Four More Reasons Why I Believe the Bible to Be the Word of God
I have given you thus far three reasons why I believe the Bible to be the Word of God. First, because of the testimony of Jesus Christ to that effect. We saw that Jesus Christ set the stamp of His authority upon the entire Old Testament and the entire New Testament, and that if we accepted the authority of Jesus Christ we had to accept the entire Bible as of divine origin and authority. Then we saw that we must accept the authority of Jesus Christ, for He was accredited to us by five unmistakable divine testimonies. My second reason was because of its fulfilled prophecies. We saw that the Bible had the power of looking into the future and predicting with minuteness and exactness things which were to occur hundreds of years ahead, and that these prophecies were fulfilled to the letter, and that a Book which had this power of looking into the future and telling with minuteness, exactness, and precision things that were to come to pass must have for its author the only One in the universe who knows the end from the beginning — that is God. Our third reason for believing the Bible to be the Word of God was because of the unity of the Book. We saw that though the Bible was composed of sixty-six books, written by at least forty human authors, the period of their composition extending over at least 1500 years, and displaying every form of literary structure, that there was one all-pervading thought and purpose through the entire Book, that every part of the Book fitted into every other part, and that the Bible was the most thoroughly one Book of any book extant, and that the only way of accounting for this undeniable and remarkable phenomenon was that back of the many human authors was the one all-governing, all-controlling, all-superintending, all-shaping mind of God.
My fourth reason for believing the Bible to be the Word of God is because of the immeasurable superiority of its teachings to those of any other or all other books. It was quite the fashion when I was studying in theological halls to compare the teachings of the Bible with those of ethnic seers and philosophers, with the teachings of Socrates, Plato, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Epictetus, Isocrates, Seneca, Buddha, Zoroaster, Confucius, Mencius, and Mohammed. This is getting to be the fashion again. Anyone who institutes such a comparison and puts the Bible in the same class with ,hese other teachers must be either ignorant of the teachings of the Bible or of the teachings of these ethnic seers and philosophers, or what is more frequently the case, ignorant of both. There are three points of radical difference between the teachings of the Bible and those of any other book.
First, these other teachers contain truth, but truth mixed with error. The Bible contains nothing but truth. There are gems of thought in these ethnic writers, but as Joseph Cook said years ago, “Jewels picked out of the mud.” For example, we are often asked: “Did not Socrates teach most beautifully how a philosopher ought to die?” He did, but they forget to tell us that he also taught a woman of the town how to conduct her business that was not quite so nice. Again they ask us: “Did not Marcus Aurelius Antoninus teach most excellently about clemency?” He did. It is well worth reading; but they forget to tell us that he also taught that it was right to put people to death for no other crime than that of being Christians, and being himself Emperor of Rome, and, having power to do it, he practised what he preached. “Did not Seneca,” they ask, “discourse finely about the advantages of poverty?” He did, but they forget to tell us that Seneca himself was at the time one of the worst spendthrifts in Rome, the onyx tables alone in his mansion costing a fabulous fortune. Moreover, he was the tutor under whose influence the most infamous emperor that Rome ever had, Nero, was brought up. “Did not Confucius,” they ask again, “set forth admirably the duty of children to parents?” He did, but they forget to tell us that Confucius also taught that it was right to tell lies on occasion, and unblushingly tells us that he himself practised lying on occasions. And there is perhaps nothing in which his most devoted followers, the Chinese, have followed so closely in the footsteps of their great master as in this matter of lying. The Chinese have reduced lying to a fine art, and a typical Chinaman will tell anything “to save his face.”
The second point of difference is that these other writings contain part of the truth, while the Bible contains all the truth. There is not a single known truth on moral or spiritual subjects that cannot be found within the covers of the Bible. This is a most remarkable fact — the Bible is an old Book, and yet man in all his thinking before and since the Bible was written has not discovered one single truth on moral or spiritual subjects that cannot be found in substance within the covers of the Bible. In other words, if all other books were destroyed and the Bible left, we would suffer no essential loss on moral and spiritual subjects, but if the Bible were destroyed and all other books left, the loss would be irreparable. Why is this, if the Bible is men’s book as other books are men’s books? Oftentimes I have challenged anyone in my audiences to bring forward one single truth on moral or spiritual subjects that I could not find within the
Bible, — it is quite conceivable that someone should succeed in doing this, for I do not pretend to know everything that is in the Bible; I have only been studying it a little over a quarter of a century, — but no one has been able to do it yet.
The third point of radical difference is this, that the Bible contains more truth than all other books put together. You can go to all literature, ancient and modern, the literature of ancient Greece, ancient Rome, ancient India, ancient Persia, and ancient China, and all modern literature as well, cull out of it all that is good, throw away all that is bad or worthless, bring together the result of your labor into one book, and even then you will not have a book that will take the place of this one Book. Why is it, if the Bible is men’s book as other books are men’s books, that in all the thousands of years of men’s thinking, in all the millions of books that they have produced, men have not been able, all of them put together, to produce so much of real and priceless wisdom as is contained in this one Book? The answer is plain — other books are men’s books, the Bible stands alone as God’s Book.
