Is the Bible the Word of God? Why this Question Matters to the Next Generation & Why it Matters NOW (Part 2/4)

Can we know our Creator only through general revelation? 

This is where the need for special revelation comes in.  General revelation is addressed to all persons everywhere; the other is addressed to a special class of sinners, to whom God would make known His salvation.  The one has in view to meet and supply the natural need of persons for knowledge of their Creator; the other to rescue broken and deformed sinners from their sin and its consequence.[1]  This is what is known as special revelation. 

What is the purpose of this Creator/creature relationship?  How does God reveal this purpose?  The purpose of this Creator/creature relationship is seen in the character of who God is and why he creates in the first place.  If God is perfect, holy, and good, then his creation should be perfect, holy, and good.  Through the entrance of sin this perfect relationship between the Creator and creature has now been distorted.  Again, special revelation is given to rescue broken and deformed sinners from their sin and its consequence of eternal separation from their Creator.  Special revelation is specific revelation from God that is given to specific people at certain times in history.[2]  The words of the Bible are considered to be special revelation, but special revelation is not limited to the Bible.[3] 

There is an understanding given in general revelation (i.e., through the law on people’s hearts and the witness of conscience) to all persons that they are created for a purpose, but they do not know what this purpose is.  The purpose in which they were created is now distorted; they became futile in there thinking (Romans 1:21) and professing to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:22).  How then is this problem reversed?  How does one come to know God as they were created to know him?  What is true wisdom?  The answer is found in God’s special revelation to his people in the Bible.  What is the Bible and why is it necessary for knowing the purpose God has for his people and his creation?

The Bible tells the story of God’s purpose for his people and his creation.  We have seen already that God is holy and perfect but for him to be holy and perfect, he must also be just.  God, if completely holy and perfect, cannot be in relationship with a creation that is the complete opposite.  Therefore, God must also be absolutely just.  But how the holiness and justice of God can ever be reconciled with his willingness to forgive sins is a mystery that has never been solved by any religion apart from the Bible.[4]  How does the Bible solve this mystery?

In the second chapter of the book of Genesis, man was in perfect relationship with his Creator.  General revelation was all that was needed in the Garden of Eden because there was yet no sin in the world.[5]  Special revelation is seen primarily in God’s grace giving direction to sinners to be restored to communion with their Maker.  The Bible tells the story of God choosing or electing a specific person in Abraham (Genesis 17) and establishing with Abraham a covenant saying that he will establish an everlasting kingdom through his descendants.  God brings about a nation of people through Abraham called Israel.  Because God has revealed himself to Israel as their Creator and rescued them from slavery in Egypt, God gives them special revelation in the law, or 10 commandments, giving them specific ways in which they shall now live and obey him.  Although and very importantly, the law was never given as an essential list of ‘do’s and don’ts.’  The law was given to Israel to show them their sin, to point out their complete inability to keep the law, and very importantly, point to their need for a Savior.  Special revelation is seen in the words of the Bible that God gives to persons in order to restore communion between God (Creator) and his people (creature/creation) through the death of Jesus.

The Role of Evidence in believing the Bible:

What is it that convinces us that the Bible is God’s Word?  Is it evidence or is it faith, or maybe a combination of the two?  What are the evidences that say the Bible is in fact the Word of God?  In this section, we will look at a very brief history of Scripture and the question of Double-authorship, the problem with external evidence – why external justification about the Bible being the Word of God is extremely problematic, and at the sufficient argument of internal evidence – how the Bible claims internally that it is the Word of God? 

Brief History and Authorship of the Bible:

As stated above, the Bible was written over two thousand years ago by 30 or more different authors.  The Bible is broken up into two different testaments: The Old Testament and the New Testament.  The Old Testament tells the story of the forthcoming of Jesus and how God is being faithful to the covenant promises he has made in bringing about a Savior.  The Old Testament was written in the Hebrew and Aramaic languages between about 1400 BC and 400 BC – a period of a thousand years.[6]  The Old Testament is made up of 39 different books all telling the same message and written at different times throughout a period of this thousand years.  The Old Testament is usually broken up into 3 different sections:  The Torah, or the Law, the Wisdom Books, and the Prophets. 

