Followers of the Lord Jesus Christ should remember that we walk by faith and not by sight.
Women's Community Bible Study - In the final article of a six-part series on the development of the Bible, teacher and Bible commentator Nancy McGuirk discusses the fact that we have both internal and external evidence supporting the authenticity of Scripture. We have ample external evidence that the Bible is from God, as it reflects the very characteristics of God from beginning to end. Yet we have also been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is our internal evidence that this book is God’s Word.
We read in 2 Peter 1:21, “For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke from God.” In other words, God led each writer individually as He used each one with his unique personality to accomplish a divinely authoritative work. Inspiration means that God, the Holy Spirit, worked in a supernatural and powerful way through various men so that the written words of Scripture were also the words of God.
Even today, there is not only external evidence that this book comes from God, but also an inner revelation to those who have placed their faith in God through Jesus Christ. We find these words in 1 Corinthians 2:14: “The man without the Spirit cannot accept the things that come from God. They are foolish to him for they are spiritually discerned.”
It is, in fact, God Himself, through the Person of the Holy Spirit at work in us that reveals truth and helps us to accept and understand that truth. Consider the account at the end of the book of Luke. Here, Christ told the disciples that everything had to be fulfilled in Scriptures and then, “He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.”
Likewise, God opens our minds as we open our hearts to Him. “We shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free.” We have ample external evidence that the Bible is from God, as it reflects the very characteristics of God from beginning to end. Yet we have also been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is our internal evidence that this book we study is in fact God’s Word.
Followers of the Lord Jesus Christ should remember that we walk by faith and not by sight. As we seek to learn more about the Holy Spirit, we ought to pray for God’s guidance that our faith would grow. For we know that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”
(See below for other related articles in this series.)
Nancy McGuirk - Bible commentator, small group facilitator, and intercessor - is the founder and director of the Women's Community Bible Study International. Nancy ministers to thousands of people each week in person and through a video and audio tape ministry. The focus of her work is evangelism, discipleship and intercessory prayer. For more articles by Nancy McGuirk, go to her website at Women’s Community Bible Study a Christianity.com ministry partner.
