SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY: INTERNAL EVIDENCE^*

© Colin W. Mitchell, Ph. D.
Binfield, England

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments claim divine inspiration throughout but contain two distinct types of message. The first type is those messages which claim to be the direct utterances of God. This includes the Decalogue and over 2,000 statements introduced by such phrases as 'the word of the LORD came to . . .' or 'thus saith the LORD'. The actual words of Christ in the New Testament belong to this category. Although their arrangement in the text may be due to the author, the message is directly from God.

The second type of message consists of narratives, teachings, and poetry composed by the human writers themselves, but which are arrangements of Scripture quotations, historical records, oral accounts, or personal observations. The Pauline epistles and the book of Acts are examples of this method. Rice¹ has defined the first type as 'prophetic' and the second as 'Lucan', choosing these terms because the prophets frequently spoke words given them directly by God, whereas Luke selected and arranged a number of sources.

The Bible authors wrote mainly in Hebrew and Greek although Aramaic is occasionally used.² Translations can be valid only to the extent that they reproduce the true sense of the original. As the different writers present a subject under different aspects and relations, there may appear to be discrepancies and contradictions, but reverent study, with clearer insight, shows the underlying harmony.

There area number of lines of evidence that the Bible is the infallible Word of God.

TESTIMONY OF THE INTERNAL CLAIM

The internal claim to divine authority is so frequent that to quote all the passages would require a book. It is both directly stated and implicitly assumed in both Old and New Testaments. Direct statements are made by David, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Luke, and Paul.³ Peter goes so far as to state that the Scriptures are surer than the evidence of the senses.⁴

Scriptural authority is also assumed in many passages where there is no direct statement. Both Moses and John warn against adding or subtracting from it.⁵ David refers to the law as everlasting,⁶ and Amos says that God will reveal all His works through His prophets.⁷

The outstanding testimony comes from our Lord. He clearly supports the authority and everlasting nature of every word,⁸ refers to Old Testament passages as authoritative both before and after the Resurrection,⁹ and equates God with the authorship of the first two chapters of Genesis.¹⁰ He settles a dispute by taking two words from a psalm, calling them the Law and saying that it cannot be broken.¹¹ He even makes the exact moment of His own death depend upon the fulfilment of one verse,¹² and continues to quote the Scriptures even after the Resurrection.¹³

TESTIMONY OF ITS UNITY

About forty writers, widely differing in occupation and experience, scattered from Egypt to Babylon, and from Rome to Midian, wrote over a span of 1,500 years. Yet when brought together the writings show one Author and one theme

TESTIMONY OF ITS ENDURANCE

The Bible claims that its words will last forever.¹⁴ Despite frequent attempts over 2 millenia to destroy, ban, or restrict its circulation, it remains the world's best seller. Opposition has tended to increase, rather than decrease, its popularity.

TESTIMONY OF SCIENCE

Although the Bible is not a textbook on science, except the science of salvation, every statement shows a knowledge which can only have come from a deep creative intelligence. Although man's discoveries do not all apparently agree with it, the trend has always been for advancing science to confirm it. This is evidence that the Creator must be its author. It contains statements about the nature of the universe and such details as health laws, unknown when it was written, which were only discovered much later by human science and partly through following its guidance.

The Bible's understanding of cosmology can be seen not only in direct statements about Creation and the Flood but also in many intimations which show that the authors, even if they did not always understand all they wrote, were in fact inspired by a source of knowledge which can only have come from the Creator. A number of examples of this can be quoted.

Hipparchus in the second century BC believed that the number of stars in the sky was less than 3,000, and Ptolemy m the second century AD counted 1,056. However, 400 years earlier Jeremiah had stated that the stars were innumerable.¹⁵ This was repeated by the author of Hebrews in the first century AD,¹⁶ and finally confirmed by modern telescopes.

The Bible states that the Earth is spherical,¹⁷ that it hangs unsupported in space,¹⁸ and that the atmosphere, has the character of a tent with wind and water vapour in a circulating cycle.¹⁹ 0nly since the Renaissance have these facts been appreciated.

