What does Scripture claim to be? Not what have “experts” said about it. Not what do the History Channel and unbelieving scholars say. What kind of claim does Scripture make for itself? A much fuller answer could be given by reviewing over many hours the many specific texts that speak to it, but a simple summary can be easily stated: the Scriptures claim to be the God-breathed, fully trustworthy, infallible and unerring Word of God, written and preserved for his people. We do not believe the Bible is a book about God written by men. We do not believe it is a record of what others have said about God. We believe it is a completely accurate and trustworthy guide to what God himself says. It is accurate in all that it represents, even when quoting the words of a liar or of the Devil himself. It is not an academic history or a scientific text, but it is accurate in its report of such matters, even if they are not its focus. And while Scripture’s true identity and nature is made known by the Holy Spirit testifying in the regenerate heart, its claims and reports can be tested and corroborated by the historical statements it makes. It is not an unverifiable piece of fairy tale or mythology. It is a historical work of literature testifying of real events involving real people in real places, and its authority is not ethereal but robustly earthly, practical, and powerful for real people living in real places down to the present day.
Fairy tales begin once upon a time in a faraway land, and they end with everyone living happily ever after--okay, technically that’s only true in the sissified Disney versions, but we’re drawing a contrast, not doing in-depth literary analysis of folklore. The fairy tale does not claim to be an historical story; it claims to be about something true that probably never happened. By contrast, much academic historical work and journalisming today claims to be a historical account regarding something that isn’t true. But the Scriptures claim to be both: historical and true to life. Actual and philosophical. And it does this not by recounting imaginary events in a faraway land but by recording real events involving specified persons, places, and times. The ending is a little like a modern fairy tale, but not exactly. The Bridegroom who was destined to be King saves his Bride, slays the Dragon, has a multitude of children, inherits a magical new world, and lives happily ever after together with them there, and everyone else burns in Hell.
Now some people are too enlightened to believe that Scripture is true in its recounting of history, but they say they are perfectly willing to accept it as a guide to faith and worship. How noble. They believe the Bible was written by a bunch of ancient, ignorant boobs who don’t really know what happened and can’t really be trusted concerning what they think they know, but we can definitely rely on them to tell us what to believe and how to get to heaven. This is the kind of proposal only a highly educated person could accept. Anyone with enough sense to come in out of the rain or who has ever had a real blister on his hand is more likely to call that nonsense what it is.
It matters what we think about what Scripture says, because you can’t say the book is false and undependable on one point without undermining everything else. Many scholars are content to mythologize John’s Gospel. It’s the “theological” account, not the original historical version. But that’s not what John says. He says in v.24 this is what really happened. It is eyewitness testimony. And if the witness gets his facts wrong, how can we rely on his testimony? It would be like saying a man was an intelligent, morally upstanding person other than being an arrogant, ignorant liar.
We cannot speak out of both sides of our mouth when it comes to the Bible, and if you decide to believe that what the Bible says about itself is true, then you have to be prepared for the fact that much of the world will think you are the idiot. If you can’t believe the OT history, why would you think you can rely on the accounts of the resurrection? If the miracles of Jesus are ahistorical exaggerations, how can you trust his power to save you? Human authors will make mistakes. They get it wrong all the time. But if the Bible has errors and its history isn’t historical, the fault belongs to God, because he is the ultimate and infallible Author and Preserver of it. --JME
