How Trustworthy is the Bible?

How reliable and trustworthy are the Scriptures? Are they the written word of God?

• Many regard the Bible as a masterpiece of literature, the greatest book ever written, and a fascinating history of the Jews and early Christians.  But they hesitate to embrace the claim--or deny it outright--that the Bible is authoritative as God's written word.  In their minds, the Bible is essentially a collection of stories written by men in ancient times.  These stories unfold with a large and interesting cast of characters and events, but whatever lessons the Bible may contain about wisdom and morality are largely culture-bound and time-bound.

• Others believe that the Bible was written by men inspired by the Holy Spirit; that its original writings (autographa) are without error.  Further, they assert that the Bible is reliable and trustworthy as the word of God even though (1) the autographa no longer exist and (2) it is a translation of a translation of a translation.

• Paul –the apostle and author of much of the New Testament--emphatically affirms the authority of Scripture:
  "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching,
  for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2Tim3:16).

It bears repeating: "All Scripture is breathed out by God." Paul does not hedge, limit, or qualify this bold claim--not in the least.

In “The Inerrancy of the Autographa,” Greg L. Bahnsen, an ordained minister and academician, contends that the Scriptures are completely reliable, trustworthy, and accurate as the word of God.  Either the Bible is the word of God, faithfully communicating his will and his plan of salvation to us—a claim which it itself makes in these verses below cited by Bateson--or it is not. Excerpts from Bahnsen's article follow.

• "Because of their divine origin the Scriptures are entirely trustworthy and sure (cf. 1 Tim. 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tim. 2:11; Titus 3:8; Heb. 2:3; 2 Peter 1:19), so that by means of them we are able to discern between what is true and what is false (cf. 1 Thess. 5:21; 1 John 4:1).

• The Scriptures are the standard of trustworthiness (Luke 1:1-4) and will never ail us or bring us embarrassment (Isa. 28:16; John 19:35; 20:31; Rom. 9:33; 1 Peter 2:6; 1 John 1:1-3).

• Their accuracy extends to every minute detail, as our Lord said – to every “jot” and “tittle” (Matt. 5:18) – in such a way that the indestructible endurance of any minor part is coextensive with that of the whole (cf. Isa. 40:8; Matt. 24:35; 1 Peter 1:24-25).

• Every single word of the Bible is, by its own witness to itself, infallibly true, god’s own declaration is: “I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right” (Isa. 45:19).

• Accordingly, the psalmist can say, “The sum of thy word is truth” (Ps. 119:160), and the wisdom literature can counsel us, “Every word of God is tried [proven, true, flawless]” (Prov. 30:5).

• If our doctrinal outlook is informed by the Word of God, then, we must confess that Scripture is entirely truthful, or inerrant. The unchallengeable testimony of Jesus was, "Thy word is truth" (John 17:17)."