Is the Bible Really God’s Word?

Why do we believe that the Bible is the Word of God?

This is a critical question, and one that we ought to seriously consider. After all, as Christians, we base not only our lives on the Bible, but our eternities. We believe it to be the very Word of God. But what are the reasons we do so?

Not everyone, of course, believes that the Bible is truly God’s Word. Andy Partridge (lead singer of XTC) would be one such example. “I don’t believe the Bible,” says Partridge. “I believe most of the Bible is not lies, but fantasy based on a tiny thread of something maybe not so fantastic after all.” Captain Sensible (guitarist and founding member of the punk band The Damned) concurs: “There’s also no mention of dinosaurs in the Bible either. Perhaps it’s not inspired by an all knowing being after all and is, after all, just a cracking good work of fiction?”

Actor Bruce Willis (from a July 1998 interview in George Magazine) also agrees:

Organized religions in general, in my opinion, are dying forms. They were all very important when we didn’t know why the sun moved, why weather changed, why hurricanes occurred, or volcanoes happened. Modern religion is the end trail of modern mythology. But there are people who interpret the Bible literally. Literally! I choose not to believe that’s the way.

In an increasingly skeptical world, we (as Christians) must be ready to give good reasons for our faith (1 Pet. 3:15), including why we believe the Bible really is what it claims to be. The Christian faith, more than any other belief system, is a reasonable faith; it makes claims that correspond to testable facts, gives compelling evidences for its own truthfulness, and presents a worldview that is consistent with reality. Thus, when we are confronted by detractors, we can give a reasonable defense, knowing that the truth will ultimately prevail.

R. A. Torrey took this very approach when confronted with his own personal doubts. Nearly a century ago, Torrey wrote this:

I was brought up to believe that the Bible was the Word of God. In early life I accepted it as such upon the authority of my parents, and never gave the question any serious thought. But later in life my faith in the Bible was utterly shattered through the influence of the writings of a very celebrated, scholarly and brilliant skeptic. I found myself face to face with the question, Why do you believe the Bible is the Word of God?

I had no satisfactory answer. I determined to go to the bottom of this question. If satisfactory proof could not be found that the Bible was God’s Word I would give the whole thing up, cost what it might. If satisfactory proof could be found that the Bible was God’s Word I would take my stand upon it, cost what it might. I doubtless had many friends who could have answered the question satisfactorily, but I was unwilling to confide to them the struggle that was going on in my own heart; so I sought help from God and from books, and after much painful study and thought came out of the darkness of skepticism into the broad daylight of faith and certainty that the Bible from beginning to end is God’s Word.

As a result of his scrutiny and study, Torrey produced “Ten Reasons I Believe the Bible Is the Word of God” — a helpful survey of the reasons that compelled Torrey to believe the Bible. Over the next few days, we are going to survey a similar list (in part based on Torrey’s work), in the hopes that you will be encouraged in your own reading and study of the Scriptures.