Is the Bible
the Word of God?
The Bible’s Composition
• 66 Books (39 in OT, 27 in NT)
• Period of 1,600 years
• 40 different writers
The Bible’s Canonization
• All NT books to have apostolic roots
• To be theologically in line with OT
• Accepted widely by Christians
The Bible’s Claim:
Plenary, verbal inspiration
(1 Tim 3:16, 2 Pet 1:20-21)
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Individual words (Matt 24:35, 1 Cor 2:13)
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Verb Tenses (Matt 22:32)
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Noun Numbers (Gal 3:16)
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Individual Letters (Matt 5:17-18)
The Bible’s Characteristics
• Infallibility
• Inerrancy
1. God cannot err (Titus 1:2, Heb 6:18)
2. The Bible is God’s word (2 Tim 3:16, 2 Pet 1:21)
3. Therefore, the Bible cannot err.
1. Passes the
Transcriptional test
• No. of Greek copies – 5,686
• Time-gap – as little as 30 years
• Accuracy - over 99%
“The scrolls have shown that our traditional
Bible has been amazingly accurately
preserved for over 2,000 years.”
- Eugene Ulrich
2. Passes the
Honesty Test
• No evidence of collusion
• Recounts derogatory remarks
• Includes harsh sayings
• …and self-incriminating reports
• Contrary to culture of writers
3. Passes the
Consistency test
• Breadth of subject matter
• 1,600 year time period
• 40 varied authors
4. Passes the Historical
Accuracy test
Sir. William Ramsay:
“Luke is a historian of first rank; not
merely are his statements of fact
trustworthy…this author should be
placed along with the very greatest of
historians.”
5. Passes the Archaeological
Accuracy test
William F Albright:
“There can be no doubt
that archaeology has
confirmed the
substantial historicity of
Old Testament tradition.”
6. Passes the
Contemporary
Literature test
Paul Maier:
‘‘Many facts from antiquity rest on just
one ancient source, while two or three
sources in agreement generally render
the fact unimpeachable.’’
7. Passes the
Medical
Accuracy test
• Circumcision
th
8
day (Lev 12:3)
• Life in the blood (Lev 17:11)
• Quarantine (Lev 13:46)
8. Passes the
Scientific
Accuracy test
• The Universe had a beginning (Gen 1:1)
• Innumerable stars (Gen 22:17)
• Earth suspended in space (Job 26:7)
• Water cycle (Ecc 1:7)
9. Passes the
Predictive
Accuracy test
Prof. Peter Stoner:
‘‘We find the chance that any man might
have lived to the present time and
fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in
1017…that would be 1 in
100,000,000,000,000,000.’’
“Ye shall know the truth and
the truth shall make you free”
(John 8:32)
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Lord George Lyttelton
Gilbert West
Frank Morrison
Josh McDowell
John Warwick Montgomery
Sir William Ramsay
Dr. Allan Rex Sandage
Lee Strobel