Adventists Affirm

Pastor David Asscherick

ARISE Director

It is not difficult to make the case that the Bible is the single most important book ever written. Even if one denies its extraordinary claim to be “inspired” by God, the Bible’s remarkable influence on law, government, literature, morality, art, science, philosophy, and society is without peer on the vast landscape of recorded human history. If one accepts the Bible’s claim to be inspired, as I do, then its importance and uniqueness is so far-reaching as to defy overstatement and embellishment. It follows logically that a book written by God would be the most consequential, significant, and momentous Book ever written. 

But is that claim—the claim to be written via “the inspiration of God” (literally, God-breathed)—true? I believe that the answer to this most important of questions is Yes. I have not always believed this. Nearly ten years ago I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour, and the Bible as the unique revelation of God to humanity. Since that time, my studied conviction that the Bible is God’s Word has grown stronger. I have found
the Bible to be the voice of God to my soul. You can too!

So how can you be sure that the Bible is, in fact, God’s Word? A compelling, rational, and yet simple case can be made by considering the following three areas: claims, content, and consistency.
 

The Bible’s Unique Claim

The Bible claims to be the Word of God. Consider the following passage.

And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:15-17)

Let us note several things. First, Paul here refers to the “Holy Scriptures”and “Scripture” in writing to young Timothy. This demonstrates that the Old Testament Scriptures were a well-defined body of literature. Paul knew that Timothy would know what he was referring to when he said “Scriptures”. The importance of this point should not be overlooked.

There are some who question whether the Bible is the Bible. “How do we know that the right books are in the Bible?” is a question heard not infrequently. The fact that Paul here refers to the “Scriptures” without further elaboration necessitates that the “Scriptures” of which he spoke were a well-defined and well-known body of writings. Jesus also referred to the “Scriptures” as a well-defined and well-known body of writings in passages like Matthew 22:29, 26:54, and John 5:39.

Note also that our passage declares that the purpose of Scripture is to bring about the experience of salvation, not merely to satisfy one’s curiosity about spiritual things. This is another important point that should not be carelessly overlooked.

But the primary reason for noting this passage is found in verse 16. Here we find a remarkable claim that the Bible makes about itself, namely, to be “given by inspiration of God.” The Greek here literally means “God-breathed.” This is no mean claim! It is a claim that is nearly singular in all literature! Consider, for example, the many millions of books that are to be found at the Library of Congress. How many of them make the claim to be God-breathed?

Another pivotal passage that addresses the Bible’s unique claims about itself is found in 2 Peter 1:19-21: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in  a dark place, until the day dawn, and the Day Star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

Verse 20 tells us that Scripture is not to be privately interpreted. Verse 21 tells us why: because God gave it. God, then, as its Author, is uniquely qualified to offer the correct interpretation of His Word. There are, in fact, only two kinds of interpretations (the almost staggering number of Bible commentaries notwithstanding): rightand wrong. God’s interpretation is sure to be the right one. God has set up the Scripture as a systematic and organic whole. The end result of this divine architecture is that Bible is its own best interpreter. The systematic theological consistency of the Bible ensures this. More on this later. 

Consider the following illustration: Imagine that you are standing in an art gallery looking at a painting. The painting is a stylistically modern one and contains shapes, colors, and textures in a creative but not perfectly clear arrangement. The people around you begin to wonder out loud what the painting means. “I think the large red triangle represents pain in the world,” says one. “The contrasting blue and yellow circles suggest love and sadness,” chimes another. Everyone around you seems to have an idea as to what the painting means. But then, at just that moment, the painter walks up! And he begins to tell what the once obscure painting means. Now whose interpretation is sure to be more accurate, the observers’ or the painter’s?

So it is with the Bible. God is the Author, and thus He is uniquely qualified to be its best Interpreter. He does this through the systematic (and thus self-checking) consistency of the Bible and the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Thus the Scripture is “of no private interpretation.”

A book written by God Himself! Think of it. That would, without controversy, make the Bible the most important book ever written wouldn’t it? Of course there is a vast difference between making the claim and demonstrating the truthfulness of that claim. Yet even here we must not miss a critical, but easily overlooked, point: The Bible’s unique claim about itself necessarily puts it in a class all its own. 

