WHO WROTE THE BIBLE?

“The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven. The Bible is the product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book”. Dan Brown

It’s normal for someone outside the faith of Christianity to discredit the Bible without careful examination and research. We can see that, Dan Brown has a simplistic conclusion for such a robust and credible document as the Bible. However, this article will defend the truth of the Bible divine origin, and it will show how human authors were involved in the process.

We will also discover the central message of the Bible and how prophecies from the Old Testament were fulfilled in the Person of Jesus Christ.

Firstly, the origin of the Christian Bible is divine. However, it is mysterious and ridiculous to many but to the Christian it’s the inherent truth from the eternal God for the Christian faith.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16 ESV 

The word  ‘breathed out’ by God is a Greek word that stresses divine origin and the authority of it. Paul takes away the focus of human authors and he intensely communicates the absolute divine authorship and authority of sacred scriptures. However, the big question is, If God was the author of the Bible, how come the Bible was written by human authors? The simple answer is, It’s a supernatural phenomenon.

This can be logically explained but many people have discredited and greatly misunderstood the authorship of the Bible. Nonetheless, the supernatural phenomenon of the writings of the Bible was perfectly explained by a renowned theologian called B B Warfield.

He called this concept concursus, which means there was a simultaneous event happening between the Divine and human authors. According to the testimony of the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit was the Divine author that worked through the human authors at specific times in history. 

It wasn’t a mystical situation whereby the human authors hands randomly moved and writes whilst God narrated His words to them. However, the brilliance and wisdom of it all was that God wrote the Bible using human beings in the context and confines of their world.

For instance, Paul wrote 1 Corinthians in response to the church at Corinth abuses of spiritual gifts and worldliness (1Corinthians 1-16). Furthermore, the letter to the Galatians were a correction of the serious error of mixing the Gospel with the Mosaic law (Galatians 1-6). Amazingly, the writings of Paul were the inspired Word of God (2 Peter 3:16). It is clear that the sacred scriptures was the work of God the Holy Spirit. The Bible was the inspiration and direction of God (2 Peter 2:20-21).

Over the period of 1500 years, God used men to write the Bible and revealed Himself to the world. It was a careful progression of revelation as the authors only wrote what was granted to them for that period. The Bible was written in three different continents, Africa, Asia and Europe. It was written in three different languages (Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic). It’s the only religious book that was written by forty authors yet still speaks with one voice and ultimately tell the story of one person Jesus Christ.

There were over 300 prophecies about Jesus that were fulfilled in his first coming. Daniel spoke of the decree of the restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem which was before the first appearance of the Messiah. Daniel gave a precise date of the Messiah’s arrival - seventy weeks - 490 years, (Daniel 9:24-27).

So also, Isaiah prophesied that Jesus will be born of a virgin and Micah gave the specific town that He will be born (Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5:2). Intricate details of the life of Jesus is an incredible self authentication of the Bible. The 66 books within the canon of Scriptures, consists of 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.

There are different genres, historical narratives, wisdom literatures, letters, prophetic books and apocalyptic literatures. The Bible begins with creation, then redemption and closes with consummation. In different times and situations the Holy Spirit inspired men to reveal God’s word to His people. But how did the Church know what books are to be part of the Bible?

God already knew and through His providence, He oversaw the whole process of canonisation. Therefore, historical and theological tests were required for books to be canonised. If it’s historically sound it was universally accepted by the Church.

The question of theology, are they aligned with sound doctrine or orthodox teachings? Did the book show high spiritual and moral values that would come from the Holy Spirit? The New Testament are normally written by Christ appointed Apostles or a close associate of an Apostle.

During the time of the Apostles many books were recognised as Peter confirmed Paul’s letters (2 Peter 3:15-16). Luke’s writings were considered authoritative books like the Old Testament scriptures (1 Timothy 5:18, gotquestions.com).

At the council of Carthage (AD397), the 27 New Testament books were accepted. The Old Testament books were confirmed centuries before as the Hebrew Scriptures by God’s people, and the New Testament was a continuation of that. 

The science of attempting to reconstruct the text of documents is called textual criticism. The New Testament was the most credible and reliable compared to other secular first century writings such as Plato and Artitotle.

The Bible is certainly not a made up document but a valid ancient and sacred library of books. Ultimately, Jesus had a high view of the Bible. He confirmed the credibility of the Old Testament scriptures. He quoted the creation story which confirms that Genesis was true ( Matthew 19:4-6).

Furthermore, Jesus approved the story of the flood and Jonah stating that they were true events that happened in history ( Matthew 24:37-39. Matthew 12:40-41).

The New Testament were written about His life and work of salvation. Therefore, we can conclude that the Bible is the very Word of God. Those who are wise will embrace and revered this special revelation of God (Proverbs 1:7).

However, it’s only through the Word of God and His Spirit a person can inherit salvation (Romans 14:17). Also, through His Word we can know and rightly worship Him. Lastly, the Word of God is sufficient for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-4).