Believe the Bible

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

It happened to me again last week. Someone asked me, “Why do you believe the Bible when it’s archaic and proven to be inaccurate?” Well, what is YOUR answer to that question? I have been asked that question in a variety of ways over many years. The details of my conversation with the man are not important for this eDevotion. However, I would like to tell you the foundational truth that I stand on with regards to the precious Word of God.

For centuries, theologians have written about the inspiration of Scripture—that mysterious process by which God used humans to produce divinely authoritative writings. Still it remains somewhat of a mystery because the Scripture doesn’t talk about it in exacting details. We get only a glimpse of the Divine at work in a few passages.

One of those is 2 Peter 1:20-21: Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 

A simple understanding of this verse is that Scripture didn’t start at the human level [“…not of the prophet’s own interpretation…”], but from a divine level […”men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”].

The word translated carried along [moved, prompted in different translations], is a nautical term describing a ship moving through the water as wind pushes against the sails. In other words, men were propelled, moved, inspired by the Holy Spirit to produce the precise words that God wanted us to hear.

Peter had confidence that he was writing the very words of God and thought that Paul did as well. Listen to his encouragement to early Christ followers: and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. [2 Peter 3:15-16, emphasis mine]

Since the Bible started at a divine level, what it says is what God says. It’s His love letter to you. The Bible is God’s human repair manual that you can study and obey with full confidence that it is the very word of God. 

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105