Can the Bible Be Trusted?

Last time ended with the words that no one has seen God, but his only Son has made him known—and that sentence comes from the Bible. So can the Bible itself be trusted?

That is a good question. If ‘using the Bible to prove the Bible’ sounds like someone vouching for themselves, you are right—this lesson won’t go round in that circle. We will do just two things: first hear what the Bible says about itself, then see how you can test it for yourself.

The Bible says, “Every Scripture is God-breathed,” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and also that “holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20-21) In other words, it does not deny that people wrote it—different people, in different times—but it claims that behind their pens, God was speaking. You may disagree with that claim, but at least you can know what it actually claims.

So what is this book centrally about? Jesus said of the Scriptures, “these are they which testify about me.” (John 5:39) The writer of John’s Gospel states his purpose plainly too: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ.” (John 20:31) The Bible is not a rulebook; all the way through, it points to a person.

The best way to judge whether a book can be trusted is often not to listen to what others say, but to read it yourself. If you are willing, take all your questions and read the first few chapters of John’s Gospel. Next time we will look at the one this book points to: who is Jesus?