2 Timothy 2:15 – Study to show thyself approved.
Validity of the Source
It is important to have trust in the source of where one is obtaining their information, especially in matters so essential to life and death...eternally speaking. This post will evaluate the source (Bible) from which the bulk of the information will be pulled from.
Question: Is there ample evidence to conclude that the Bible is, in fact, a volume of divine origin?
The answer is an unequivocal, YES. Sufficient evidence is established through the following:
- Unity of Scripture
- Accurate historical and geographical details
- Prophecies regarding nations, people, and the Messiah
- As well as as the physical world in which we live, more about that in later posts.
The Bible is the living, active, word of God. Scripture is God breathed and holy men of God wrote as they were inspired, telling of one single story of man’s fall from a perfect condition, his redemption through the person of Jesus Christ, and complete restoration at His second coming. We have this hope!
The Bible tells us that scripture was God-breathed, meaning men of God was guided by the Holy Spirit to record precious pearls of truths applicable to each generation. Scripture is the living words of God. For those interested a scripture study will be available as a post and will be titled: Let God’s Work Speak for Itself – The Word of God – Scripture Study.
For centuries the Bible has been taking hold of people’s lives and making them tremble—first with fear because it reveals our sin, then with faith because it reveals God’s grace. A single verse, Romans 13:13, convicted and converted the immoral Augustine. For Martin Luther, a miserable monk, the light broke in through Romans 1:17.
He said,
Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that “the just shall live by his faith.” Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise.
Here I Stand, p. 49
For Jonathan Edwards it was 1 Timothy 1:17, He says,
The first instance, that I remember, of that sort of inward, sweet delight in God and divine things, that I have lived much in since, was on reading these words, 1 Tim. 1:17, “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” As I read the words, there came into my soul . . . a sense of the glory of the Divine Being; a new sense quite different from anything I ever experienced before. Never any words of Scripture seemed to me as these words did.
Works, vol. 1 p. xii
From century to century, from Egypt to Germany to New England, the Bible has been drawing people to Christ and making them new.
Unity of Scripture
Question: Is it reasonably possible that some forty men, from varying backgrounds, cultures, languages, education, profession and living across more than fifteen hundred years in time; designed sixty-six components that came together to form a precision machine that revolutionized the world?
Impossible, you say! Exactly—from the human vantage point! HOWEVER, that is precisely what happened in the case of the Bible. The Bible has an amazing unity and beautiful continuity throughout is pages.
Accurate Historical and Geographical Details
Question: If the Bible is the verbally inspired word of God, one ought to be able to expect it to be absolutely accurate in the various areas of subject matter upon which it touches – correct?
Absolutely, you say! The Bible, though, is always amazingly accurate in its historical and geographical details. For example, biblical evidence indicates that Moses authored the Pentateuch (cf. Exodus 17:14; Mark 12:26). This is confirmed by Josephus (Against Apion, I, 8), and a number of pagan writers – Hecataeus, Manetha, Lysimachus, Eupolemus, Tacitus, Juvenal, and Longinus – all credit Moses with the laws that distinguished the Jews from other nations (cf. George Rawlinson, Historical Evidences of the Truth of the Scripture Records, 1877, p. 254f).
Prophecies Regarding Nations, People, and the Messiah
Question: Does the Bible pass the prophecy test? Exactly what is predictive prophecy?
Thomas H. Home declared that it is “a miracle of knowledge, a declaration or representation of something future, beyond the power of human sagacity to discern or to calculate” (1872, 119).
In order for prophecy to be valid, the following criteria must obtain. It must involve:
- Proper timing (i.e., significantly preceding the fulfillment);
- Specific details—not vague generalities or remote possibilities;
- Exact fulfillment—not merely a high degree of probability.The prophecies of the Bible fit these standards exactly!
Reference Article:
The Holy Bible, Inspired of God: A Look at the Evidence” by Wayne Jackson. https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1578-the-holy-bible-inspired-of-god-a-look-at-the-evidence
Disclaimer: THE PLAIN WORD may quote an outside article(s) or provide reference to third-party materials, which indicate that we stand behind the content of that particular article or reference; but it is not an endorsement by The Plain Word of the author’s opinion, lifestyle or work published elsewhere.
2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” AND 1 Thessalonians 5:21, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”