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Is the Bible True in Every Single Word that God Wrote?
by Samson Hutagalung

The study of this topic shows that we are entering the very complex problem of the professing Christians have in this century. It is sad to note that the vast majority Bible teachers, theologian absolutely deny the infallible and inerrancy of the Scripture in every single word that God wrote. In the original autographs, the Lord gave through centuries His Word in Hebrew, Aramic and Greek. What we have now in our hand is the translation of that original language of the Bible. The question usually is asked, is the translation that we have in our hand also infallible? Many scholars, theologians have failed to answer this question correctly. What they understand is that the original autograph of the word of God is infallible and inerrant but not the translation that we have in our own language. However there is a very important consideration that we need to make on this matter namely that the Bible that we have now in our own hand is the translation of the original language. Thus this translation is also infallible to the extent that if it is translated accurately from the original autographs. Based on this conclusion, we teach with confidence, believe and obey what this translation says. As far as the English Bible is concerned the translation must be accurately transmitted to English what God said in the language that the Holy Spirit used to give the autograph of His revelation in the Scriptures. However, one may ask, which manuscripts can be trusted as the same as the autograph in which the English Bible is translated? This point will be discussed in a different article.

In the early 1960s many leading seminaries in America began to question and deny the foundation truth of the infallibility of the Bible, though they still claim to be Evangelical. Therefore the conservative leaders from various countries have to fight those who question and deny this truth. Up to this day, the fighting never ends till the Lord Jesus comes because many Christian leaders have fallen into the same trap. However to those who truly love the Lord and His word, there will be no doubt in their heart that the Bible is the Word of God, it is infallible and inerrant. The Bible is inspired not because the Bible said it is inspired as many books and cultic literatures claim so. If we observe from the beginning of the book of Genesis till the book of Revelation we will convince that the Bible is the Word of God. We notice in the Bible that how the people who love God, love also His word with confidence. Thus the only Book that God ever wrote in the history of this world is the Bible. The Bible is absolutely the Word of God, and God preserves His word for His people from all errors and mistakes.

God Was the Author of the Scripture

I n the study of the Holy Scripture one must believe that the Bible is the Word of God written by God Himself. This is very crucial to everyone who studies the Word of God. Anyone who fails to acknowledge that God authored the Bible, he will fail to understand what the Bible said about itself. This is a very vital foundation of Christian’s faith in the study of Christian doctrines. Thus if God was really the author of the Bible then we may conclude that God will preserve His word forever. The Bible will not contain any error despite of its writers were human, but the Lord would preserve His Word without mistake and perfectly for His chosen people. Therefore the believers in the Lord must not neglect the study of the Holy Scripture but rather we need to study devotedly and diligently the Holy Scripture.

The churches that do not do her responsibility in studying and searching the Word of God, God purposely will send false teachers to such churches in order to provoke God’s people to search the Scripture. We may see such church in the New Testament such as the church of Corinth. We read in 1 Corinthians 11:19 saying, “For there must be also heresies among you, (why?) that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” Thus it is important that we do not only agree and believe what the Scriptures say but we need to know actually what to believe and why we believe on this vital foundation.

According to 2 Timothy

2 Timothy 3:16 said, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” The phrase ‘inspiration of God’ literally means “God-breathed.” This is to say that the word of God is the product of God’s breath. On this matter we need to understand that God does not have hands, head or body that He can breathe from His mouth. But the Jews understand God in such a way that God as if having a complete instrument of human being. In reality God does not have a form of human body. Though we have known this clear the fact is when God speaks the Bible exists.

We may remember the account of the creation in the book of Genesis that God also created the world with His word. The world exists because God spoke. God commanded and it happened.It did not take billion of years in order to exist. How the human being begins it is exactly at the same way that God breathed in His nostril of breath of life, and man became the living being. The clay suddenly became alive. When God spoke everything happened perfectly and instantly. Therefore we can say exactly that every word in the Bible is God-breathed. However having known all these, the question is asked, is every single word in the Bible, not one exception written by men (about 40 men) through 2,000 years of history, the Word of God? Although as if there is a contradiction seen in the Bible, the answer is definitely yes.