Why? Because extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. The Bible must be placed in an altogether different category from 99.999999% of all other books ever written, simply because it makes such an audacious and ambitious claim. It would need to be subjected to a battery of tests that millions of other books, which do not make such far-reaching claims, would not.

Consider, for example, my claim to be 34 years old. It is unlikely that someone would demand proof for such an ordinary claim. After all, there are millions of people who are 34 years old. But if someone claimed to be able to fly from New York to London by simply flapping his arms rapidly up and down, then it would be altogether normal for others to say, with significant incredulity in their voices, “Prove it!” Again, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

So is there extraordinary evidence that supports the Bible’s extraordinary claim to be God-breathed? I believe the answer is Yes. Let us consider some of the evidence in the second and third parts of this article: content andconsistency.
 

The Bible’s Unique Content

One word: prophecy. Prophecy is a foretelling of events. It has been suggested that a full 30% of the Bible is prophecy. Jesus gave a particularly simple yet salient definition of prophecy in John 14:19. It reads: “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.”

Pretty simple, really. Jesus basically says, “I’ll tell you what is going to happen in the future, and when it comes to pass just as I have said, then you will have confidence that what I am telling you is the truth.”

This is not difficult logic to follow. And here is why: In order for Jesus to declare the future, He must first know  the future. But that, of course, is the rub. Historians tell us of the past. Journalists tell us of the present. But who is able to tell us, with pinpoint accuracy, of the future? Surely not fortunetellers. Or politicians. Or weathermen. Or Nostradamus. Only God could do it.

Consider, for example, Isaiah 46:9, 10: “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.”

In verse 9 God simply says, “I am God and no one else is God.” In verse 10 He says, “I’ll prove it: I know the future and I will declare the future.” It is difficult to argue with this logic! If any being could consistently, accurately, and perfectly foretell the future without equivocation, then that Being would be, by definition, really, God.

So God puts Himself on trial in the Bible’s predictive prophecies. And the verdict? God is God! Consider just a portion of His prophetic record:

• Daniel 2 accurately foretold more than 2,500 years of human history.
• Daniel 7 accurately foretold the rise of the antichrist power with laserlike precision and detail.
• Daniel 8 accurately foretold the rise of Greece, Medo-Persia, pagan and papal Rome, and the cleansing of the sanctuary.
• Daniel 9 accurately foretold the year of the baptism (A.D. 27), and death (A.D. 31) of God’s Messiah,  Jesus Christ, and the giving of the Gospel to the Gentiles (A.D. 34).
• Daniel 11 accurately foretold in staggering particulars the details of the Medo-Persian, Greek, and the pagan and papal phases of Rome.
• Revelation 10 accurately foretold the rise of the great Advent movement.
• Revelation 11 accurately foretold the coming of the French Revolution.
• Revelation 13 accurately foretold the rise and character of the United States of America, and the growth, temporary demise, and resurrection of the modern papacy.
• The numerous Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament that point unmistakably to Jesus of Nazareth are well known and well documented.

Other fulfillments, many of them, could be cited, but the case is more than made by the above-mentioned fulfillments.

The prophetic record is an amazing one indeed. God has compellingly demonstrated, in the pages of Scripture, His ability to accurately and consistently foretell the future well in advance. By way of review, as simple logic necessitates, in order for God to declare the future He must first know the future.

God knows the future. God, in the Bible, has declared the future. This unique content, that is, prophetic content, ably buttresses the Bible’s unique claim to be God-breathed. If prophecy is true, then the Bible is true. If the Bible is true—in the most emphatic and profound sense of the word true—then the God of the Bible is, necessarily, the one, true God.

