Page 6 - Doctrine and History of the Preservation of the Bible Student Textbook

Our view, approach, and attitude toward the Bible are foundational. If our view of the Bible is
inadequate we will naturally handle the Bible accordingly. If we do not think it is God-breathed, we
won’t think it is profitable for direction in life. If we think it contains a lot of errors, or that only some of
it is inspired while other parts are not, then we are left with the dilemma of knowing what part is true
and what part is not. On the other hand, if we believe it is God’s infallible and inerrant Word, as the
evidence we will study supports, then we can accept every part of it and study it carefully, applying all of
it to our daily lives.

The Bible declares itself to be God’s spoken word to man.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness, ESV

2 Peter 1:20-21 Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own
interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they
were carried along by the Holy Spirit. ESV

Matthew 5:18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass
from the Law until all is accomplished. ESV

2 John 1:9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God.
Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. ESV

We find that the writers of Scripture claimed that God spoke to them and told them to write
down the contents of what he said. For example, we read.

Exodus 17:14 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and
make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under
heaven"

Moses obeyed God by writing down things that the Lord
instructed him to write.

Deuteronomy 31:22 So Moses wrote down this song that
day and taught it to the Israelites

In the Book of Jeremiah we read of God telling Jeremiah to
write down certain things.

Jeremiah 30:2 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, "Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a
book"

In both testaments we find the writers stating that the words they spoke or wrote were ultimately from
God and not from themselves. Peter stressed the words of the Lord were spoken and written through
the apostles.

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