According to 2 Peter

Listen what Peter said about the part of man had with regard to the origin and composition of the Bible in 2 Peter 1:21 when he said, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” Everything that men wrote by those who wrote the Bible they wrote as the Holy Spirit moved them. The Greek word that the Holy Spirit used to describe this was the same Greek word that He used to describe what happenned in the ship with Paul, Luke and others who were in their way to Rome in Acts 27. All of a sudden as they were leaving the land of Crete to west Rome, their ship was carried along by the strong storm of the Mediterranean Sea. The captain and pilot all lost controlled and nobody knew where they were going or how fasts toward they were going. They had nothing to say and control to which the ship was going. The same Greek word appeared here, “so they have carried along.” Thus we can see now that how men wrote the Book. No one of them had a desire or idea to be added to the Bible.

Supposed one of the writers of the Bible wrote one chapter according to his own desire or if the human community wrote the Bible, we will not know what they are saying. There will be a lot of sort of contradiction found in the Bible. Thus we thank God for the Holy Spirit who determined what the man would write.

Then one may say that there is a contradiction here concerning the writer of the Bible. The question is that who then wrote the Word? To answer this question correctly we need to understand that though the Bible shows us the individual personality, style of each writer, but the Author of the Bible is God Himself. We can say David wrote Psalm, or Paul wrote epistles. Each one of them has personality imprinted in the book but all the errors of thinking are removed. So the Holy Spirit did not snap out the individual characteristic of the writers or the situation and circumstances in which they wrote. For example when Paul wrote his letters he was writing out of his heart to those people who really involved them in the real situation. What Paul had written to the churches was not a dictation from the Lord. In the whole Bible there was only one occasion in which God dictated His Word to Moses in Mouth Sinai when God wanted to write on the tablet of stone. Therefore we may conclude that God used the personality of these men in the writing of the Scripture but He removed the errors and put exactly what He wanted at the end product. This final product is the Bible that is the Word of God and the word of men at the same time.

Based on the explanation above the theologians have called the Bible as the result of that discovery. The Bible is called Theanthrapic book of God-man book. The Bible is just like Jesus Christ for He is also Theanthropic, God-Man. Christ is God-Man in one person. He is perfect harmony with himself. He is human 100 % and Divine 100 % and there is no contradiction, no tension, He is one unified person with two natures. This is the miracle of God. Now we have also one unified book that has two natures, it is 100 % Divine, God’s word and 100% human, the word of men, showing the personality and the vocabulary, circumstances, and situation in which each writer wrote what he wrote.

The Verbal and Plenary Preservation of the Scripture

In the study of the verbal and plenary preservation of the Scripture we find many people have failed to understand that the Bible is truly preserved by God for His people. Everything that is written in the Bible is the Word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit. However this truth is not taken and considered by many people seriously. During the last two centuries there has been many attacks on the preservation of the Holy Scriptures. In fact in the two last decades, the attach has been more severe to extent that those who believe the Bible is verbally and plenarily preserved by God is labelled as the heretics. Many people said today that the Bible only contains the word of God. On the other hand many people have determined the preservation of the Scripture based on their own selfish gain. One may say, “when I read some of the Psalms I just fell so warm and so inspired, but when I read the genealogy in the book of Chronicles I cannot believe anything that is inspired because that is not inspired me.” This is the way many people have done to determine whether that particular portion of Scripture is the Word of God. But the absolute truth is that nothing in Holy Scripture that is infallible based on how we might feel about it when we read it. The Bible is absolutely inspired of anything that is found in this book such genealogy, scientific of any kind.

