In our last study we learned that reading God's word would build our faith, but many people don't believe that the Bible is God's Word. The most prevalent argument I hear from people is: "Man wrote the Bible so how can I believe everything that they are saying, after all, people often have their own agendas, and are fallible". When we do study the Bible we find that it was written by forty different people over a sixteen hundred year period. When people hear this one fact they tend to disregard the Bible all together instead of seeking more information to validate their position. This is a very big mistake to make, basically we are putting all of our trust in our own feelings instead of searching for answers through the facts. The Bible actually warns us about making this kind of mistake: Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge."
Our emotions often get in the way of us making intelligent decisions by blinding us from the facts. Just look at your own life; I'm sure you can find many instances when you made poor decisions based on what your heart was telling you. This happens all the time when it comes to dating. Many times your head will tell you that this person that you are interested in dating is all wrong for you, but your heart wants to give this person the benefit of the doubt. These situations always end badly, but we, as people, keep making the same mistakes. I think we all need to learn hard lessons from time to time, and many times more than once. When you study the Bible it may seem to be a bit redundant, but that is for a reason. People need to hear things over and over again to let it sink in. The major themes in the Bible are repeated throughout the Bible so we won't miss them. Proverbs 11:9 says: "Through knowledge shall the just be delivered." This is a major theme in the Bible that people have a very hard time understanding. We tend to feel that God is so merciful, he would bring us to salvation just for trying to be a good person. Unfortunately, this is not how it works. In this verse, God is trying to tell us to seek his wisdom through the word of God. Proverbs 2:3-6: "Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." Proverbs 3:13: "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding." God's wisdom and knowledge are things we should be seeking according to the word of God, because our eternal destination depends on it. This is the reason we should never just disregard the Bible because it was written by people. We should be asking questions like: How can a book written by forty different people over such a span of time come together to form one complete story with no contradictions without the hand of God involved? How can man predict so many events throughout history with one hundred percent accuracy? Before dealing with questions like that, we must first find out what the Bible claims to be.
Does the Bible in fact declare to be the word of God? We can start our search in 2Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." The first thing I noticed with this scripture is, it says "all scripture is given by inspiration of God", not some, but all. This means that the entire Bible comes from God. The next thing we must look at is the term inspiration of God. Many people will say that the meaning of the word inspiration is to influence another. This is a situation in which we must look at the original language the new testament was written in, which is the Greek language. The phrase "inspiration of God" comes from the Greek word theopneustos, which means God breathed. It is derived from two Greek root words theo, meaning God and pneo, meaning to blow. Basically, what this verse is saying is God breathed the scripture into man. To get a full understanding of what is happening in this verse we can go to Genesis 2:7. This verse says, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." By simply breathing into man's nostrils, God gave life to man, and brought his soul to life. Another great verse to look at is John 20:22: "And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost." This is after the resurrection, and Jesus is giving his apostles the gift of the Holy Ghost. I bring these scriptures up simply to illustrate what is happening in 2Timothy3:16. God is breathing his word into the hearts of his prophets, and they are writing these words into a book that will become the Bible. Simply put, scripture comes directly from God.
Let's look at another scripture found in the Gospel of John 1:1. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." This verse makes an amazing claim, that the word and God are one and the same. If you think about it, when you read the Bible you are experiencing God first hand. God is talking directly to you through his word. When I read the Bible I do see my own life within the words of the Bible. When I am seeking an answer from God about things happening in my life, many times the answer will just jump off the page. Any christian who has studied the Bible has had an experience like this. It's like the light bulb is turned on and that situation that you have been trying to deal with just makes sense now. The word of God is just so amazing to read, and very important for every christian to read because in the end we are all judged by the word. John 12:48, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." Psalm 96:13, "He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth."
