in part or in whole) of the New Testament, some of which date back as for as early in the second century A.D.  It has been estimated that textual variations concern only about 1/1000 of the entire text.  This is better evidence of preservation than for any other ancient book.  If we cannot believe that the New Testament has been accurately preserved, then no other ancient book has been preserved either, and all of history must be lost.

                                                             3.      Moreover, the Bible gives this testimony concerning itself, saying, “The word of the LORD abides forever” (Isa. 40:8; 1Pet. 1:25).

B.      With the original text of the Scriptures faithfully transmitted and preserved, we need only to have accurate translations to our language in order to receive the inspired word of God.

                                                             1.      The use of translations was approved by Christ because He used one Himself.  Christ quoted from the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament (Matt. 22:32; from Ex. 3:6).

                                                             2.      As long as words and phrases are translated accurately and not interpreted, then we can depend on English translations.  The King James Version, New King James Version, American Standard Version, and New American Standard Bible are accurate, reliable English translations.

IV.    CONCLUSION

A.      Having considered the convincing evidence, we may safely conclude that the Bible we have today is the inspired word of God.

B.      The power of God to deliver and preserve His word is amazing, but it is not surprising.  If we believe that God is all-powerful, then we can believe that He can communicate with us according to His will.

C.      Knowing that we have the word of God given to us, we must now resolve ourselves to know it and to do it.