The book of Galatians

The Life Project: Galatians

Candice Roberts

Paul writes the book of Galatians to a new church that has “deserted” the Grace of

Christ and accepted a new gospel. He is imploring the church to not turn from the

truth that they have been given to some new teaching. And this got me thinking. How

do we know that our Gospel, that our Bible is the truth, the inspired Word of God? How

do we know that the Bible is not just some book, a collection of stories by a bunch of

di

fferent men? There are after all many religious books that people claim are from

God. Why is our Gospel any di

fferent? I remember taking a doctrine class when I was in

7

th grade and one of the topics we studied was the accuracy and authority of the Bible.

So I pulled out some old memories and consulted some modern websites to provide

you with all the reasons Christians scholars believe the Bible to be the inspired,

accurate, infallible Word of God. I hope that it sparks some great discussion, but more

than that, I hope it serves to build your faith and inspire you to hold fast to the truth

that you have learned.

Scholars separate evidence for the authority of the Bible into internal evidence and

external evidence. Internal evidence is that which is found within scripture itself. This

evidence serves to testify to the divine origin of God’s Word. External evidence is then

of course evidence found in sources other than God’s Word.

The first of the internal evidences is the harmony found within the scriptures. “Even

though it is really sixty-six individual books, written on three continents, in three

di

fferent languages, over a period of 1500 years, by more than 40 authors who came

from many walks of life, the Bible remains one unified book from beginning to end

without contradiction,” from gotquestions.org. Talk about a miracle! I can’t get the

same story from my four children on an event that happened 15 minutes beforehand!!

But seriously, those kinds of numbers don’t happen by accident. If the Bible were not

true, one of those 40 authors would have exposed the sham. The proof for the Bible is

in the unity of the Bible.

Another internal evidence for the authority of God’s Word is found in the prophecies

about the Messiah in the Old Testament. There are hundreds of detailed prophecies

about the Messiah right down to his lineage, his birth place, even that he would spend

time in Egypt. The odds that one man would fulfill all these Messianic prophecies are

astronomical, unless of course that man really was the Messiah. Jesus fulfilled ALL of

these prophecies. For a great read about these Messianic prophecies, I recommend

The Real Messiah; Prophecies Fulfilled,

by Kennedy and Newcombe.

The third internal evidence for the divine nature of the Bible is its power!! Have you

ever experienced the Living Word? I have. And there are countless others who have

been transformed by the power of God’s Word. Addicted, depressed, suicidal,

hopeless, poor, broken, sick, tired; people are changed by the power of the Bible.

Does that happen when you read self-help books? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

There are also external evidences for the Bible. And for the truly skeptical, these are

the evidences that might mean the most. The historicity of the Bible is external

substantiation to the content within the Bible. The Bible has been subject to intense

scrutiny and found via other sources to be historically accurate. This doesn’t prove the

divine nature of the Bible, but it does prove that the Bible cannot entirely be a work of

fiction. Archaeological and manuscript evidence both support the accuracy of the

Bible’s historical details.

There is also scientific evidence for the accuracy of the Bible. Psalm 8:8 talks about

the “paths of the sea” and inspired oceanographer Commodore Maury to investigate

and discover the currents in the ocean. Job 36:27-28 speaks of the water cycle long

before Marcus Vitruvius explained it!

Another external evidence for the Bible lies in the character of its human authors.

What if you had written a fictional story and pretended it was true? And then what if

you were asked to admit it was fiction or face torture and death? You would tell the

truth, right? Yet none of the 40 men who wrote the Bible ever changed their story.

Many of them were tortured. Some of them were killed. And they went to their graves

testifying to the accuracy of the Bible. My guess is they were willing to die for the

Scripture because they regarded it as truth.

The final external proof for the Bible is in its indestructible nature. On more than one

occasion, people have tried to destroy the Bible. Take for instance the Diocletian

Persecution of 303-311. During this time Roman Christians faced the bloodiest and

most widespread persecution to date. Diocletian tried to stomp out every Christian

and every copy of the Bible that he could. And yet in 324, under the rule of

Constantine, Christianity became the o

fficial religion of the Roman Empire. The

survivability of the Bible through all the years, before the printing press, through all

sorts of persecution, is evidence for its divine nature.

Of course believing the Bible to be the inspired, divine, and authoritative Word of God,

involves more than evidence. It requires a measure of faith. But I pray that God grants

you great faith, and that your faith and your knowledge will encourage you to hold fast

to the truth that you have received.