Scripture Proofs
Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory . . . . And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. (1 Cor. 2:6, 7, 13)
Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. (Ps. 119:18)
Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them. (Ps. 119:129)
To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. (Acts 10:43)
To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass. (Acts 26:22)
For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. (Acts 18:28)
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Heb 4:12)
The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul;the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. (Ps. 19:7-9)
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Rom. 15:4)
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:13, 14)
But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. (1 John 2:20-27)
But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Cor. 3:14-17)
There are a whole lot of Scripture proofs for this question! I generally try to touch on all of the proofs at least somewhat for each question, so I've decided to cover this question in two posts. Otherwise, the one post would be ridiculously long.
So, in the last post, we went through the question "What is the Word of God?" The answer given was "the Bible." The answer gave no reason why we should see that the Bible is God's Word, and we didn't try to find a reason; we simply established what we should expect from the Bible if it really is God's Word. Now we come to the evidence. Like I've previously stated, I'm not looking to make an apologetic case for the Bible. I'm just studying the catechism and learning from it.
Like the third answer, this answer comes in two parts: the evidence we all see and the work of the Holy Spirit in convincing us of the truth. We'll cover the first part today, which says, "The Bible evidences itself to be God's Word by the heavenliness of its doctrine, the unity of its parts, its power to convert sinners and to edify saints."
If we examine the Bible, we find that it itself testifies to all these evidences. The first one, the "heavenliness of its doctrine," is easily seen in the Psalms. The Psalmist calls God's Word "wonderful" (Ps 119:129) and says it is full of "wondrous things" (Ps 119:18)1. In addition, another Psalm calls it "pefect," "sure," "right," "pure," "clean," "true," and "righteous altogether" (Ps. 19:7-9). That same Psalm refers to the fact that it is "enduring forever" (v. 9). Paul also compares the wisdom of God with the wisdom of Man; he has a low view of the "wisdom ... of the rulers of this age" because they "are doomed to pass away" (2 Cor. 2:6). They are temporal. In contrast, he testifies to "a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory" (v. 7). God's wisdom has existed since before time. God's wisdom is found in his words. Thus, the Bible has a very high opinion - indeed a "heavenly" opinion - of God's Word.
The next evidence, "the unity of its parts," is one that is often disputed. People claim that the Bible is full of contradictions. But if it really is God's Word, then it can't be; otherwise, God would be a liar who talks out of both sides of his mouth, and would not be worthy of our worship.
Peter said of Jesus that "all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name" (Acts 10:43). The keyword for our purpose at the moment is "all." Does Peter really mean that each and every one of the prophets testifies to Jesus? I think he does, but even if he didn't, "the prophets" was a term meant to be understood as referring to the Old Testament. He's claiming that they all agree that Jesus is the Messiah. Apollos proved this when "he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus" (Acts 18:28). Take note that all the New Testament church had as Scripture was the Old Testament.
I wish that Keach had included this next verse in his proofs, but I think it's another great testimony to the Bible's claim to unity: "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27). Jesus went all the way back to Moss, which basically means "the first books of the Bible." The Bible agrees with itself about its teaching on Jesus. It also has unity in many other aspects of theology and doctrine, but I think the teaching on Jesus is the most important thing, don't you?
The last of the evidences (which is really in two parts, but I think they go hand-in-hand) is Scripture's "power to convert sinners and to edify saints." Even someone with very little knowledge of what the Bible says will know that it says this. The Bible "reviv[es] the soul," "mak[es] wise the simple," "rejoic[es] the heart," and "enlighten[s] the eyes" (Ps. 19:7-8). In other words, it is meant to transform our hearts, souls, minds, and even our bodies. Supporting that is Hebrews 4:12, which says, "The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb 4:12). Paul also says that "whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" (Rom. 15:4). It is encouraging and meant to give us hope for salvation and glorification. And if we go back to Acts 10:43, it says that "all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." The Scriptures testify to salvation! They are meant to save people!
All of these things are true of the Bible. You will find no true Christian who argues against what the Bible says; they may disagree on how to interpret it, but the Bible is the source of Christian doctrine. It is unified despite having been written over a period of about 1,600 years by multiple men in different cultures and with different backgrounds. And it is powerful to convert sinners and edify the saints. Thus, we cam be confident that the Bible itself is the Word of God it refers to. Now, if all of this is true, why don't people believe it? We'll cover that in the next post.
To read the full catechism, click here.
Footnotes
1 Psalm 119 is full of praises for God's Word, and is the ideal chapter to read for anyone wondering what we should think of the Bible.
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