Why I Believe the Bible is the Word of God: The Testimony of Jesus of Nazareth

In beginning my case for the Bible being the Word of God, I call as my first witness the testimony of Jesus.

I'm convinced the Bible is the Word of God because Jesus of Nazareth, an historical Man undeniably sent from and accredited by God through countless miracles (John 5:36; 9:30-33; Hebrews 2:3, 4), affirmed the inspiration, authority, and infallibility of the Scriptures as God’s Word (e.g.-Matthew 5:17, 18; Luke 24:27; John 5:39; 10:35). Before you dismiss this as circular reasoning, hear it out.

This evidence begins with the established historical fact that Jesus worked many miracles and did wondrous things, including predicting and causing His own resurrection. That He did such wonders is one of the more verifiable claims of ancient history.

First, almost all of the New Testament writers claimed to be eye-witnesses of the miracles and resurrection of Jesus, a claim for which all of them were later willing to die. It strains credulity to say that they all were hallucinating. It further defies logic to claim that they all were lying for this simple reason: while it is true that some might be willing to die for something they misguidedly believe to be true, only mad-men (which clearly these men were not) would be willing to die for something they absolutely know to be false.

Additional testimony regarding Jesus' miracles is found in the writings of the Jewish historian, Josephus, circa 60AD. While the historical integrity of some of Josephus' writings has been questioned, it is widely accepted that the following words bear all the marks of historical reliability:

“About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man… he was one who performed surprising deeds… And he drew over many Jews and many of the Greeks… And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared” (Josephus, Antiquities 18:63, 64).

Additional evidence comes from an unlikely source and in a back-handed form. In about 300AD the accounts of Jesus’ wondrous deeds were still so indisputable even among His Jewish enemies, that in their Talmud it is recorded that Jesus was killed for “working magic”. This is not a reference to slight of hand card tricks but to supernatural powers. The records of His wonders had to be explained somehow by His enemies; calling Him a demonically controlled black-magic- working wizard was the best they could do.

Conclusion: indisputably, Jesus was a miracle worker sent from God. So the fact that He, as the most Divinely-authenticated miracle worker, and most celebrated spiritual teacher of all time claims that the Bible is the inspired, infallible, authoritative Word of God, provides the honest thinker with compelling testimony that the Bible is just that.

Food for thought.