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This fall for our Bible study weʼre asking - what is the Bible? So weʼre asking all these fun, hard questions about the Bible that the Bible asks and answers about itself. Why is the Bible so important to Christians? Why is there no other book like it? Can you understand it? Can you trust it?
The question today is about the truth of the Bible: is everything in the Bible true?
This morning weʼre going to read about Jesus being put on trial. This is at the end of Jesusʼ ministry right before heʼs crucified.
Letʼs read John 18:33-19:1
[Jn 18 Context] In this trial Pilate is trying to figure out what the big deal is with this Jesus and why heʼs got everyone so riled up. Pilate keeps asking Jesus, “Do you really think youʼre a king?ˮ And Jesus says, “Yeah, you said it. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.ˮ And all Pilate can come back with is, “Well, what is truth?ˮ
Do you think Pilate is sincerely asking Jesus, what is truth? If heʼs not asking a sincere question then what is he doing?
Commentators agree that Pilate is not asking Jesus a question- heʼs making a claim. Pilate asked that question, what is truth?, so he could say, “Nobody knows what truth is!ˮ
The question is: “How do you KNOW what is true?ˮ
Jesus said it, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.ˮ Because Jesus is God he can only speak truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to God and his word. The church believes that everything in the Bible is true because it is the Word of God.
Thatʼs what Jesus believedtoo. Over and over Jesus talked about or quoted fromthe Old Testament and he alwaysclaimed it as true. He never corrected it, criticized it, orsaid it was wrong. In John 10:35, Jesus said the Scriptures “cannot be brokenˮand in the chapter right before his trial in 17:17 Jesus said that Godʼs “Wordis truth.ˮ
But a lot of people in the world donʼt believe the Bible is true.
Problem: The Bible must have mistakes because:
-itʼs got all these miracles in it and Iʼve never seen a miracle;
-itʼs the stuff of legends, fake news
-the Bible was passed along forever by word of mouth so itʼs like a really long game of telephone. No way the Bible hasnʼt been changed and modified over the years.
Answers:
-the stuff in the Bible was written down very close to when the stuff in the Bible happened;
-the stuff in the Bible is not the kind of stuff you would make up if you are trying to start a religion. The church leaders and witnesses were losers, women, murderers, thieves, liars. The HERO SAVIOR gets crucified.
-the apostles died for what they believed. You donʼt die for something you know is a lie.
-as far as history goes, the Bible has the best evidence that its writings are accurate.
Best Answer: We know the Bible is true because itʼs Godʼs Word! It is inerrant.
[Inerrancy] The inerrancy of the Bible means it has no errors. The Bible has no mistakes.
When the Bible tells us history it tells us what really happened. What the prophets and apostles wrote down under the divine inspiration of God - all of it is entirely truthful. There are no contradictions in the Bible between one passage and another.
QUALIFIER - the Bible is not the only thing that can be inerrant. Can anyone here say an error free statement?
ˮI live in Houston.ˮ “Iʼm sitting inside a building.ˮ People make error-free statements all the time. Students score 100s on tests.
[Infallibility] BUT unlike human beings, the Bible is infallible! The infallibility of the Bible means the Bible is not ABLE to be wrong.
Is there anything God canʼt do?
Yes. God cannot lie. God cannot sin. God cannot not be God! Thereʼs plenty of stuff God canʼt do.
The infallibility of the Bible sets it apart as utterly unique because the Bible is incapable of making an error because it is the Word of God. Humans can make inerrant statements but itʼs still always possible for us to make an error when weʼre making those statements. Sally may make a 100 on a test but it was still possible she might miss one of the answers.
But when God inspired his prophets and apostles to write the Bible it was impossible for them to make an error and say something not true.
Problem: SO, how do you know Christianity is true and every other religion is wrong?
Answer: Because the Bible says so.
Problem: But how do you know the Bible is true?
Answer: Because the Bible is the Word of God.
Problem: But how do you know the Bible is the Word of God?
[By Faith] The apostle Paul says, in Titus 113 “1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of Godʼs elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior.ˮ
Problem: But how do you know the Bible is the Word of God?
Answer: You can only know the Bible is the Word of God by faith. Not because youʼre so smart. If you know the Bible is Godʼs Word it is because God has given you the faith to believe the Bible is his Word.
SO the gospel of the Bible that claims that Jesus Christ lived and died to save you from your sin and death - you know that is true by faith!
The inerrancy and infallibility of the Scriptures are a claim of faith that because the Bible is divine speech it must be true.