Someone may object, of course, that the prophecies of the Bible are not actually prophetic. “Perhaps,” they say, “they are merely coincidental.” This objection is easily surmounted. Once a person is familiar with the scope andspecificity of the predictive Biblical prophecies, this objection fades nearly immediately. Consider, for example, just the prophecy of Daniel chapter two. God foretold, some 600 years before the time of Christ, the following events/nations:

1. The rise and existence of the Babylonian Empire.
2. The subsequent rise and existence of the Medo-Persian Empire.
3. The subsequent rise and existence of the Grecian empire.
4. The subsequent rise and existence of the Roman Empire.
5. The subsequent division of Rome’s far-reaching and incomparably powerful empire into non-adhering factions-turned-nations.
6. The continued, contemporary non-adherence of divided Rome (now, modern Europe).

The only element of this prophecy left to be fulfilled—the seventh—is the setting up of God’s eternal kingdom at the Second Coming of Jesus. Thus, Daniel the prophet accurately foretold more than 2,500 years of human history with clarion and unimpeachable accuracy. The prophecy is so simple and compelling, and yet so accurate, that the modern critic of the Bible is faced with a single option: Deny the 6th-century B.C. authorship of Daniel. But the critic’s objection is itself a frank nod of admission to the prophecy’s accuracy. So accuracy,  then, is not the question; the date of authorship is.

Of course, the critic’s objection is based on a naturalistic or higher-critical world view that disallows predictive prophecy by definition. So the objection exists because it has to! For the critic, there is no other option.

It is beyond the scope of this article to address the dating of the authorship of the book of Daniel. Our point is a simpler one: The prophecies are accurate. If one leaves higher critical and skeptical thinking aside, there is little reason to question the traditional dating of Daniel. Daniel was written, the suggestions of some higher critical scholars notwithstanding, some 600 years before the time of Christ.

Another may object that the prophetic fulfillments are merely “coincidental,” but this objection hardly merits a response. Again, the nature of the scope and specificity of the prophecies utterly rules out coincidental fulfillments. They are just too specific and too accurate. 

Perhaps the supposed fulfillments are merely the product of a creative interpretation. “That’s just your interpretation,” is a familiar refrain. But this, too, is an inadequate objection for at least three reasons. First, as stated above, the Bible is its own best interpreter, and thus the Bible’s built-in and systematic consistency becomes the winnower of “private” interpretations. Second, the specificity of the prophecies and the corresponding historical fulfillments essentially demand a single interpretation—the right one. Third, the consensus of the church’s interpretation of, for example, Daniel—when the Biblical, historicist principle of prophetic interpretation is employed—is an additional and compelling evidence.

The Bible’s prophecies are real. The Bible’s prophecies are predictive. The Bible’s prophecies are true. The Bible’s prophecies are supernatural. The Bible is God’s Word.

The logic is not difficult to follow.

The first time I understood Daniel’s predictive prophecies, beginning with chapter 2, I was sitting in a coffee shop in Laramie, Wyoming. I was a 23-year-old purple-haired punk rocker who thought he knew everything. I was a 4.0 student at the University of Wyoming, well on my way to becoming a doctor. I was not a Christian, and had very little to no interest in things religious. I was not predisposed to accept blindly religious propaganda. Hardly.

And then I read and understood Daniel’s prophecies.

And everything changed. It can for you too!

God’s Spirit, through Daniel’s prophecies, penetrated my heart (and my mind!), and brought me face to face with God and His Word—or perhaps better, brought me face to face with God through His Word.

There are, it should be noted, other important elements of the Bible’s unique content that could be cited. They include, but are not limited to: 

• the soul-stirring beauty of the literature itself
• the consistent and virtuous moral framework presented therein
• the incomparably compelling picture of God and of His interaction with the world
• the rich, Providence-laden histories of God’s people
• the uniquely sublime and peerless teachings of Jesus Christ
• the enthralling and morally unimpeachable life of Jesus Christ

So the Bible’s extraordinary content—particularly its prophetic content—supports the Bible’s extraordinary claimto be God-breathed.
 

The Bible’s Unique Consistency

The Bible’s unique consistency strongly suggests its supernatural origin. We will briefly consider four areas of consistency: internal, conservational, cultural, and experiential.

Internal Consistency
The word Bible comes from the Greek and Latin biblia, which means “books.” The Bible, in the strictest term of the word, is not a book. Rather it is a collection of books—66 books, to be precise. These books were written over a period of approximately 1,500 years, by nearly 40 authors writing on three continents. The authors came,  many of them, from radically different cultural, geographical, personal, vocational, and educational backgrounds.

