How do you know the Bible is inspired?

[dellsOfBittersweet]

On what authority do we know that the Bible is inspired? The Bible itself doesn't directly say so, so it's inspiration and inerrancy must rest on the statement of some other authority. What authority?

You mean the Pope???

Still have no idea what you mean by your statement- ...so it's inspiration and inerrancy must rest on the statement of some other authority. What authority?

You must have an answer - what is it you are getting at?
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Sorry for the delay. Shame, shame, shame. I owe you guys better!

My answer is that the authority rests on the authority of the Church he founded. Christ told Peter "You are rock, and on this Rock I will build my Church. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matt 16:18-19) The key points here is that Christ is founding a Church, and is giving the head of that Church the "Keys to the kingdom." In our culture the meaning of this phrase has been lost, but to the people of the time the reference was unambiguous-it refers to the authority of the prime minister. Compare this passage to Isiah 22:20-24 "20 “In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. 22 I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 23 I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat[a] of honor for the house of his father. 24 All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars." As seen with Eliakim, the prime minister is symbolized by the keys to the kingdom, the prime minister acts with the authority of the King, and the office is passed down from father to son throughout time; it does not end with the death of the original person appointed.

So it is with the Church. The King is Christ, and Peter is his prime minister. Peter speaks with Christ's authority, and his office is passed on to his successors till Christ shall return again. My main point is not that "the Bible is inspired because the Pope says so" and I'm not tyring to make a one man show out of the Pope either. I'm using this information to build to a larger point-Christ established a Church endowned with His own authority (elsewhere the Bible says "whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven"). Christ invested power in the Bishops, the first of which were the Apostles. We see in Acts after the death of Judas, the first example of Apostolic Succession. As Acts 1:23-25 reads, "So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles." The Pope, the Prime minister at the head, along with the Bishops, the princes of the church, compose the teaching authority of the Church. On the authority of the Bishops in union with the Pope, an the authority established by Christ, we can know that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.

[Beanybag]

I just have a quick question.. how do we know the church has an authority from founding without using the Bible (since you're trying to establish the inspiration of the bible without being circular)? Further, how do we know that Jesus established the church with Peter as its rock without the Bible? And then, how do we know about the divinity of Jesus without the Bible? I feel like this is not the appropriate way to work towards establishing its validity. I feel like it might be better to work downwards from a belief in God to Jesus to the Bible instead of upwards from the Church & Bible to God. You have to establish God to establish the concept of 'inspired' to begin with anyways. Once you have a rough form of theism (personal all-powerful creator), you can get to Jesus through miracles and revelation? I've also heard people argue for Biblical prophecies as proof of their inspiration, although I don't like that as much. Felt like contributing, not that my point of view is worth much.

[B. W.]

Sorry for the delay. Shame, shame, shame. I owe you guys better!

My answer is that the authority rests on the authority of the Church he founded. Christ told Peter "You are rock, and on this Rock I will build my Church. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matt 16:18-19) The key points here is that Christ is founding a Church, and is giving the head of that Church the "Keys to the kingdom." In our culture the meaning of this phrase has been lost, but to the people of the time the reference was unambiguous-it refers to the authority of the prime minister. Compare this passage to Isiah 22:20-24 "20 “In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. 22 I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 23 I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat[a] of honor for the house of his father. 24 All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars." As seen with Eliakim, the prime minister is symbolized by the keys to the kingdom, the prime minister acts with the authority of the King, and the office is passed down from father to son throughout time; it does not end with the death of the original person appointed.

So it is with the Church. The King is Christ, and Peter is his prime minister. Peter speaks with Christ's authority, and his office is passed on to his successors till Christ shall return again. My main point is not that "the Bible is inspired because the Pope says so" and I'm not tyring to make a one man show out of the Pope either. I'm using this information to build to a larger point-Christ established a Church endowned with His own authority (elsewhere the Bible says "whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven"). Christ invested power in the Bishops, the first of which were the Apostles. We see in Acts after the death of Judas, the first example of Apostolic Succession. As Acts 1:23-25 reads, "So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles." The Pope, the Prime minister at the head, along with the Bishops, the princes of the church, compose the teaching authority of the Church. On the authority of the Bishops in union with the Pope, an the authority established by Christ, we can know that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.

