Can you defend the authority of the Bible?

Be ready to defend why you personally have decided to follow Jesus and why you hold the Bible as a source of authority. If you were to ask the first-century Christians why they believed what they did, they would point to evidence of the resurrection. They walked with a man who predicted His death and resurrection and then followed through.

You and I do not believe that simply because the Bible says so. There is actually more to it than that. There are reasons that we can trust what the Bible says. If you grew up in the church, the Bible was often presented as a source of authority because the Bible says it is (Jeremiah 1:1-9; Luke 1:1-4). The problem, though, is that is a circular argument to the outside world. Can you defend the authority of the Bible without a simple “Just have faith” or “Because the Bible says so”? Let’s dive in and do just that.

First, let’s start with this: The foundation of our faith is not the Bible. The foundation is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our hope and our confidence are in Jesus, not in a book.

Here is why we take the Old Testament seriously: We take it seriously because Jesus did. Over and over again Jesus references the Old Testament. Jesus actually said, “Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures — either God’s Law or the Prophets. I’m not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama. God’s Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God’s Law will be alive and working” (Matthew 5:17-18 MSG). Jesus pointed to the Old Testament as the inspired Word of God.

Jesus pointed over and over again to events and people in the Old Testament as historical facts. Of course, if you struggle with the reality of Jesus, you’ll want to explore the historical evidence of Jesus.

While we can’t pull in the full authority of the Bible in one blog post, we can focus in on a smaller section. See, the Bible is a library, and you have to address each part one at a time.

Let’s focus in on the authority of the Gospels

The Bible is a collection of ancient manuscripts. Christians don’t believe the Gospels are reliable because they are included in the Bible; Christians believe the Gospels were included in the Bible because they are considered reliable.

When we look at the Gospels, the most important date there is for the Jesus-follower is A.D. 70. It is an event recorded by the secular historian Josephus that accounts for the slaughter of 300,000 to 1 million Jews. During this time the temple was destroyed and ancient Judaism was destroyed. Temple sacrifices ended. The epicenter of what they believed was their faith was destroyed. The fact that this horrific slaughter was not mentioned in the Gospels means one thing: They were written prior to A.D. 70. Why is this important?

Jesus was crucified around A.D. 35. That means that when the Gospels were written, there were many, many eyewitnesses still living. It was all written when people in the city could have verified or challenged the claims made. The Gospels are reliable because of who wrote them and when they wrote them. (To hear more about this historical event, listen to Skeptic.)

At Centerpoint, we are breaking down every barrier that keeps people from the love of God. We don’t shy away from the hard questions. No matter where you are in your faith journey, you are welcome to join us! Atheist, agnostic or Jesus-follower, there is a seat for you at our table.