The problem of understanding the preservation of the Holy Scripture for those so-called Christians does not only occur in this last two centuries but it was the problem for the Jews in the time of Jesus Christ’s ministry on this earth. The Jews had the problems to understand the Old Testament because the Jews would consider that the writings of Moses were really inspired. On the other hand they regarded the writings of other prophets like Samuel, Joshua, Kings, those of in the forms of prophet, are not as inspired as what Moses wrote. For example the book of Psalms, the third category of the Bible in Old Testament according to the Jews, was put down and considered them as low value. This attitude was also reflected in the translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek, which is called Septuagint. The Jews handled the books of Moses carefully but not the rest of the Old Testament. Thus when Jesus Christ quoted Psalms 82:6 in John 10:34, “Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are Gods? At the end of verse 35 Jesus said, “the scripture cannot be broken.” This is to say that Jesus Christ considered the book of Psalms as part of the law and it can not be broken because the whole Old Testament, the 39 books are totally infallible and inspired, breathed out of God. We do often times innocently the same thing as the Jews do. There are people who read the red letter of the Bible as the most word of God.  There are many who think that they do not need to brother what Peter and Paul say, what they need is to know what Jesus says. To such attitude in understanding the preservation of the word of God we may say that if a person does not believe what the apostles say and reject them, then he is rejecting the Word of Jesus because Jesus is the one who authenticates them. Thus we cannot distinguish in the New Testament what is most inspired and what is almost inspired and what is not inspired?

Verbal and Plenary Preservation of the Old Testament Scripture According to Jesus

During the temptation of Jesus Christ soon after His baptism, Jesus replied Satan three times with this phrase, “it is written” (Matthew 4:4,7,10). What is “it is written”? God’s word and God’s final authority is written. When Jesus said this word, Satan understood it correctly. Satan did not comment what Jesus said or asking further discussion on the merit of so-called ‘inspired text.’ Satan knew that he was defeated. James said it in this way that, “the Devil also believe and tremble” (James 2:19). On this regard Satan knows more than the liberals and unbelievers in the world today who claim to be scholars. Jesus set the example for us that is the ultimate, final authoritative, not our opinion but it is what God has said. We must be sure that we must do as what Jesus does. He made an accurate and relevant quotation from the Old Testament Text when He was facing temptations. This is to say that Jesus knew His Bible.

One proof was recorded in the Holy Scripture that Jesus knew His Bible very well was that when He was at twelve years old, He knew more than the greatest theologian in Israel did. This event is record in Luke 9:42-47 when Jesus was brought to Jerusalem by Joseph and His mother. On their return home, Jesus was left behind in the midst of doctors of the law and they have marvelled to see His understanding of the Holy Scripture. Jesus did not master what the Rabbi said but He mastered only the inspired and infallible Old Testament scriptures. Thus we need to master the message and quoted it authoritatively.

Another evidence that Jesus Christ said to two of His disciples after His resurrection and having the glorified body, Jesus taught the disciples to know the very important fact about the Holy Scriptures. We read in Luke 24:25,27 that Jesus spoke this word when they were walking on the road to Emmaus with His two frustrated disciples. “Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” Jesus was saying here that the two disciples must believe the word of God beginning from the writing of Moses, the Pentateuch and the writing of all the prophets namely the writing of Joshua and all down to the major prophets and historical books. Thus Luke 24:25,27 Jesus has covered two categories of the Holy Scripture in the Old Testament. Now in Luke 24:44 another category was mentioned namely the Psalms. Jesus said that everything has already mentioned in these three categories about the Lord Jesus Christ must be fulfilled. As we read Luke 24:44 saying, “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.” Thus Luke 24:44 covered the whole books in the Old Testament and it is the Word of God and we must understand what the Holy Spirit has given in the Old Testament.

