Are there any errors in the Bible?

Last updated on March 3, 2022

re there any errors in the Bible?

The Bible is the Word of God. God is faithful and trustworthy. Everything He says is true. Therefore there are no errors in the Bible.

Jesus says we can trust the Bible

The most important thing in the Christian faith is knowing the Lord Jesus. How do we get to know Him? Mainly through the Bible. So to be able to know Jesus, we need to be sure we can trust the Bible. Jesus says we can.
In the beginning of the Bible we read “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). This is a comment by the author of Genesis. But Jesus says that God said these words (Matthew 19:4-5). So the words of the Bible, according to Jesus, are God’s words. They are not just a collection of stories and poetry of people who had an experience with God. The Bible is the product of one mind: God’s. The Bible tells us: trust Jesus. And Jesus tells us: trust the Bible. They confirm each other’s authority.

Jesus showed it

Jesus not only taught us that the Bible is God’s Word. He showed it as well. He is the Son of God, with the highest authority. But when Satan came to tempt Jesus, Jesus told him that He would obey the Word of God. He said: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4). Jesus also willingly went to His death because He knew it was written in the Bible that He should die this way (see e.g. Matthew 26:24 and 53-56). God the Son took the Bible as His authority because He accepted the Bible as God’s Word. If Jesus did so, so can we.

God’s Word for you and me

Jesus affirms that God speaks in the Bible. Then He goes one step further. He teaches that God speaks to us in the Bible. In the Old Testament, God tells Moses “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6). But Jesus tells the Sadducees that God says this ‘to you’ (Matthew 22:31). So the Bible is not just God’s words for the people who heard them in the past. The Bible is God’s Word for you and me right now. Therefore it is such a privilege to have the Bible and to read the Bible. It brings such blessing to obey the Bible. For if we accept the Bible as the Word of God, it will be at work in us and change us (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

What about the New Testament?

Maybe you say: “Jesus was talking about the Old Testament. How can we know the New Testament is God’s Word as well?” When you read the New Testament with a heart focused on God, the Holy Spirit confirms to you that it is God’s Word. The New Testament itself explains that God’s speaking is not limited to the Old Testament. Jesus said that after His time on earth, the Holy Spirit will reveal more truth to the disciples. And Peter called Paul’s epistles ‘Scripture’, that is: the Word of God (2 Peter 3:16).

Trust God

Don’t worry that you can’t trust the Bible because of poetic language, generalizations, other conventions about quoting people, or other issues. If you let go of the authority of the Bible, you end up with a religion of your own making. Trust God speaks to you in the Bible. His message is that there is forgiveness of sins and eternal life for everyone who repents of his sins and believes in Jesus Christ as his Savior.

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