The Bible is Not the Word of God

This is my Bible.

It contains an introduction from the publisher, a table of contents, a collection of books called the Scriptures, an index, and some maps. I have six more Bibles on my shelf.

One of my Bibles contains eight translations — eight English renderings from the original languages of the Scriptures — and all are different. Most of the differences can be attributed to the nuances of translating one language to another.

But not all of them.

There are well over 100 English translations of the Bible right now. New translations are continually introduced and old ones are revised, either to make the Scriptures easier to understand for the current population or truer to the original texts.

Some consider the new translations to be improvements, and some consider them blasphemy. Some believe the new translations are part of a grand conspiracy; others believe they are developed because of advancing scholarship. Grand arguments arise about which translation is right, and you get to choose which one you like best.

It’s hard to explain how the Bible, if immutable, can cause such controversy.

Sixty-six books, gathered up and presented in a language I can understand, along with some helps, and not without controversy.

That’s my Bible.

The Scriptures

Though each of my Bibles is different, all contain the Scriptures.

The Scriptures are divinely inspired accounts of the history of man and his interactions with God. The Scriptures include the words of prophets, priests, and kings speaking with God and about God, and the words of God coming to men in visions, dreams, songs, prophecies, and by His audible voice.

Included in the Scriptures are accounts of what the Son of God did and said when He took on human flesh and walked on the earth, and prophecies of what He will say when He sits on His throne when the world is made new.

The Scriptures include letters from church leaders to other lovers of the Word of God, written to teach, encourage, and correct. Those writings are considered to be the Word of God to His people, although in some of his writings, the apostle Paul admitted to throwing in a few suggestions of his own.

The Scriptures included in my Bibles were penned by at least forty men. Some of the same events were recorded by more than one author, and some of those accounts disagree. Some even contradict one another.

Many who read their Bibles don’t notice the contradictions, some don’t read their Bibles enough to care, and some who know about them refuse to talk about them because that raises some difficult questions.

Although there may be easy explanations — different reports given by different witnesses and scribal errors made as one manuscript was copied to the next — how can the Scriptures, if inerrant, disagree?

Words inspired by God, carefully recorded by witnesses and scribes, and preserved for thousands of years to introduce us to the Word of God. Those are the Scriptures.

The Word of God

Long before the Scriptures were recorded, the Word of God was. The Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word of God created all that is. It was the Word of God that said, “Let there be light.”

Long after creation — how long is a mystery — the Word of God came to earth through the sound of His voice and the etching of His finger on stone.

And then He appeared in the flesh.

As a man, He came to bring light and life to all, yet only a few recognized him as the Word of God. Men called Him Jesus.

Jesus said to the men who knew the Scriptures best, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”

He said, “I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment — what to say and what to speak.” He testified that He was the Word of God.

And God, whom He called “Abba,” agreed. One day a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”

He was the breathing, walking, talking Word of God, and all the authority of heaven and earth had been given to Him.

When Jesus sent His disciples out in His name and in the power of God’s Spirit, He gave them the same authority to speak the Word of God. He told them, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

And so when they were sent out, the words they spoke were the Word of God. They were walking, talking, breathing vessels for the Word of God.

That “age” that Jesus spoke of hasn’t ended yet, so His charge to all of His disciples has not changed because the Word of God endures forever and it is immutable.

And though at times it seems we are no closer to seeing the fulfillment of the Word of God spoken by one of His prophets — that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD — we can be sure of it because the Word of God is infallible.

And while much in the Scriptures remains a mystery, the Word of God still invites us to seek Him: “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; It is the glory of God to hide something and the glory of kings to discover something.” The Word of God that poured from King Solomon’s pen that day was divinely inspired.

As for any theological prejudice, sloppy scholarship, or human error in our Bibles? Man’s imperfections are no threat to the Word of God.

The Word of God is perfect.