My fifth reason for believing the Bible to be the Word of God is because of the history of the Book, its omnipotence against all men’s attacks. What man has made, man can destroy. But eighteen centuries of most strenuous and determined assault have been unable to destroy or undermine intelligent faith in the Bible. Scarcely was the Bible given to the world before men discovered three things about it: First, that it condemned sin. Second, that it demanded renunciation of self. Third, that it laid human pride in the dust. Men were not willing to give up sin, not willing to renounce self, not willing to have their pride laid in the dust, therefore they hated the Book that made these demands. Man’s hatred of the Bible has been most intense and most active. It determined on the destruction of the Book that it hated. Man after man has arisen with the determination to destroy this Book. Celsus tried it, with the brilliancy of his genius, and he failed. Then Porphyry tried it, with the depth of his philosophy, and he failed. Lucien tried it, with the keenness of his satire, and he failed. Then Diocletian came on the scene of action and tried other weapons; he brought to bear against the Bible all the military and political power of the strongest empire the world ever knew at the height of its glory. He issued edicts that every Bible should be burned, but that failed. Stronger edicts were issued — that those who owned Bibles should be put to death, and that failed. For eighteen centuries the attack upon the Bible has gone on. Every engine of destruction that human wisdom, human science, human philosophy, human wit, human satire, human force, and human brutality could bring to bear against a book have been brought to bear against this Book, and the Bible still stands. At times all the great of earth have been against it and only an obscure remnant for it, but still the Bible has more than held its own. It has to-day a firmer hold upon the confidence and affection of the best and wisest men and women than it ever had before in the world’s history. If the Bible had been man’s book, it would have gone down and been forgotten centuries ago; but because there is in this Book not only the hiding of God’s wisdom, but the hiding of His power, it has wonderfully fulfilled the words of Jesus, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.”
At times it has seemed to some, amid the deafening roar of the enemies’ artillery and the dense smoke of battle, as if the Bible must have gone down; but when the smoke has rolled up from the field of conflict this impregnable citadel of God’s eternal truth has reared its lofty head heavenward, unscathed, without one stone dislodged from foundation to highest parapet. Each new assault upon the Bible has simply served to illustrate anew the absolute omnipotence of this God-given Book. In a way, I rejoice in every new attack that is made upon the Bible. I tremble for certain weak-minded men and women who are willing to swallow anything that they are assured is the consensus of the latest scholarship; but for the Bible itself I have no fears. A Book that has successfully withstood eighteen centuries of assault of the devil’s heaviest artillery is not going down before the air-guns of
modern criticism.
Sixth. My sixth reason for believing the Bible to be the Word of God is because of the influence of the Book, its power to lift men up to God. Every candid man must see and admit that there is a power in this Book to brighten and gladden and beautify and ennoble human lives, to lift men up to God, that no other book possesses. A stream can rise no higher than its source, and a Book that has a power to lift men up to God that no book possesses, must have come down from God in a way no other book has. In literally millions of cases this Book has demonstrated its power to reach down to men and women in the deepest depths of iniquity and degradation and lift them up, up, up, up, until they were fit for a place beside the Christ upon the throne. I recall a man of brilliant parts, but stupefied and brutalized and demonized by drink, and this man was an agnostic. I urged him to accept the Bible and the Christ of the Bible, but with a hollow laugh he said: “I don’t believe in your Bible or your Christ. I am an agnostic.” But at last, sunken to the lowest depths of ruin, he threw his agnosticism to the winds and accepted this Book and the Christ of this Book, and by the power of this Book was transformed into one of the truest, noblest, humblest men I know. What other book could do it? This Book has power, not only to lift individuals, but nations
Godwards. We owe all that is best in our modern civilization, in our political, commercial, and domestic life, to the influence of this Book. The man who attacks the Book is attacking the very foundations of all that is best in modern civilization. The man who attacks the Bible is the worst enemy that an individual or society has.
Seventh, I believe the Bible to be the Word of God, because of the character of those who accept it as such, and because of the character of those who reject it. Two things speak for the Divine origin of this Book — the character of those who are sure that it is the Word of God, and the character of those who deny it. Oftentimes when some man or woman says to me, “I believe firmly the Bible to be the Word of God,” and when I look at the purity, the beauty, the humility, the devotion to God and man that there is in their character, how near they live to God, I feel like saying, “I am glad that you do believe the Bible to be the Word of God. The fact that one who lives so near God, and knows God as well as you do, believes the Bible to be His Book, is a confirmation of my own faith that it is.” On the other hand, oftentimes when men with a self-confident toss of the head say, “I do not believe the Bible is the Word of God,” and when I look at the sinfulness or selfishness or smallness or sordidness of their lives, how far they live from God, I feel like saying, “I am glad that you do not. The fact that a man who is living upon the plane that you are living, living so far from God, and knows God so little, doubts that the Bible is the Word of God, is a confirmation of my own faith that it is.” Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean by this that every man who professes to believe in the Bible is better than every man who rejects the Bible; but what I do mean is this, show me a man who is living a life of absolute surrender to God, living under the control of the Spirit of God, living a life of devotion to the highest welfare of his fellow-men, a life of humility and of prayer, and I will show you every time a man who believes the Bible to be God’s Word. On the other hand, show me a man who denies or persistently questions whether the Bible is the Word of God, and I will show you a man that is leading either (mind you, I say “either,” not “all “) a life of greed for gold, or of lust, or of self-will, or of spiritual pride. I challenge any man to furnish me an exception. I have been looking for one literally around the world, and I have never found one. An attempt to furnish an exception has been made a number of times, but it is simply laughable to think of the men suggested as leading lives of “humility and prayer,” or to think of them as not leading lives of “self-will.” Anyone who has not surrendered absolutely to God is leading a life of “self-will.” In other words, all who live nearest God and know God best are sure that the Bible is God’s Word.
