Who wrote the Bible?

Most scholars view the Bible as just a normal (historic) book. Most Christians believe that it is perfect, with no human flaw to it. In other words the one group belief in “Biblical errancy” (the Bible is full of errors) and the other group believe in “Biblical inerrancy” (the Bible is without any errors). Both are wrong.

The dictating God

About 30 years ago a few hundred (approximately 300) conservative evangelical scholars came together and announced The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Basically they affirmed that the Bible is devoid of any errors. For instance the statement declares: “We deny that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and science. . .” In other words, the Bible is not only infallible or without error as far as spiritual matters is concerned, but also regarding historic and scientific facts. This is known as “absolute inerrancy”.

For many Christian scholars the claim of “absolute inerrancy” is necessary, because they believe that if the Bible is not accurate and true regarding non-spiritual things, then it cannot be trusted with spiritual truths. The reasoning runs something like this: The Bible is God’s Word. God cannot error. Therefore the Bible is without error.

All things considered, The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy is beautifully drafted and has much truth to it.

But a simple scanning of the variety in writing styles, grammatical differences, etc. quickly shows that the Bible writers kept their own distinct personalities when penning the passages and books they authored.

Furthermore, there are a number of discrepancies in the Bible. Consider Hobab who is said to be Moses’ brother-in-law in Numbers 10:29, but his father-in-law in Judges 4:11. Was David the 7^th (I Chronicles 2:15) or 8^th (I Samuel 16:10, 11) son of Jesse?

Infallible but not inerrant

A less stringent claim is known as “limited errancy”, which basically says that the Bible is inspired and without error as far as the themes of salvation, faith and ethics are concerned, but may include errors in the realms of science and history. The Bible is therefore infallible in the sense that it does not mislead in matters of faith and practice, but it is not inerrant, as far as secular subjects are concerned.

If this is the case what does the Bible mean when it says that “All Scripture is inspired by God” (2 Tim 3:16)? Clearly God inspired all of it. The problem is probably with the common understanding (or misunderstanding) of what inspiration means.

Inspiration or possession?

Inspiration does not mean the same as demonic possession, leaving the possessed helpless under the control of God, controlling their hands in the writing process, as one find in cases of Spiritism, where spirits write “through” the mediums they possess.

God’s rule is one of freedom of choice – He does not coerce.

Instead divine inspiration means that God inspired the Bible writers mostly with thoughts. These writers expressed such thoughts in their own words. “The Bible points to God as its author; yet it was written by human hands; and in the varied style of its different books it presents the characteristics of the several authors. The truths revealed are all ‘given by inspiration of God’ (2 Tim 3:16); yet they are all expressed in the words of men. The infinite One by His Holy Spirit has shed light into the minds and hearts of His servants,” explains one commentator.

Like the mystery of Jesus who was both God and human combined, so the Bible is God’s Word expressed in man’s tongue. The Bible is God’s Word, conveyed through the shortcomings of the human agent.

The Bible can only rightly be understood with the clarifying aid of the Holy Spirit and within the paradigm of the character of God as expressed in the life and example of the God-Man, Jesus the Christ.

Just another secular book?

The non-believing scholar would like to use discrepancies in the Bible as proof that the Bible is not a divinely inspired book, but merely a compilation of human writings and myth.

Such a claim has to ignore the continuous confirmation of archaeology, the veracity of fulfilled prophecies and the witness of changed lives.

Confirmation of archaeology

Many things once dismissed as Biblical myth has in the meantime been proved facts, by archaeological findings. Extra-biblical sources confirm events described in the Bible.

The Hittites were thought a myth, until their capital was discovered at Bogazkoy, Turkey. The Assyrian king Sargon, referred to in Isaiah 20:1, was thought a myth, until his palace was discovered in Khorsabad, Iraq, with recordings on the palace walls describing his capture of Ashdod.

Likenesses have been found of many high figure people mentioned in the Bible, such as Jehu, king of Israel (II Kings 9, 10); Hazael, king of Aram (I King 19:15); Darius I, king of Persia (Ezra 4:24); and Roman emperors Augustus (Luke 2:1), Tiberius (Mark 12:1), Claudius (Acts 11:28) and Nero Caesar (Acts 25:11).

Not to mention the palaces (Judges 3:15-30; I Kings 20:43; Ester 1:2; Acts 23:33-35), temples (Judges 9:4), gates (Judges 9:34-38; Esther 2:19) and pools (I Kings 22:29-39; John 5:1-14) referred to in Scripture and then excavated later by archaeologists.

The archaeological findings mentioned here are far from an exhausted list, and new findings are every so often added to the bulk of evidence.

Fulfilled prophecies

More than any other religious compilation, the Bible is filled with numerous fulfilled prophecies that prove the divine foresight which was active in the production of the Scriptures.

It is estimated that there are about 2500 prophecies in the Bible of which most have already been fulfilled. The probability of many of these prophecies being fulfilled by chance is so staggeringly minute that only the most obstinate disbeliever could still cling to doubt as to the divine origin of Scripture.

The prophecies in the book of Daniel predicted the whole development of the Middle-Eastern and Western world, up until the time of the end. Think of chapters two and seven of Daniel where the Bible perfectly predicted that Babylonia was to be overthrown by the combined kingdoms of the Medes and Persians, Medo-Persia was to be conquered by swift Alexander’s Greece (which itself would divide into four), Greece was to be followed by the Roman Empire, and the Roman Empire would eventually crumble into ten smaller kingdoms, some of which we still have today.

Just the prophecies regarding the life of the Messiah are so accurate that you need to be stubbornly blind not to admit that this is divine providence, if not supernatural coincidence. For instance, that Christ would die by crucifixion is itself a wondrous claim. The prophecy was made 500 years before death-by-crucifixion was even invented! Some of the prophecies about Jesus’ life preceded him a 1000 years. Most of the prophecies regarding his life Jesus had no control over. In other words he could not manipulate events to fulfil the prophecies in his favour.

Biblical wisdom and secular science

To many it is surprising that this Book focussing on religious themes is also filled with scientific truths that were centuries ahead of the science of the time. For instance the Bible refers to ocean currents (“paths of the seas”, Ps 8:8), and wind currents: “The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course” (Ecclesiastes 1:6).

Though most people of the ancient world (and even the Church at some point) believed that the Earth is flat, the Bible states that it is circle (Isaiah 40:22). Some might argue that the Bible writers did not mean spherical but a flat disc. The Bible also says that the Earth hangs in nothing (i.e. space) (Job 26:7).

Conclusion

The Bible is definitely not a “normal” book. It is a continuous best-seller; the most translated of any book and has changed the lives of millions of people for centuries.

It is not always the dictated words of God, although it was inspired by God. As one commentator puts it: “The Bible is written by inspired men, but it is not God’s mode of thought and expression. God, as a writer, is not represented. Men will often say such an expression is not like God. But God has not put Himself in words, in logic, in rhetoric, on trial in the Bible. The writers of the Bible were God’s penmen, not His pen.” [Emphasis added.]