How Can We Know the Bible Is the Word of God?
A Religion Profile from International Students, Inc.
The Question Posed
Christians claim the Bible is God’s Word. That means that they believe the Bible is a verbal revelation from God that makes it unique from every other book. But how can such a claim be verified? First, we would expect certain things to be true about a book from God. Such characteristics might also be true about humanly-authored books, but we would expect that, at the very least, they would be true about God’s book. Such characteristics would include the following: • It would claim to be God’s Word. • It would be historically accurate when it speaks on historical matters. • Its authors would be trustworthy. • It would be thematically unified and without contradictions. • We would have received accurate copies of the original manuscripts. Second, because God is unique, His book would bear characteristics that could be true of it alone. Such characteristics would distinguish God’s book from all other books in such a way that it could not be counterfeited. These characteristics would include the following: • It would make statements that would reveal knowledge about the way things work beyond the knowledge of its day. • It would make predictions about the future that could not be known through natural means. • The message would be unique. • The messengers would be confirmed by miracles. • The words would have a transforming power. Now let’s look at the characteristics listed to see if they are true about the Bible.

Characteristics That Must Be True of God’s Word, But Could Also Be True of a Human Book
1. The Bible Claims to Be God’s Word A. The Authors Claimed to Speak God’s Words Much of the Bible was written by prophets of God. The prophet was someone who was to say exactly what God told him to say, no more and no less. Jeremiah was commanded: