Authority of the Bible
Written by Patrick Zukeran

This article is also available in Spanish.

There are many books today that claim to be the Word of God. The
Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, The Book of Mormon, and other religious
works all claim to be divinely inspired. The Bible claims to be the
only book that is divinely inspired and that all other claims of
inspiration from other works should be ruled out. Does the Bible

confirm its exclusive claim to be the Word of God? The totality of
evidences presents a strong case for the divine inspiration of the
Bible.
The strongest argument for the divine inspiration of the Bible is the
testimony of Jesus. Jesus claimed to be the divine Son of God and
confirmed His claims through His sinless, miraculous life and
resurrection. The events of His life have been recorded in the four
Gospels, which have proven to be historically accurate and written by
first century eyewitnesses.{1} Since Jesus is God incarnate, whatever
He taught is true, and anything opposed to His teaching is false.

Jesus directly affirmed the authority of the Old Testament and
indirectly affirmed the New Testament. In Luke 11:51, Jesus identified
the prophets and the canon of the Old Testament. He names Abel as the

first prophet from Genesis, and Zechariah the last prophet mentioned
in 2 Chronicles, the last book in the Jewish Old Testament (which
contains the same books we have today although placed in a different
order). In Mark 7:8-9, Jesus refers to the Old Testament as the
"commands of God." In Matthew 5:17, Jesus states that the "Law and the
Prophets" referring to the Old Testament is authoritative and
imperishable. Throughout His ministry, Jesus made clear His teachings,
corrections, and actions were consistent with the Old Testament. He
also judged others' teachings and traditions by the Old Testament. He
thus demonstrated His affirmation of the Old Testament to be the Word
of God.

Jesus even specifically affirmed as historical several disputed
stories of the Old Testament. He affirms as true the accounts of Adam
and Eve (Matthew 19:4-5), Noah and the flood (Matthew 24:39), Jonah
and the whale (Matthew 12:40), Sodom and Gomorrah (Matthew 10:15), and
more.

Jesus confirmed the Old Testament and promised that the Holy Spirit
would inspire the apostles in the continuation of His teaching and in
the writing of what would become the New Testament (John 14:25-26 and
John 16:12-13). The apostles demonstrated that they came with the
authority of God through the miracles they performed as Jesus and the
Prophets did before them. The book of Acts, which records the miracles
of the apostles, has also proven to be a historically accurate record
written by a first century eyewitness.

Prophecy
Many religious books claim to be divinely inspired, but only the Bible
has evidence of supernatural confirmation. We have seen that Jesus,

being God incarnate, affirms the inspiration of the Bible. Another
evidence of supernatural confirmation is the testimony of prophecy.
The biblical authors made hundreds of specific prophecies of future
events that have come to pass in the manner they were predicted. No
book in history can compare to the Bible when it comes to the
fulfillment of prophecy.

Here are some examples. Ezekiel 26, which was written in 587 B.C.,
predicted the destruction of Tyre, a city made up of two parts: a
mainland port city, and an island city half a mile off shore. Ezekiel
prophesied that Nebuchadnezzar would destroy the city, many nations
would fight against her, the debris of the city would be thrown into
the ocean, the city would never be found again, and fishermen would
come there to lay their nets.

In 573 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the mainland city of Tyre. Many
of the refugees of the city sailed to the island, and the island city
of Tyre remained a powerful city. In 333 B.C., however, Alexander the
Great laid siege to Tyre. Using the rubble of mainland Tyre, he built
a causeway to the island city of Tyre. He then captured and completely
destroyed the city.

Today, Tyre is a small fishing town where fishing boats come to rest
and fisherman spread their nets. The great ancient city of Tyre to
this day lies buried in ruins exactly as prophesied. If we were to
calculate the odds of this event happening by chance, the figures
would be astronomical. No, it was not by coincidence.{2}
Here's another example. There are nearly one hundred prophecies made
about Jesus in the Old Testament, prophecies such as His place of
birth, how he would die, His rejection by the nation of Israel, and so
on. All these prophecies were made hundreds of years before Jesus ever
came to earth. Because of the accuracy of the prophecies, many
skeptics have believed that they must have been written after A.D.
70-after the birth and death of Jesus and the destruction of
Jerusalem. They have thereby tried to deny that they are even
prophecies.

However, in 1947 the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. These scrolls
contained the book of Isaiah and other prophetic books. When dated,
they were found to be written from 120 to 100 B.C.,{3} well before
Jesus was born. It would have been an incredible accomplishment for
Jesus to have fulfilled the numerous prophecies. Some say these
prophecies were fulfilled by chance, but the odds against this would
be exceptionally large. It would take more a greater leap of faith to
believe in that chance happening than in the fact that Jesus is God
and these prophecies are divinely inspired.

The record of prophecy is thus evidence for the unique and
supernatural origin of the Bible.

Unity
The Bible is the only book with supernatural confirmation to support
its claim of divine inspiration. The testimony of Christ and the
legacy of prophecy are two proofs for inspiration. A third line of
evidence is the unity of the Bible.

