There is a well known quote from CS Lewis that says “It is Christ Himself, not the Bible, who is the true word of God.”
Yes and no. Lewis was right to point out that Jesus is the Logos, the incarnate Word of God. But he was also very wrong to downplay the fact that the Scriptures are also the Word of God in written form. While yes, the Scriptures all do point to Jesus, Jesus, in turn, always brought His own teaching back to the Scriptures.
Jesus passionately believed in and taught the full authority of Scripture. In fact, He subjected Himself to the Scriptures. He quoted from the Tanach, or the Old Testament 78 times. Even if all you know about Jesus was that He taught us to Love God and love our neighbor, keep in mind that even then He was quoting from Scripture (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Leviticus 19:18, respectively). Here are some of His other statements:
- “You err, not knowing the Scriptures.” (Matthew 22:29)”
… the Scripture cannot be broken.”(John 10:35)
He emphasized repeatedly that Scripture must be fulfilled. (Matthew 26:56; Luke 4:21; Luke 22:37)
When Jesus quoted from the Old Testament, He referred to it as literal history. Some ask if Adam and Eve were real people. In Matthew 19:4; Jesus said they were. Did the great flood really happen? In Matthew 24:39, Jesus said yes. Did Jonah really get swallowed by a large fish? Again, Jesus said yes in Matthew 12:40.
Some would ask “How can the Bible be God’s Word when men wrote it?” If you write a note using a pen did you write it or did the pen write it? So the fact that God used human beings to write the Scriptures does not negate their inspiration at all. Men wrote as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). Jesus recognized this and was way ahead of His time in responding to modern critics of the Bible.
Did Moses write the Torah? Jesus said yes he did. Among the many places He affirmed that are Matthew 19:7, 8; Mark 7:10, Luke 5:14; and John 1:17.
Some question wheter or not all of the Book of Isaiah is authentic. According to Jesus, yes it is. Mark 7:6
