How do we know that the Bible is the Word of God?

Answer

The issue of determining which religious text, if any, is the authentic word of God is crucial. To prevent circular reasoning, the initial question to address is: how can we ascertain if God has indeed communicated with us? God’s communication would need to be understandable to people, but this also opens the possibility for individuals to fabricate messages and falsely attribute them to God. Therefore, it is logical to assume that if God intended to validate His communication, He would need to confirm it in a way that surpasses human capability – namely, through miracles. This significantly limits the possibilities.

In addition to the support for the accuracy of the Bible (manuscript evidence) and its historical validity (archaeological evidence), the most compelling evidence lies in its inspiration. The ultimate test of the Bible’s assertion of being divinely inspired truth lies in its supernatural proof, which includes prophecy. God employed prophets to convey His message and utilized miracles such as fulfilled prophecies to authenticate His messengers. For instance, in Genesis 12:7, God pledges the land of Israel to Abraham and his descendants. In 1948, Israel was restored to the Jewish people for the second time in history. While this may not appear extraordinary at first, it is remarkable considering that no other nation has ever been exiled from its homeland and returned, let alone twice. The book of Daniel accurately predicts the rise of the four great kingdoms from Babylon to Rome, including detailed descriptions of their reigns and downfalls, centuries before some of these kingdoms emerged. This foresight encompasses the reigns of Alexander the Great and Antiochus Epiphanies.

In Ezekiel 26, we witness a remarkably detailed prophecy about the destruction of the city of Tyre, its demolition, and the disposal of its rubble into the sea. When AlexanderThe Great marched into that area, where he encountered a group of people holed up in a tower on an island off the coast nearby. Unable to cross the sea, he could not engage in battle with those in the tower. Instead of waiting them out, the proud conqueror instructed his army to throw stones into the sea to construct a land bridge to the tower. This strategy proved successful as his army crossed the sea and overthrew the occupants of the stronghold. The source of so much stone? The rocks used for the land bridge were the leftover rubble from the city of Tyre… its stones cast into the sea!

There exist numerous prophecies regarding Christ (over 270!), making it impractical to list them all within a few screens of space. Moreover, Jesus had no influence over many of these prophecies, such as His birthplace or the timing of His birth. Additionally, the likelihood of one man coincidentally fulfilling even 16 of these prophecies is 1 in 10^45. To put this into perspective, there are fewer than 10^82 atoms in the entire universe! Jesus, who affirmed the Bible as the Word of God, substantiated His reliability and divinity through His resurrection, an undeniable historical event.

Now, let’s consider the Quran – its author, Muhammad, did not perform any miracles to validate his message (even when requested by his followers – Sura 17:91-95;29:47-51). Only in much later tradition (the Hadith) do any purported miracles emerge, all of which are highly imaginative (such as Muhammad cutting the moon in half) and lack any credible testimony to support them. Furthermore, the Quran contains evident historical inaccuracies. While Muslims acknowledge the Bible as inspired, they believe it contains some errors due to editing, as mentioned in Sura 2:136 and Suras 13, 16, 17, 20, 21, 23, 25. The question they struggle to address is: “When did the Bible become corrupted?” If they claim it was before 600 A.D., how can the Quran urge believers to read it? If they argue it was after 600 A.D., they find themselves in a difficult situation.

From the frying pan and into the fire, for we have absolutely no doubt regarding the accuracy of biblical manuscripts from at least the 3rd century forward. Even if Christianity were false, the Quran still faces an insurmountable problem because it makes judgments against Christians for believing things that they do not (nor have they ever) believed. For instance, the Quran teaches that Christians believe the Trinity consists of the Father, the Mother (Mary), and the Son (Sura 5:73-75, 116). Additionally, the Quran asserts that Christians believe that God had relations with Mary to conceive a son (Suras 2:116;Suras 6:100-101;10:68;16:57;19:35;23:91;37:149-151;43:16-19). If the Quran truly originates from God, then it should accurately represent what Christians believe.

Joseph Smith, the author of the Book of Mormon, attempted to perform miracles such as prophecy (a test for a true prophet in Deuteronomy 18:21-22) but failed on multiple occasions. He predicted Christ’s second coming in History of the Church (HC) 5:336: “There are those of the rising generation who shall not taste death till Christ comes.“ Smith consistently preached that the arrival of Christ was imminent. In 1835, he mentioned “the coming of the Lord, which was nigh— even fifty-six years should wind up the scene“ HC 2:182. He also stated that, while praying, “a voice said unto me, ’My son, if thou livest until thou art eighty-five years of age, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man’“ (ibid:, see also also D&C 130:14-17). Based on these declarations, Smith’s followers began anticipating the Lord’s return around 1890. However, Jesus did not return.

In 1890, the Mormon church does not claim that He did. Nor has it occurred since. He also prophesied that several cities would be destroyed in Doctrine and Covenants (D&C) 84:114-115. New York, Albany, and Boston were to be destroyed if they rejected the gospel according to Smith. Joseph Smith himself went to New York, Albany, and Boston and preached there. These cities did not accept his gospel, yet they have not been destroyed. Another famous false prophecy of Joseph Smith was his “END OF ALL NATIONS” in D&C 87 concerning the rebellion of South Carolina in the war between the states. The South was supposed to call on Great Britain for aid, and as a result, war would be poured out upon all nations; slaves would revolt; the inhabitants of the earth would mourn; famine, plague, earthquake, thunder, lightning, and a full end of all nations would result. The South finally did revolt in 1861, but the slaves did not rise up, war was not poured out upon all nations, there was no worldwide famine, plague, earthquake, etc., and there was no resulting “end of all nations.”

The collection of writings that Protestants call the Apocrypha (hidden writings), Roman Catholics call the deuterocanonical (later or second canon) books. These books were written between 300 B.C. and 100 A.D., the Intertestamental Period between the inspired writings of God’s Prophets in the Old Testament and those of the Apostles and their contemporaries in the New Testament. These were “infallibly” accepted into the Bible by the Roman Catholic Church in 1546 at the Council of Trent. Now the Apocrypha would be covered under the evidence for the Bible if these writings were truly inspired – but evidence seems to indicate that they are not. In the Bible, we find prophets of God whose messages are ratified by miracles or prophecy that comes true, and whose message is immediately accepted by the people Deut 31:26; Josh 24:26; 1 Samuel 10:25; Daniel 9:2; Col 4:16; 2 Peter 3:15-16. The apocrypha presents a stark contrast – no apocryphal book was authored by a prophet. None of these books were part of the Hebrew Scriptures. There is no confirmation of the authors of any apocryphal book. Later Biblical writers do not cite any apocryphal book as authoritative. No apocryphal book contains fulfilled prophecy. Significantly, Jesus, who referenced every part of the Old Testament, never quoted from the apocrypha. His disciples also refrained from doing so.

The Bible surpasses all other sources as God’s revelation to such an extent that if it is not God’s Word, distinguishing among the alternatives would appear nearly impossible. Without the Bible as God’s Word, we are left without clear criteria to discern what could be.