Scripture on Scripture

Our text for yesterday, 2 Timothy 3:14–17, is an example of one of the Biblical writers testifying that Scripture is inspired by God. Paul is not alone in making this claim—from beginning to end, we find Biblical authors saying that Scripture consists of the very words of God. We will note some of these claims in today’s study, then look Friday at evidence that corroborates the Biblical writers’ testimony.

We have already seen that the Old Testament prophets usually began their proclamations by saying, “Thus says the Lord” (see 1 Sam. 2:27). Isaiah records that God told the prophet, ” ‘Go, and tell this people’ ” (Isa. 6:9), then gave him specific words. And Jeremiah tell us that God said to him, ” ‘Behold, I have put My words in your mouth’ ” (Jer. 1:9). In saying these things, the prophets were stating that their words were “God-breathed.” The New Testament writers make similar statements. Peter says the prophets “spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit,” and the writer of Hebrews says Psalm 95 is nothing less than the words of the Holy Spirit (Heb. 3:7ff). In several instances, the New Testament authors claim divine origin for their own writings. Paul claims that the Gospel the Holy Spirit revealed to the apostles is the “word of God” (1 Thess. 2:13), and Peter even refers to Paul’s writings as “Scripture” (2 Peter 3:16). Above all, Jesus affirmed the divine origins of Scripture by frequently introducing quotes from the Old Testament with the words, ” ‘It is written….’ ” And He alluded to the yet-to-be-written New Testament as the words of God, saying the Holy Spirit would come to the apostles and ” ‘whatever He hears He will speak’ ” (John 16:13).

These claims do not prove, in and of themselves, that Scripture is “God-breathed.” However, the very audacity of the claims argues for their truthfulness. If someone can show that a claim to inspiration is spurious, the reliability of the Biblical writers as witnesses of history is called into question. And if it can be proved that Jesus was mistaken in His understanding of Scripture, His claim to be the Teacher above all teachers is seriously undermined. However, although many have said the Biblical writers were wrong and that Jesus was mistaken, the bold claim that the Bible is God’s Word still stands, bolstered by solid evidence, as we will see tomorrow.