Can the Bible be trusted?

How can we trust the Bible? How do we know that it really is solid and true? That’s a great question, and one that deserves consideration from any thinking person. Many Christians are quick to say, “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.” While I can appreciate their confidence, the question still remains, “How do we know that ‘God said it’?”

The answer to this question has been the subject of thousands of books over the last couple of hundred years. The authors of these books have spent countless hours of research and study to set out logical proofs that support what I believe to be true, the Bible is the Word of God. And while I am thankful for their time and effort (and have bought and studied many of their books), I find it interesting that Paul didn’t use logical, academic proof when he was reminding Timothy of the truth of the Scriptures.

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (II Tim. 3:14-17)

What did he base their reliability on? He told Timothy that these "God-breathed" Scriptures were trustworthy because Timothy had seen them lived out in the lives of his mother and grandmother ...

v.14 – “…you know those from who you learned it…”

...and Paul himself.

v.12 – “…You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life…”

Paul said to Timothy (in the Jeff Kuhn Version),

“Timothy, you know that this is solid cause you have seen the fruit of Scripture in the lives of those around you.”

Why am I making such a big issue of this? Maybe we spend too much time trying to logically prove to people that the Scriptures are the Word of God; that they can be trusted in our search for truth. Maybe our words are just words. People hear thousands of words everyday when they watch TV commercials. They are inherently skeptical of words that promise something. They’ve been burned before. But what really catches people’s attention is visible proof. It’s not a commercial that sells a product, it’s the fact that their neighbor used the product and they saw that the product worked.

Perhaps we would testify to the truth of Scripture more effectively if we built our lives on the truths contained in it and then let the fruit of our lives speak. Maybe our words need to take a back seat to our lives. Maybe what we need to do is not defend the Bible, but apply it.