Yet, the internal consistency of the Bible is so remarkable as to defy naturalistic explanation. Think of it: The Bible writers were addressing the most fundamental, controversial, and significant questions that exist in the entirety of human experience and of recorded human history, namely:

• the nature and character of God
• the origin, nature, meaning, and destiny of mankind
• the world and the nature of reality
• morality
• ultimate destiny and purpose

The authors of the 66 books of the Bible present an unassailably consistent picture, despite their diverse situations, personalities, cultural leanings, educational backgrounds, and time frames. So much so that one can say with a perfectly straight face that the Bible contains no theological or philosophical contradictions. Moses agrees with Matthew, Jeremiah agrees with John, the prophets agree with Paul, etc. The 39 books of the Old Testament are theologically consistent; the 27 books of the New Testament are consistent. And what is more: the two testaments are perfectly consistent—theologically and philosophically—with each other. Both, in fact, find their consummate fulfillment in God’s Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.

This unity between the two testaments has been communicated thusly: The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed; the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.

The Bible’s internal consistency strongly suggests is supernatural origin.

Conservational Consistency
The Bible, that is the text of the Bible—both the Old and New Testaments—has been preserved intact throughout the centuries and millennia despite the nonexistence of technological amenities like computers,
hard drives, copy machines, fax machines, CDs, etc.

Since the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls in 1947, for example, we can be certain that the Old Testament we have today is fundamentally the same as the Old Testament Jesus would have read. The Jews’ meticulously precise preservation of the Old Testament text is well documented and well known by Biblical scholars. While there are variant readings from certain Old Testament manuscripts, consistency, not disharmony, is the rule.

Even before the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls, scholars had excellent reasons to believe that the Old Testament had been extraordinarily preserved. The discovery of the scrolls was confirmatory, not revelatory,
with regards to the preservation of the Old Testament text.

The New Testament text has also been extraordinarily preserved. There are more than 5,000 extant ancient Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. The proportion of agreement of these manuscripts has been estimated at between 97 and 98 percent! Moreover, the two to three percent disparity does not represent anything like theological disparity. The differences are generally very minor and are frequently the product of so-called terms of appellation (e.g., “the Lord Jesus” versus “the Lord Jesus Christ, forever”) which have no injurious consequence whatever on the essential meaning of a given text.

The sheer number of Greek manuscripts (to say nothing of the manuscripts written and preserved in other languages) is, by ancient standards, uniquely impressive. One commentator has suggested that “we have more and greater evidence that Jesus of Nazareth lived and spoke these words than we do that William Shakespeare lived and wrote the many plays and sonnets for which he is well known.” And Jesus Christ antedated Mr. Shakespeare by some 1,600 years! For more on the preservation and remarkable consistency of the New  Testament, the reader is referred to the easy-to-read classic on the subject, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? by classics scholar F.F. Bruce.

The Bible’s remarkably consistent preservation and conservation is without equal in ancient literature. No other ancient volume even begins to approach the number, quality, and consistency of the Biblical manuscripts. For the Christian, this is not really extraordinary at all. After all, if God was the Author—through His penmen, the prophets and the apostles—then it stands to reason that He would also take care of His Book, thus ensuring its continued authority and relevance even for modern man.

The Bible’s conservational consistency strongly suggests its supernatural origin.

Cultural Consistency
The Bible has universal cultural appeal. Africans love it! Americans love it! Russians love it! So do Romanians and Jamaicans, and everyone in between. Men love it. Women love it. So do children and the elderly.

The Bible is transculturally popular. It is appreciated, read, and adored in a way that no other book in the history of humanity has been. It is a classic in any culture and in any language. For example, it is consistently the best-selling book in the United States. It was the first book (the New Testament portion) ever to be produced on a printing press. It is arguably the single most popular book in the world. One could wish, of course, that it were also the most read, studied, and obeyed book in the world!

