Who Wrote The Bible? Why Is It Reliable?

Many critics of the Bible say that it was written by man but who are the real authors or who is the real author of the Bible? Is it of man or is it really the Word of God and from God?

What the Bible Says About Itself

Second Timothy 3:14-16 “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

The Bible makes the claim that all Scripture is “breathed out by God” and the Greek word used for “breathed out” is “theopneustos” which means “inspired by God” or literally “expired” or breathed out or is the breath of God and is from God.  In Paul’s last letter on earth He wanted Timothy the evangelist to understand that the “sacred writings” (the Greek “hieros”) is sacred, holy, and “consecrated to the deity” or “pertaining to God.”  There is nothing about man being involved in any of these verses so we see that it is all from God, by God, and for God but can be used for “teaching…reproof…correction, and for training in righteous [so] that the man (or woman) of God can be (made) complete [and] equipped for every good work.” 

Romans 15:4 “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Paul once more indicates that what “was written in former days was written for our instruction” but never does he say that they were written by us or by any man but it was written “for” our instruction. The capitalization of the word Scripture is a proper noun, just like the word Bible is.  The “whatever was written in former days” must refer, by necessity, to the Old Testament because that is all the Scripture that Paul had at the time so Paul is saying that the Old Testament was inspired by God just as all Scripture is (2 Tim 3:16).

Second Peter 1:20-21 “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Peter writes that the “prophetic word” contains two Greek words…one is “prophetikos” which was translated as the words “prophetic word” from the Greek meaning “proceeding from a prophet” and the Greek used for “word” is “logos” which translates into “a word, uttered by a living voice” or “the sayings of God.”  This same word is used in John 1:1 where “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” and Jesus was and is the Word of God for Jesus uttered the words of God by His living voice and His sayings were “the sayings of God” since He is God. The “Word of God became flesh” and was none other than Jesus Christ (John 1:14). Peter states conclusively that “no prophecy of Scripture” (or no “sayings of God”) came from someone’s own interpretation. Where Peter writes that it does not come “from someone’s own” is Greek for “idios” or “pertaining to one’s self” or “belongs to one’s self” or is their own idea or is not “epilysis” or the “unloosing” of a human source.

If we could use the Greek to state what Peter is saying he would write “that no sayings of God finds its source from someone’s own idea” because “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The Greek being inserted into this line: “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” is literally “no words uttered were created of men but men were moved (carried is “phero” for “to be moved” or “to be carried” but) by (hypo, Greek “by” or “under”) God. There is no room to interpret the Greek in any way that man was the source or man was the inspiration.  God was the source of all the logos (words) and God carried or moved man to write the things he wrote and that the writings were under or by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration.

Second Peter 3:15-16 “And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.”

Peter is writing that his beloved brother in the Lord Paul wrote to the Christian’s the wisdom that was given to him by God under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  Peter says that “he does [so] in all his letters” but that “some things in them are hard to understand” which many “twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.”  What other Scriptures were there at that time?  There was only the Old Testament and apparently Paul’s letters were part of the Scripture too because Peter includes Paul’s writings as being part of the “other Scriptures” which had to be the Old Testament because that is all they had at the time as the New Testament was not yet assembled.  Peter must have understood that Paul’s writings were just as inspired at the Old Testament was and that is why he included them in the company of “the other Scriptures.”

Conclusion

We know that there were 40 authors that wrote 66 books and that they comprise the Holy Bible, both the Old and the New Testament.  Many of the writers never knew one another but their writings, separated by thousands of years, still completely agreed in their composition of the redemptive plan of God which begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation.  Even the Book of Revelation claims that it was the “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants” (Rev 1:1) and not the servants who gave men the revelation John.  The Bible does not need to be defended just as Martin Luther wrote “The Bible is like a lion; it does not need to be defended; just let it loose and it will defend itself” so I have no need to defend it and that is why I have chosen not to defend it.

The Bible claims for itself that it is the inspired Word of God, that its source is the Spirit of God, and the children of God were moved by the Spirit of God to compose it, thus we know that it is not of human origin.  If you have not repented and trusted in Christ, then you can unleash the power of the Word to bring you eternal life (John 3:16-17) so that you might be saved by confessing the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 10:9-13) because “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7) and trusting in Christ is the wisest thing that any man or woman could ever do.

Another Reading on Patheos to Check Out: What Did Jesus Really Look Like: A Look at the Bible Facts

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book  Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon