{"id":4525,"date":"2018-03-29T23:58:51","date_gmt":"2018-03-29T23:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/?p=4525"},"modified":"2023-08-29T11:22:24","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T17:22:24","slug":"biblical-revelation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/biblical-revelation\/","title":{"rendered":"Biblical Revelation: Authority of Scripture Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

This series attempts to present a sound rationale for believing that the Bible is from God to man. Apologetics is about knowing why we believe this. We admit that our belief in God is based on faith, but faith is not irrational.<\/em> God gives some evidence that the faith we have in Him is reasonable, but He gives us only <\/em>enough for that. He does not give us enough evidence that we have no need for faith to believe.<\/p>\n

Most of what we know about God comes from the Bible. In the last article<\/a>, we summarized the six main issues involved with assessing the authenticity and authority of the Bible. This article addresses the first issue: revelation<\/em>, which relates to the Bible\u2019s authorship and content.<\/em><\/p>\n

Four kinds of revelation<\/h2>\n

To briefly review, the Bible reveals at least four kinds of revelation from God. Two of these, creation and miracles, are what theologians<\/a> call incomplete revelation<\/em> because there are limits to what they reveal. We do not learn all we need to know about God by studying His created world or experiencing a miracle. Creation can show us that God is great (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:20), but no matter how long we look at it, we will not find God\u2019s instructions for our lives. Same goes for miracles.<\/p>\n

Two other kinds of Divine revelation make up complete revelation<\/em>. They do teach us all we need to know about God and His will for us.<\/p>\n

First, we know God through Jesus the Messiah. John 1:1 tells us that the Word of God is<\/em> God and that God was incarnate \u2014 Word became flesh. What we need to know about God we can see fully in Jesus Christ because \u201cin Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily<\/em>\u201d (Colossians 2:9, emphasis mine).<\/p>\n

Who better to reveal God than God himself? Jesus is the living demonstration of who God is (John 14:9). But the only valid picture we have of Jesus is the one the Bible reveals. We have to study Scripture to learn about the manifestation of God through Christ.<\/p>\n

And this brings us to the second kind of complete revelation, and focus of this article. Hebrews 1:1, 2 says:<\/p>\n

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.<\/p>\n

God revealed Himself to us through prophets and through His Son, and the Bible is the record of both. The message of the prophets and God\u2019s Word by and about Jesus came down to us in written form: the Bible, the only rule of faith and practice for humanity.<\/p>\n

Authorship<\/h2>\n

The Bible\u2019s author is God. That is reason alone for us to trust it. In addition, the following reasons should prompt us to further conclude that the Bible is a reliable and authoritative revelation.<\/p>\n