How does one explain the universal appeal of the Bible? Apart from a supernatural origin, it would be, I think, difficult to do. It is, after all, an ancient book. How many ancient books does the average modern man or woman read? Very few indeed! How is it that an ancient book is so perfectly calculated to address the needs of modern man? How can peoples from radically and fundamentally different cultures find such solace and meaning in its pages?

The answer, for the Christian believer, is not a difficult one. It’s God’s Book! Of course it is going to have transcultural popularity and relevance! I have traveled from Australia to Africa and from Sweden to South Dakota, and have seen thousands listen riveted to the preached Word. There is a transforming, captivating, and supernatural attraction to the Bible.

The multicultural consistency, multicultural popularity, and multicultural relevancy of the Bible strongly suggest its supernatural origin.

Experiential Consistency
Cultures are made up of people, of individuals. It follows, then, that if the Bible is culturally relevant and consistent that it must necessarily be individually relevant and consistent. That is, it must scratch where people are itching; it must apply to one’s own personal experience. It  must be experientially consistent.

Earlier we posed the question: How is it that an ancient book is so perfectly calculated to address the needs of modern man? This is an important question. And it is easily answered, if one accepts the Christian believer’s perspective on the nature and origin of the Bible. A book written and individually applied (through the illumination given by the Holy Spirit) by God is sure to have a supernatural attraction and personal relevance. The attraction of the Bible is found in the communion that an individual has with God through its pages. It is no ordinary book. Neither is it dead. Or tame. Paul, the author of Hebrews, in chapter 4, verse 12, says: “For the Word of God is quick [that is, living], and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

The Word, according to this verse is:

1. living (as opposed to dead)
2. powerful (as opposed to feeble)
3. sharp (as opposed to jejune)
4. a discerner of the thoughts and intents of one’s own heart

The Bible is alive. It is God’s living, discerning, vivifying, encouraging, rebuking, empowering, humbling, and awesome Word. It is His book to you, to your soul. If you open your heart and your mind to God and His Word, He will speak to you—powerfully and personally. The great and sublime truths of Scripture will be applied to your own case, your own needs, struggles, and situation. God will do this manifestly through the reading of His Bible—His Book. He will do it for you! Because He loves you and cares for you!

The Bible in this sense is self-authenticating. The proof, as my mother used to say, is in the pudding. God will give you a personal revelation of Himself (and of yourself) in the pages of the Bible as His inspiring, instructing, and illuminating Spirit applies them. Some may object to the concept of the Bible being self-authenticating. “That begs the very question you are trying to answer,” they might say. But this is not the case at all. Notice that we did not say the only authentication of the Bible is its own self-authentication. It is one authentication among others, which include, but are not limited to, the Bible’s unique content and consistency.

The Bible’s self-authentication as God’s Word to the world is plainly knowable to those who are willing to hear it. The evidence of one’s personal experience with God through His Word is one that cannot be gainsaid. He that has an ear to hear, let him hear “what saith the Lord.” God will not be silent. He will speak to you personally and powerfully. He will speak in a way that you will know that God is speaking. He will speak to receptors more important than your ears; He will speak to your heart and your soul.

If you are willing to hear and willing to heed what is said, then you can expect to hear God’s voice in the Bible.  Jesus said: “If any one is willing to do His will, he shall know about the teaching, whether it is from God or originates with Me” (John 7:17, Weymouth, emphasis mine). Notice the importance of being willing. Second Corinthians 8:12 says that there must “be first a willing mind.”

Are you willing to hear and to heed the voice of God in His Book? If so, then God will give unmistakable evidence that He is real and that He is mighty to save. This evidence will be internally knowable and personally  certain. And what is more, it squares soundly with external verifications such as the nature of reality, the origin of the universe and the world, the origin and meaning of life, the centrality of relationships, the destiny of mankind, the enterprises (and limits) of science, the reality of an objective morality, and the record of history, among others.

In short, the Bible is consistent with one’s personal, internal reality and with objective, external reality as well.

The Bible’s experiential consistency strongly suggests its supernatural origin.

