Hi,
Quick question. How do we know (you guys in particular) that the Bible is the true word of God? Likewise, How do you know that it is indeed the true word of God instead of other writings such as the Quran and etc?
The question probably requires some unpacking.
In Christianity the Word of God isn't text, He's a Person. Jesus Christ is the Word of God.
Further, the phrase "word of God" or "word of the Lord" and other similar expressions have been used in different contexts and can mean different things depending on context. For example in Psalm 119:105 the Psalmist says, "Your word is a lamp unto my feet", by which the author refers to the Torah, the commandments/instructions which God gave the Jewish people as part of the Covenant He established with them on Mt. Horeb, as recorded in the books of the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). In the writings of the ancient Prophets of Israel we often find the use of the phrase, "the word of YHVH" usually rendered as "the word of the Lord"; that is the word God spoke to, and through, His prophets in ancient times. In the New Testament we see St. Paul the Apostle speak of preaching the word, such as in Romans 10:17 where he says of the preaching of the Gospel, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (some variant manuscripts instead read "word of God" here)--the "word of Christ" here is the Gospel message that is preached itself.
The Bible isn't book, which is a common misunderstanding, even among Christians sometimes. The very word "Bible" is taken from the Latin biblia, a borrowing of the Greek βιβλία (biblia), the plural form of the word βιβλίον (biblion) meaning "book". Thus "The Bible" simply means "The Books", which is also why it is called "The Holy Bible"--the holy books, the holy writings/scriptures.
To understand the Bible as the Canon of Sacred Scripture of the Christian religion requires understanding a bit about how the Bible came about in the first place.
In the first century, at the time of Jesus, there was no universally agreed upon Jewish Canon of Scripture. Judaism was divided into different groups, the two most notable being the Sadducees comprised of the Jewish priests and aristocracy; and the Pharisees who represented the more common everyman's Judaism--the Judaism of the synagogue. There were other groups, for example the still obscure Essenes (who may or may not be the same as the Qumran group responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls).
The Sadducees only accepted the Torah as written in the five books of the Pentateuch as Scripture. The Pharisees however embraded a wider set of Scriptures, but there was no definite boundaries or edges of the Canon. Specifically the Pharisees embraced the Torah (Pentateuch), the Prophets (such as Isaiah and Jeremiah), and the Psalms/Writings (the most important of which being the book of the Psalms themselves). There was no clear consensus, and the Jewish Canon of Scripture would evolve into the modern Jewish Bible (The Tanakh) into the centuries following the destruction of the Jewish Temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD through the debates and work of rabbinical scholars.
At the same time as this, centuries before Jesus was born, a group of Jewish scholars living in Alexandria, Egypt made a translation of Jewish sacred texts into Greek. This Greek translation of these works came to be known as the Septuagint (meaning "The Seventy"), sometimes also known by the Roman Numerals LXX (again, meaning seventy)--on the basis of an old legend or tradition that 72 independent Jewish scholars each produced their own translation, and when they compared the results they were all identical. The LXX, by the time of Jesus, would have been an already very useful work, being in the Greek tongue, the lingua franca of the ancient Greco-Roman world.
This is why in the writings that make up what would be later called the New Testament, and among many ancient Christian writers generally, quotes from those books which would eventually be called the Old Testament often quote/reference the LXX. It was a readily available Greek translation that made it easier for everyone.
The first Christians worshiped in the same way as their Jewish counterparts did, in the Jewish synagogues and the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, but as Gentiles converts began to enter the Christian communities throughout the world, and as it became more apparent that Christianity and Judaism would diverge into separate religious traditions, Christians continued to worship the same way their Jewish counterparts did. By coming together for prayer, Scripture reading, and teaching (a sermon/homily). In addition to these things was also the most important aspect of Christian worship, the Lord's Supper or Holy Eucharist. This is the origins of the historic Christian worship service, the Liturgy.
Christianity inherited the notion of Sacred Scripture from Judaism, hence why early Christians referred to certain works as Sacred Scripture. But there was no definitive Canon of Scripture. That would arise over time. When Christians met together for worship, there would be set readings from Scripture, and the questions arose--which writings should be read? What should be read in the context of Christian worship. And that question continued to be very important for centuries.
What would eventually be called the New Testament can be identified pretty early on in Christianity, by the end of the 2nd century there was a well established Proto-New Testament, or what we might call the core New Testament. These books are known as the Homolegoumena, or the universally accepted books. These are the Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Thirteen Epistles of Paul, 1 & 2 John, and 1 Peter. In addition to the Homolegoumena, there were the disputed books, called Antilegomena. The Antilegomena consists of both books that did eventually become part of the New Testament accepted by all Christians everywhere, as well as books that didn't. These include the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistle of James, the Epistle of Jude, 3 John, 2 Peter, the Revelation of John, the Epistle of Barnabas, the Epistle of Clement (aka 1st Clement), the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Didache.
The modern New Testament didn't arise through bureaucracy, but rather arose through the growing general consensus of the Faithful over time. That these books were beneficial, sacred, to be received and read in the context of worship, for the edification, correction, teaching, of the Faithful. No single bishop, no ecumenical council, no higher-up unilaterally ever chose the Canon. The Canon arose more democratically--by the voluntary consent and consensus of Christians around the world in continued communion and dialogue with one another.
The Old Testament arose through a similar process; but had a head start. Generally debates over what would become the Christian Old Testament involved a core Old Testament already accepted by the Pharisees in Jesus' time--the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Psalms. But also the presence of the Septuagint also played a central role in Christian worship and practice. But questions over certain books, notably those books often called Deuterocanonical--books that are in the Septuagint, but not in the later Jewish Tanakh--were sources of conversation, discussion, and at times disagreement. And while the history and story of this cannot be summed up easily in so few words; this is, in part, why there continue to be differences among Christians over the Old Testament. Specifically, Catholics and Orthodox accept the Deuterocanonicals (though the Orthodox technically accept more than Catholics do), while most Protestants either completely reject the Deuterocanonicals, or else regard the Deuterocanonicals a status of important, but not Scripture (the opinion Martin Luther himself had).
In the context of Christian faith, worship, and practice, our Scriptures have been received down through the centuries because of their enduring witness to Jesus, and the Apostolic faith of the Christian Church. Through which we believe God remains active in the life of the Church.
St. Augustine of Hippo said of the Scriptures, that the Scriptures have only a single Utterance, and that Utterance is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Word that the Scriptures speak to us. Jesus Himself said, "You search the Scriptures because in them you believe you have eternal life, it is these which bear witness to Me". And that statement by Jesus is the fundamental understanding of the Bible in Christianity: The Bible bears witness to Jesus. That is why we call the two parts of the Bible the Old and New Testaments; from the Latin
testamentum, itself from
testari, "I testify"--they are the testament, the testimony, the witness-bearer of Jesus Christ. Of the hope and promise of redemption in the Old before His birth, and the witness of the Apostles and Evangelists whose writings make up the New.
Christians don't accept the sacred works of other religions, because they aren't what Christians have been reading and confessing for the last two thousand years--the books of the Bible, are.
The Qur'an (as just one example) contains statements directly in conflict with Christian faith and teaching, and thus has no use or place in Christian faith and practice. It is our faith in Jesus, and His Gospel, that is per-eminent; the Bible is ministerial to that purpose. The Bible serves faith, not the other way around.
For a TL;DR version: The Bible isn't the point of Christianity, Jesus is. The Bible points to Jesus.
-CryptoLutheran
