Just One Among Many

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17

The divine verbal inspiration of the Bible is a central tenet of the Christian faith. Being handed down from God to man the Bible is our record of what He has done to save mankind and functions as our final authority for instruction on how we live our lives in response to His work.

Naysayers point to such claims as “double-talk,” and argue against inspiration by asking questions like, “Which one should I believe? There are so many ‘holy books’ out there.”

Obviously, a mere claim of divine inspiration does not automatically make it true. To defend the Bible’s inspiration solely on the basis that it SAYS it is inspired is to be guilty of a blind faith, and will likely lead to failure in trying to persuade non-believers of its inspiration. But what of this notion that it is one among many?

The truth is, claims of divine inspiration are extremely rare. According to author Kenny Barfield, there are only seven religious documents in existence that specifically claim divine verbal inspiration. This may come as somewhat of a shock to some. Indeed, there are countless other creeds and writings which purport to possess a significant importance, and many of their misguided adherents will clamor about defending them as being “divinely inspired.” Yet they are making claims that the documents themselves do not make.

The Bible is not “just one of many” books that claims to have been handed down from God. Such assertions are few and far between.

“[Yet] none of them exhibits such amazing qualities as the predictive prophecy and scientific foreknowledge that can be found in the Bible. Furthermore, the unity of the Bible and its accurate historical documentation of biblical people, places, and events is unparalleled in human history and bears testimony to the fact that the very existence of the Holy Scriptures cannot be explained in any other way except to acknowledge that they are the result of an overriding, superintending, guiding Mind.” (Eric Lyons – The Claim of Inspiration)

Indeed, the Bible is in a category all its own.