The Bible: God’s Trustworthy Word

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Read God's Word

How trustworthy do you think the Bible is? Is it simply a collection of oral tradition myths? Or is it the recorded dictation from God?

In today’s Bible reading*, Peter gives us some key information about Scripture.

For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; instead, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased!” We ourselves heard this voice when it came from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. We also have the prophetic word strongly confirmed, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves.
2 Peter 1:16–21 (CSB)

Note that although the writers of the New Testament eyewitnesses of Jesus and His ministry, nowhere does Peter say that the writers of Scripture were told exactly which words to use. Instead, they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. That’s Peter’s version of Paul’s statement that all scripture is “God-breathed“. (2 Timothy 3:16)

How did this happen? I can’t tell you exactly how; God doesn’t tell us how. When Peter, Paul, James, John, and others wrote their letters and Gospels, they probably didn’t know that they were writing the very words of God. They simply wrote what God breathed into them through their own words and personality. And God, the Bible’s General Editor, confirmed what they said as His Word.

Application

The Bible (Old and New Testaments) is God’s Word. It doesn’t merely contain God’s Word. It is God’s Word. And God has preserved His Word for us. You don’t have to understand how God delivered His Word through His people in order to obey what God says in it.

Read God’s Word. Hear God’s Word. Trust God’s Word. Obey God’s Word. Love God’s Word.

* Today we are reading 2 Peter 1.

This devotional was originally published on November 23, 2019.


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