Biblical health laws reveal a knowledge of the human body which implies the insight of a Creator. This is now being increasingly demonstrated from scientific evidence. The main causes of death in Western countries are atherosclerosis and cancer. They are almost always due to diets high in cholesterol and saturated fats, the former entirely, and the latter partly, from animal products. The Mosaic law forbade the human consumption of animal fat.²¹

Another example is the injunction about infant circumcision. Modern medical science has verified that the greatest risk of haemorrhage from incisions occurs between two and seven days of life. This is because at birth a baby's intestines contain no bacteria and these only proliferate in the 4th to 7th days. These bacteria ate needed to form the vitamin K which is important in forming clotting proteins in the liver. After the seventh day, the operation becomes increasingly traumatic as the child's consciousness of pain increases. It can only be because of prior knowledge of the human body that Scripture enjoins circumcision on the eighth day.²²

TESTIMONY OF THE JEWS: Acts 7:36; Jeremiah 31:36, 37; Leviticus 26:32, 33; Numbers 23:9

The existence of the Jewish people is a standing testimony to the historicity of the Scriptures. Their observance of the Passover and the Mosaic law are perpetual reminders of their Egyptian bondage and of the Exodus. The Jewish diaspora among the nations is a reminder of Old Testament prophecies that they would be thus scattered.²³ Their unchanging attachment to Jerusalem continually recalls the central place of its temple in worship. The Arch of Titus in Rome is a standing witness to the fall of Jerusalem in AD70. Its representation of the vessels of the Tabernacle links Gentile history incontestably to the religion given by God on Mount Sinai more than 3,000 years ago.

TESTIMONY OF FULFILLED PROPHECY RELATING TO FOREIGN NATIONS

The antiquity and prophetic character of the Old Testament writings has always been accepted by the Jews. In recent years this has been strongly confirmed by the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. These were leather scrolls wrapped in linen cloth and placed in jars in numerous caves in the marly cliffs at Qumran, a mile or so west of the north-western corner of the Dead Sea. They date from the first century BC to the first century AD, thus antedating by centuries previously known texts, which they closely confirm.

The caves contained fragments of every Old Testament book except Esther. No fewer than twelve manuscripts of Isaiah and ten of the Psalms were found in a single cave. A significant find with bearings on the date and authorship of the book of Daniel was that fragments show the change from Hebrew to Aramaic in 2:4 and from Aramaic to Hebrew in 7:28-8:1, exactly as in our modern texts of Daniel.

Much the greatest amount of fulfilled prophecy relates to the Messiah. There are two main reasons why this is especially strong evidence for Scriptural authority. First, the prophecies are both numerous and highly detailed, extending to some of the minutiae of Jesus' life on Earth. Secondly, the prophecies are incontestably earlier than their fulfilments. Even before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, it was universally accepted that the Old Testament books in which they occur were in existence before our Lord's first coming.

TESTIMONY OF BIBLE'S POWER TO TRANSFORM CHARACTER: 1 Peter 1:23; Hebrews 4:12; Psalm 119:11

The Scriptures claim an ability to transform character, and by common consent this is true. It has inspired most of the world's material and moral improvements and has enobled individuals and societies which have followed it.

SUMMARY

There are many lines of evidence not only for the authority, but also for the infallibility, of the Scriptures. They make these claims for themselves in both Old and New Testaments, sometimes by statement, but more often by assumption. They have a remarkable unity, despite the variety of authors and the 1,500 years they span. They have endured despite continuous opposition. They show inerrant scientific insights, although written at a time when modern science was unknown. The existence of the Jewish people is a continuing testimony to the accuracy of their history as given in the Old Testament.

The capacity of the Scriptures to foretell the future has often been verified, notably about the fate of nations, and above all, about the Messiah. Finally, the Bible has demonstrated a unique ability to transform character and lives.

*This material is taken from Chapter 12 of The Case for Creationism by Dr. Colin Mitchell

REFERENCES

¹1983, page 16. ²e.g. in Daniel 2:4-7:28c.³2 Samuel 23:1, 2; Jeremiah 1:4-9; Ezekiel 2:7; Luke 1:70; 2 Timothy 3:16. ⁴2 Peter 1:20, 21. ⁵Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:18, 19. ⁶Psalm 119:152. ⁷Amos 3:7. ⁸Matthew 5:18. ⁹e.g. Matthew 24:15; Luke 16:31; 24:27. ¹⁰Matthew 19:4, 5. ¹¹John 10:34, 35. ¹²Psalm 69:21. ¹³Luke 24:25-27. ¹⁴psalm 12:7; Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 24:35; I Peter 1:23-25. ¹⁵ Jeremiah 33:22. ¹⁶Hebrews 11:12. ¹⁷Isaiah 40:22. ¹⁸ Job 26:7. ¹⁹1saiah 40:22, Ecclesiastes 1:6, 7. ²⁰ Job 38:6. ²¹Leviticus 3:17. ²²Genesis 17:12; McMi!len 1970, pages 91, 92.²³ Leviticus 26:33; Psalm 44:11; Jeremiah 31:10; Ezekiel 12:15. ²⁴Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911, article on Egypt.