Thank you dell for your answer...

Here is my take - God is sovereign and what we have now was as the books of the bible came by his hand alone. No other books were found to replace these or add to it. What we have is by his sovereign will and purpose alone. That way and only that way - the gates of hell can't prevail.

The Lord resides in Christians by the Holy Spirit and the bible reveals that the Holy Spirit is what leads us to truth ...

Blessings

[Byblos]

I just have a quick question.. how do we know the church has an authority from founding without using the Bible (since you're trying to establish the inspiration of the bible without being circular)?

On Jesus' word and Jesus proved who he was, no circularity.

Further, how do we know that Jesus established the church with Peter as its rock without the Bible?

Same as above plus oral apostolic tradition.

And then, how do we know about the divinity of Jesus without the Bible?

Same as above.

I feel like this is not the appropriate way to work towards establishing its validity. I feel like it might be better to work downwards from a belief in God to Jesus to the Bible instead of upwards from the Church & Bible to God. You have to establish God to establish the concept of 'inspired' to begin with anyways. Once you have a rough form of theism (personal all-powerful creator), you can get to Jesus through miracles and revelation?

I totally agree with you. From classical philosophy we can establish without God there is nothing. From classical theism we can establish God's simplicity (entailing omnipotence, omniscience, etc). From Jesus we can establish the inspiration of the OT, the incarnation, the resurrection, the church, and the inspiration of the NT. And the rest as they say is history.

In any case, I don't think the argument presented here is a bottom up approach. It is merely establishing where authority came from (rightly or wrongly, I am not arguing one way or the other), and not necessarily in a chronological order.

I've also heard people argue for Biblical prophecies as proof of their inspiration, although I don't like that as much. Felt like contributing, not that my point of view is worth much.

Biblical prophecy can be used as a secondary proof of inspiration. The first proof is Jesus who proclaimed scripture as inspired and Jesus' words are authentic because he proved who he is.

[PaulSacramento]

Outside of the bible we have the writings of the apostolic fathers, that give direct testimony on how the documents that would later be called the bible were viewed and gives us a more direct view of apostolic tradition and succession.
We also have the writings of the critics.

[dellsOfBittersweet]

I just have a quick question.. how do we know the church has an authority from founding without using the Bible (since you're trying to establish the inspiration of the bible without being circular)? Further, how do we know that Jesus established the church with Peter as its rock without the Bible? And then, how do we know about the divinity of Jesus without the Bible? I feel like this is not the appropriate way to work towards establishing its validity. I feel like it might be better to work downwards from a belief in God to Jesus to the Bible instead of upwards from the Church & Bible to God. You have to establish God to establish the concept of 'inspired' to begin with anyways. Once you have a rough form of theism (personal all-powerful creator), you can get to Jesus through miracles and revelation? I've also heard people argue for Biblical prophecies as proof of their inspiration, although I don't like that as much. Felt like contributing, not that my point of view is worth much.

Excellent point. I considered bringing this up and clarifying this issue in my previous post, but decided against it for simplicity.

The argument is only circular if you need the Bible to be inspired to prove the authority of the Church. I actually would argue along your lines somewhat to get to your conclusion, but think that the authority of the Church is a necessary missing premise.

I would begin by using philosphy to prove the existance of God. I would then use history to prove the existence of Jesus and His Ressurection. For this point we don't need to know that the Bible is inspired, only that the Bible is an accurate historical account, and this can be proven through textual analysis. For this point we also do not need the Bible alone. We can back this point up from the writings of Josephus and other contemporary sources. Based on the fact that the Bible is an accurate historical document, we can conclude that Jesus founded a church and invested His authority in that Church. On the authority of this Church, we can conlcude that the Bible is inspired.