The Bible covers hundreds of topics, yet it does not contradict
itself. It remains united in its theme. "Well, what's so amazing about

that?" you may ask. Consider these facts. First, the Bible was written
over a span of fifteen hundred years. Second, it was written by more
than forty men from every walk of life. For example, Moses was
educated in Egypt, Peter was a fisherman, Solomon was a king, Luke was
a doctor, Amos was a shepherd, and Matthew was a tax collector. All
the writers were of vastly different occupations and backgrounds.

Third, it was written in many different places. The Bible was written
on three different continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe. Moses wrote
in the desert of Sinai, Paul wrote in a prison in Rome, Daniel wrote
in exile in Babylon, and Ezra wrote in the ruined city of Jerusalem.

Fourth, it was written under many different circumstances. David wrote
during a time of war, Jeremiah wrote at the sorrowful time of Israel's
downfall, Peter wrote while Israel was under Roman domination, and
Joshua wrote while invading the land of Canaan.

Fifth, the writers had different purposes for writing. Isaiah wrote to
warn Israel of God's coming judgment on their sin; Matthew wrote to
prove to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah; Zechariah wrote to
encourage a disheartened Israel who had returned from Babylonian
exile; and Paul wrote addressing problems in different Asian and
European churches.

If we put all these factors together-the Bible was written over
fifteen hundred years by forty different authors at different places,
under various circumstances, and addressing a multitude of issues-how
amazing that with such diversity, the Bible proclaims a unified
message! That unity is organized around one theme: God's redemption of
man and all of creation. The writers address numerous controversial
subjects yet contradictions never appear. The Bible is an incredible
document.

Let me offer you a good illustration. Suppose ten medical students
graduating in the same year from medical school wrote position papers
on four controversial subjects. Would they all agree on each point?
No, we would have disagreements from one author to another. Now look
at the authorship of the Bible. All these authors, from a span of
fifteen hundred years, wrote on many controversial subjects, yet they
do not contradict one another.

It seems one author guided these writers through the whole process:
the Holy Spirit. 1 Peter 2:21 states, "No prophecy was ever made by an
act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."
The unity of the Bible is just one more amazing proof of the divine
inspiration and authority of the Bible.

Archaeology
We've studied the testimony of Jesus, prophecy, and the unity of the
Bible as providing supernatural confirmation of the divine inspiration
of the Bible. Another line of evidence is archaeology. Archaeology
does not directly prove the Bible's inspiration, but it does prove its
historical reliability.

Middle Eastern archaeological investigations have proven the Bible to
be true and unerringly accurate in its historical descriptions. Nelson

Glueck, a renowned Jewish archaeologist, states, "No archaeological
discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference."{4} Dr. William
Albright, who was probably the foremost authority in Middle East
archaeology in his time, said this about the Bible: "There can be no
doubt that archaeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of
the Old Testament."{5} At this time, the number of archaeological
discoveries that relate to the Bible number in the hundreds of
thousands.{6}

Archaeology has verified numerous ancient sites, civilizations, and
biblical characters whose existence was questioned by the academic
world and often dismissed as myths. Biblical archaeology has silenced
many critics as new discoveries supported the facts of the Bible.

Here are a few examples of the historical accuracy of the Bible. The
Bible records that the Hittites were a powerful force in the Middle
East from 1750 B.C. until 1200 B.C. (Genesis 15:20, 2 Samuel 11, and 1
Kings 10:29). Prior to the late nineteenth century, nothing was known
of the Hittites outside the Bible, and many critics alleged that they
were an invention of the biblical authors.

However, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,
archaeologists in Turkey discovered a city which proved to be the
capital of the Hittite empire. In the city they discovered a massive
library of thousands of tablets. These tablets showed that the Hittite
language was an early relative of the Indo-European languages.

Another example is the story of Jericho recorded in the book of
Joshua. For years, skeptics thought the story of the falling walls of
Jericho was a myth. However, recent archaeological discoveries have
led several prominent scholars to conclude that the biblical
description of the fall of Jericho is consistent with the discoveries
they have made. One of the leading archaeologists on Jericho presently
is Dr. Bryant Wood. His research has shown that the archaeological
evidence matches perfectly with the biblical record.{7}

Archaeology has also demonstrated the accuracy of the New Testament.
One of the most well attested to New Testament authors is Luke.
Scholars have found him to be a very accurate historian, even in many
of his details. In the Gospel of Luke and Acts, "Luke names thirty-two
countries, fifty-four cities, and nine islands without error."{8} A.
N. Sherwin-White states, "For Acts the confirmation of historicity is
overwhelming. . . . Any attempt to reject its basic historicity must
now appear absurd. Roman historians have long taken it for
granted."{9}

There is no other ancient book that has so much archaeological
evidence to support its accounts. Since God is a God of truth, we
should expect His revelation to present what is historically true.
Archaeology presents tangible proof of the historical accuracy of the
Bible.

The Bible Alone Is God's Word

Authority of the Bible
Written by Patrick Zukeran

This article is also available in Spanish.

There are many books today that claim to be the Word of God. The Koran,
the Bhagavad Gita, The Book of Mormon, and other religious works all
claim to be divinely inspired. The Bible claims to be the only book that is
divinely inspired and that all other claims of inspiration from other works
should be ruled out. Does the Bible confirm its exclusive claim to be the
Word of God? The totality of evidences presents a strong case for the divine
inspiration of the Bible.

The strongest argument for the divine inspiration of the Bible is the testimony
of Jesus.