“The Bible re-educates us; it makes sages out of fools” – Dane Ortland

The Bible was written by 40+ human authors over hundreds of years, so what convinces us it’s from God and not from human imagination or literary skill?

First, how could writers of Scripture, who were separated by miles and by generations (with few exceptions), present content in varying contexts, styles, and genres and always be consistent in their portrayal of God and his story? The message holds together beginning to end.

Second, the writers believed they were giving a message from God. More than 3,000 times biblical authors made claims like “This is the word of the Lord,” indicating that those who wrote the texts believed they were writing God’s message.

Third, we look at how the early recipients viewed the texts. Many of the biblical books were immediately recognized as inspired. In fact, there was consensus among Jewish scholars concerning their authoritative scriptures as early as 440 BC. These same books comprise our Old Testament today.

For the New Testament, Christians recognized writings as inspired based on meeting all of specific criteria including message, accuracy, author’s first-or second-person relationship to Jesus, and recognition by the early church as being inspired.

Maybe most convincing of all are the testimonies across the ages and from every region of the world of people whose lives have been radically and permanently changed by what they have read in the Bible and believed in their hearts. There is something special about this book!

If the Bible is the inspired and trustworthy message from our Creator to us, let’s commit in this new year to read it, think about it, believe its promises, and obey its commands. This book was written for our benefit. We don’t want to miss it!

“The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” – Psalm 119:130

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Note: Parts of this post were previously published in INSPIRED Devotional: A 40 Day Journey. If you have more questions on the authority of the Bible, you might like that book or another I wrote titled The Bible for Skeptics (both of these books are available on Amazon)