Experientially Consistent Versus Experientially Driven: A Critical Distinction

The Bible, properly understood and applied, is consistent with our experience, but it is not to be driven by our experience. Experience driven theology is a dangerous precipice over which many a wellmeaning believer has fallen headlong. And it is a morass from which escape is neither easy nor common.

Our experience is important, yes. But we must be careful to make our experience subject to the truths of God’s Word, not the other way around. That is, the Bible becomes the arbiter of one’s experience rather than one’s experience being the arbiter of the Bible.

One of Luther’s closest associates, Philipp Melanchthon, said, “The Bible must be understood grammaticallybefore it can be understood theologically.” That is, we must first know what the words are and what they mean, before we can arrange them into a systematic, theological construct. Melanchthon’s statement could be modified, while still utterly maintaining the thrust and intent, this way: “The Bible must be understood grammatically before it can be understood experientially.” That is, we must be sure that our experience squares  with the words; we must not force the words to conform to our experience.

The Bible is experientially consistent, yes. But it is not to be experientially driven.

As I was finishing the writing of this article, I was on a plane flying from Orlando to Detroit. Every seat in the plane was taken. And by the providence of God I ended up sitting next to a Oneness Pentecostal. About halfway through the flight we began to talk about the Bible and the things of God. I could tell he had a chip in his shoulder about something, but I didn’t know at the first what it was. I knew soon enough that it was an emphatic commitment to the oneness of God, as opposed to the triune nature of God. He stated his position vigorously, and even cited a few texts of Scripture (mainly Deuteronomy 6:4). 

As providence would have it, I had just finished teaching at an ARISE seminar for 12 hours on the Godhead and the triune nature of God! So the many texts in favor of the Biblical position were absolutely fresh and clear in my mind. God is so good! I took Craig on a whirlwind ride of Biblical texts and evidences for the better part of half hour. I was very polite, and always framed my points as questions rather than declarations. My demeanor was disarming, but each text of Scripture was unmistakably clear and right to the point. He stammered and groped for explanations, but he had none. 

Finally, in a burst of frustration he said, “Well, what happens when you’re baptized?!” I knew he wanted me to say that you speak with tongues.

“You believe in your heart that Jesus’ death was your death, and that His life is your life,” I said. He pushed me further: “But then what?” he asked.

“God gives you power to lead a changed life characterized by the fruit of the Spirit and by obedience.”

He became increasingly flustered. “Are you filled with Spirit?” he demanded.

“Yes, by God’s grace I am,” I responded. 

“Has God given you the holy utterance, the gift of tongues as evidence of that infilling?” he retorted.

A study on the nature of the gift of tongues ensued. Again, I was very deferential and kind, but allowed the Bible to speak plainly and unequivocally about this oft-misunderstood topic. He was nearly speechless.

Then in an act of what can only be described as conversational desperation, he said, “I would encourage you to pray for the experience of speaking in tongues; it is such an awesome and powerful experience.” Then he described to me in considerable detail what happens in his church when “the Spirit falls.” Everything he said centered upon experience, feelings, and emotion. He strongly encouraged me to “pray for this experience.”

When he had no answer for a text of the Scripture, he defaulted to his experience. The text was clearly being made subordinate to his experience. This is a recipe for deception if there ever was one. Notice how the apostle Peter subjects his experience to the “more sure word of prophecy” in 2 Peter 1:16-21:
 

Peter here recounts his experience on the mount of transfiguration. And what an experience that would have been! Yet notice the language of verse 19 where Peter says that something is “more sure.” What is
“more sure” than Peter’s amazing experience? In this context, it is the Word of God! Just look at verses 19-21!

The lesson is not difficult to grasp. Experience must not drive our understanding of Scripture. It is consistent withexperience—powerfully and personally so!—but it is not to be subordinate to one’s experience, no matter how fun, satisfying, emotional, or powerful that experience may be! I hope my new friend Craig learns this lesson. And soon.
 

Conclusion

The Bible is the most important book ever written. More than this, it is God’s Own book—His Word to the world. This claim is not just far-reaching; it is true. The unique content and unique consistency of the Bible support this truth claim. Finally, and most importantly, the Bible is not just God’s Word to the world—it is God’s Word to you.