The New Testament, on the other hand, is made up of 27 different books.  It is believed that all the New Testament books were written in Greek between about 50 A.D. and 95 A.D. – a period of only 45 years.[7]  The New Testament tells the story of the birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.  Also, it tells of the history and development of the early church, how a believer in Jesus should live, how the church should now operate, and of the second coming of Jesus.  The New Testament is broken up into different sections: The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – tell about the life and death of Jesus), the Letters (mostly written by the Apostle Paul), and the Book of Revelation (a prophetic book dealing with the second coming of Jesus, the complete destruction of Satan, and the New Heavens and New Earth). 

Who was the author of the Bible?  To effectively answer this question, one must first look at the area of communication and its principles.  We must ask these questions, “Who is the communicator?  What is the message?  Who is the receiver?”  In defining these three basic dimensions of the law of communication we will define the communicator as the one behind the text, or the author – the one conveying his/her intentions;[8] the communicated message of the communicator is found inside the text, we will call this the meaning of the text as text; and the receiver as the one who is in front of text.  In applying this rule of communication to the Bible, Graeme Goldsworthy says,

The first question arises as to who the sender or communicator is.  Is it God, whose word we believe the Bible to be?  Or is it a number of different human beings whom we believe actually wrote or compiled the documents as we have them in the Bible?  If we assume, on the basis of the Bible’s own testimony about itself, that God effectively revealed his word to the human authors, we need to clarify what we understand about those involved in this double-authorship, and the relationship between them.[9]

 The Bible claims double authorship: human and God.  Although the main communicator is God, he conveyed his message through the power of the Holy Spirit to human authors.  Again, Christian presuppositions include the acceptance that God is there, that he communicated with us through the Bible, and that, therefore he is involved in the authorship of the Bible in such a way that it really does say what he intends.  To this we must add the fact of our being created in the image of God, so that we are made to be able to receive and understand God’s communication.[10]  Concerning the communication or message from the communication (i.e., God’s word), Goldsworthy again states,

When we talk about God’s word we have something of a dilemma.  There are two distinct, if related, ways of identifying God’s word.  We speak of both Jesus Christ and the Bible as God’s word.  Putting an upper-case W on Word when we speak about Jesus as the Divine Word may remove some ambiguity, but we need to understand the relationship between the two.  Jesus is the Word of God incarnate.  He is the revealer, communicator, and savior.  How we understand Jesus will affect the way we understand the communication of God in the Bible, but we only understand Jesus as the Word through the Bible.

 In understanding properly the message of the Bible, God spoke through human authors in the development of his Word to tell the story of the true Word, who is Jesus, who is the Word incarnate, who is the revealer, communicator, and savior.  Goldsworthy says this about the receiver of the Bible (i.e., God’s people),

Our presuppositions about humanness and the relationship of humanity to God will affect the way we understand ourselves as interpreters of the Bible.  We cannot avoid the question of human sin and its effects on our ability to receive and to know the truth.  Biblical assertions about the effect of sin on our minds are not our only concern.  What the Bible says about the effect of salvation on our minds is integral to hermeneutics.  Hearing and understand the address of God to us is part of the saving process.  The relevance of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to hermeneutics then becomes an issue.  What, then, can we say about receivers who do not acknowledge the truth and authority of the Bible?  Can they in any sense understand it truly?  Some would say that the difference between believer and unbeliever is in submission to the authority of the word.  Others argue that submission brings enlightenment and understanding that rebellion forgoes.[11]

[2]Vlauch, Michael J. “The 14 Ways God Has Revealed Himself.”  Issues in Theological Studies..

[3]See “The 14 Ways God Has Revealed Himself” article by Michal J. Vlach. 

[4]Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Systematic Theology, 123.

[5]Warfield, B.B. “The Biblical Idea of Revelation.” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. v. 4, pp. (2573-2582).  Chicago, IL: Howard Severance Co., 1915.

[6]Ragland, Fred. “History and Origin of the Bible.”

[7]Ragland, Fred. “History and Origin of the Bible.”

[8]Goldsworthy, Graeme. Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics: Foundations and Principals of Evangelical Biblical Interpretation (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 31.

[9]Ibid.

[10]Ibid.

[11]Ibid., 35-36.

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See the other articles that belong to this series:

• Part 1