Having seen Jesus’ explanations on the inspiration of the Holy Scripture, now it is important to see what Jesus said concerning the verbal and plenary preservation of the Holy Scripture. Matthew 5:17-18 we read, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” The question we need to ask is that what is ‘jot’? And what is ‘tittle’? ‘Jot’ is the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet namely ‘yodh,’ and ‘tittle’ is the smallest part of the Hebrew letter. Jesus was saying here that not even the small letter or the small part of the letter should in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Because Jesus does not only believe on verbal inspiration but He believed in jot and title inspiration. Jesus said to the wise theologian of His days, the Saducees who were in charge of the temple and the high priesthood, “ye do err, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God" (Matthew 22:29). The Saducees and Pharisees were having the double disasters because, firstly they did not know the scriptures and secondly they did not know the power of God. Therefore the conclusion on this matter Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). If we follow what He says in His word we will survive from disaster of the world and we will never be destroyed.

In John 5:46 we see another evidence in which Jesus Christ proclaimed His existence in the Scripture. “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.” This verse is the rebuke to the Pharisees when they persisted not to believe what Jesus had taught them. The Pharisees and Saducees often claimed only Moses and his writings that they believed and not the word of Jesus. Thus Jesus Christ has to correct them concerning their understanding of the Scriptures. If they truly have searched the Scripture it is surely they must understand that Jesus Christ has existed before Moses was. Jesus Christ is one of the three persons in Godhead who told Moses what to write. However one may ask a question, how could Jesus tell Moses what to write when Moses lived in 1,400 BC? The answer is found in John 8:58, “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This is to say that Jesus Christ is forever and ever exist and there is nothing before Him. Jesus does not have any problem to tell Moses what to do. In fact Jesus appeared to Moses in the burning bush. Thus everything we read in Genesis came from God through Moses and God has guaranteed every single word found in this book. We need to believe what Moses wrote. If we do not believe on Moses’ writings then there is no way to believe what Jesus says. It means everything that we read in the book of Genesis absolutely infallible such as how the world is created, in what order the things happened and how long it took, how the curse came to human rebellion, Genesis flood and every word from Genesis 1-11 is infallible. The Old Testament books are guaranteed by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verbal and Plenary Preservation of the New Testament Scripture According to Jesus

Having seen the Lord Jesus Christ guaranteed the Old Testament books, now it is important to consider the New Testament Scriptures and what the Lord Jesus says about these books. In John 14:26 we can see the absolute guarantee of the writing of the Scripture after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ to heaven. Jesus gave this word to those eleven frightened men in the upper room in the night he was betrayed, the night before His crucifixion. He said, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” How do we know that the apostle John, who wrote this gospel 60 years later, was writing accurately every word that Jesus said? It is because the Holy Spirit brings to remembrance every word that Jesus said. That is way we have the guarantee in advance of what we are reading is true. Furthermore in John 15:26 we are told the Holy Spirit will testify of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.” Jesus was saying here that, “you will know, and all you need to know about me in written form in the future series of documents called the New Testament books by which you can be saved and sanctified and some day glorified.” The Lord Jesus Christ guaranteed the writing of His Word in advance.

Another guarantee given by the Lord Jesus Christ in is John 16:13 when He said, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” The point here is that Jesus would not only tell them everything that He would say in the four gospels, His works in the epistles, and the things to come in the book of Revelation. All things and prophetic passages in the New Testament is guaranteed by Christ.

In John 17:20 we read Jesus’ prayer before He was crucified saying, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.” What is the meaning of this verse? Jesus Christ was not saying, “Please bless those who hear me” but He said, “please bless those who believe in me through their word.” Why? Because nobody in this world today can be saved by hearing Jesus is talking to Him. Jesus is not talking to anybody except through the words of the apostles. We cannot talk to Jesus directly nor we can hear Him speaking to us directly. The only way that we can know anything about Him is through what the apostle and prophet wrote about Him. That is why Ephesians 2:20 said that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets because every word in the New Testament was written through them. Hence the Lord Jesus could say that the only exclusive means by which we know of Him is through the writing of these men whose authority He has guaranteed us in advance. As we read in Romans 10:17 saying, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Therefore when we hear the Word in the New Testament books, we are hearing the absolutely infallible, inerrant written revelation from Jesus Christ and nobody can be save apart from this book and its message. Amen.