bible Continued,
The scriptures teach that the Bible is the word of God. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 reads, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." The word "inspiration" literally means "God-breathed" and Old Testament claims inspiration 2600 times. 1 Corinthians 2:6-13 teaches us that God's will was verbally revealed and man could not learn God's will by his senses. Read 2 Peter 1:16-21, "For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." This passages shows us that God's word was not the apostles interpretation, but were the words of God. Even Jesus Himself believed in every word of the scriptures being inspired. Notice Matthew 22:29-33, "Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching." Therefore, we can trust the words that we read in the scriptures to be the words of God, and not of man.
The Bible also shows evidence of its divine authorship. First, the Bible shows its divine authorship by its continuity. The Bible spans over 1600 years, including over 60 generations, and has 40 different writers from every walk of life. The Bible was written on three continents in three languages covering hundreds of controversial subjects. Yet despite all of this, the Bible has unity and is without contradiction. Try to do that with just ten writers living today! Second, the Bible shows its divine authorship from the fact that it is the only book ever that contains a large body of prophecies relating to individual nations, cities, peoples, and a messiah. In all of Greek and Latin literature, there is not one specific prophecy of a great historic event to come or of a savior to come. The Bible is not only unique by making such prophecies, but shows divine authorship in the fact that these prophecies have come to pass.
Finally, it is important to our study to note our Bibles which we possess today are reliable. Many claim that the manuscript copies were polluted by Catholicism or by miscopying. However, our earliest New Testament manuscript is dated 130 A.D. Our earliest complete manuscript is dated 325 A.D. Not only do we have manuscripts dated 40 years from the original manuscripts, but the entire New Testament can be reproduced from the quotes of Christian writers between 100 AD and 200 AD. This shows the accuracy of the manuscripts we have and accuracy of our Bibles today.
This point is especially seen when we compare the Bible manuscripts to other classical manuscripts and we cannot doubt Bible accuracy. Look at the chart that accompanies this lesson. Notice the few copies we have of many ancient authors. For example, we only have five copies of Aristotle's writings and the time span between when he wrote and our earliest copy is approximately 1400 years. Yet no one claims that we do not know what Aristotle originally wrote. Yet of our New Testament we have over 14,000 copies with our earliest copy only 40 years later than the original writing. We can be confident that our Bibles today are the same words written nearly 2000 years ago.
http://www.westpalmbeachchurchofchrist.com/articles/gods_plan/bible_inspired.html