Those who have most doubts about it are those who are living farthest from God and know God least. Which will you believe? Suppose that there were discovered in the city of Boston a manuscript which purported to be by Oliver Wendell Holmes, but that there was great discussion among the critics as to whether or not Oliver Wendell Holmes were the real author. Finally it was submitted to a committee of critics for decision, and it was discovered that all those critics who knew Oliver Wendell Holmes best, who lived in most intimate fellowship with him, who were most in sympathy with his thought, were absolutely unanimous in their declaration that the manuscript was by him, and that those who questioned it were those who knew Oliver Wendell Holmes the least, and had the least fellowship with him, and were least in sympathy with his thought, which would you believe? That is a very simple question in literary criticism, much simpler than that which our modern critics so confidently undertake to solve, namely, as to who may be the seven diflferent authors of a single verse in a book written thousands of years ago, as is attempted in that monumental joke book of the nineteenth century, the Polychrome Bible. Now this is the precise case with the Bible; all who live nearest God and know God best, all who are in most intimate fellowship with Him, are of absolutely one accord in saying that the Bible is His work. Those who have the most doubts about it are those who live farthest from Him and know God least.
There is another significant fact, that the nearer men get to God, the more confident they become that the Bible is His Word. The farther they drift from God, the more doubts enter their hearts. The following is a case of constant occurrence, that a man who is a sinner and an unbeliever, by the mere fact of giving up his sin without further argument is delivered from his unbelief. Can anyone cite one single instance of an opposite kind, where one was a sinner and a believer, and by the fact of his giving up his sin lost his faith?
Furthermore, how often does it occur that a man, who at one period was living a life of consecration, of nearness to God, and enjoyed a serene and undisturbed faith that the Bible was God’s Word, begins to prosper in the things of this world, the love of money enters his heart, he drifts away, from the out-and-out separation of his life to God, and as he drifts from God he drifts into doubt and into lax views about the Bible. We see this to-day upon every hand — men who are becoming lax in their morals also becoming lax in their doctrine. Broad morals and broad theology go hand in hand; they are twin brothers. So true is this that oftentimes when men tell me that they are getting into doubt, I put to them the question, “What have you been doing?” Once, walking in a university town, I saw a little way ahead of me on the street a young fellow that I knew. I caught up with him and said to him, “Charlie, how are you getting on?” and with a self-satisfied look he said, “Well, to tell you the truth, Mr. Torrey, I am getting somewhat skeptical.” I said, “Charlie, what have you been doing?” The poor fellow blushed and dropped his head. Charlie had been sinning, and sin had begotten doubt. This is the history of the genesis of doubt in the hearts of thousands of men to-day.
Where is the stronghold of the Bible? The pure, happy, unselfish home. Where is the stronghold of infidelity? The public-house, the race-course, the gambling hell, and the brothel. Suppose that I should come, a stranger to your - city, and should go into one of your public-houses with a Bible under my arm, lay my Bible down upon the bar, and order a glass of whisky straight, and add, “Make it big,” what would happen? There would be great surprise. Quite likely the bartender would say, “Pardon me, but what is that book? Is not that the Bible?” “Yes.” “And what did you ask for — a tumbler of whisky straight?” “Yes, and make it large.” He would not know what to make of it. But suppose I should enter the public-house and lay upon the bar a copy of any work of Ingersoll or of Bradlaugh, a copy of the Clarion, or the Agnostic Journal, or Freethinker, or the most respectable infidel book or paper that there is, and order a glass of whisky straight, I would get it without a question or a look of surprise. It would be just what they would expect. The Bible and whisky don’t go together. Infidelity and whisky do go together. When I was in Belfast I made this remark, and at the close of the address a physician came to me laughing, and said: “We had yesterday an illustration of just what you said. After your afternoon Bible reading my mother went into a licensed grocer’s to get a little brandy for a friend who was ill. She had her Bible in her hand, and, without thinking, was trying to put it into the bag that she carried. The clerk who was waiting upon her said: ‘That is right, madam, hide it. The two don’t go well together.’”