The Divine Origin of the Bible

The fourth proof of the divine origin and authority of the Bible is the immeasurable superiority of its teachings compared to any other book, or all other books combined. The Bible is absolutely unique in its teachings.

Many people place the Bible in the same category as other sacred books and the teachings of great thinkers like Buddha, Zoroaster, Mohammed, Confucius, Socrates, Marcus Aurelius, Antoninus, Isocrates, Seneca, and Epictetus. Those who do this must be ignorant of either the teachings of the Bible or those of the others. There are three radical points of difference between the teachings of the Bible and all these others.

First, the Bible contains nothing but truth. These other teachings contain truth, but it is mixed with error. They have jewels, indeed, but they are “jewels picked out of the mud.” Take, for example, Socrates, for whom so much is claimed. This great philosopher taught beautifully how a philosopher ought to die, but his admirers often forget to mention that he also taught a woman of the town how to conduct her infamous business.

“Did not Marcus Aurelius Antoninus teach beautiful things about clemency?” we are asked. Yes, and he also taught that it was right to fiercely persecute people for no other crime than that of being Christians; and being emperor and having the power to do it, he practiced what he preached.

Second, these other teachings contain part of the truth, but the Bible contains all truth.

There is not a single truth on moral or spiritual subjects that cannot be found within this one book. Often, when lecturing on this subject, the writer has challenged anyone to bring forth a truth on moral or spiritual subjects that cannot be found in the Bible. No one has ever succeeded. The writer has compared some of the better teachings of those who have attacked the Bible with those of the book they have attacked. In every case, the jewels of thought found in the freethinkers’ teachings were stolen from the very book they ridiculed. If all the books besides the Bible were destroyed, not a single moral or spiritual truth would be lost if we still had the Bible. Is that not a deeply significant fact?

Third, the Bible contains more truth than all other books combined. Gather all the literature of ancient and modern times—Persia, India, China, Greece, Rome, all lands—sift out all that is bad or worthless and bring the result together into a book. You will not have a book that can replace the Bible. Burn all books but the Bible, and you do not lose a single moral or spiritual truth. Burn the Bible, and keep all other books, and you suffer an irreparable loss.

How can this be? It is a fact that must be acknowledged and answered by honest and thoughtful men: humanity, in all its centuries of thinking, has not thought out as much truth as is contained in this one book that is now more than eighteen centuries old. The Bible is not a large book. Copies of it are common enough to carry in a vest pocket, and there are even editions small enough to hold in the palm of your hand and hide completely by closing your fingers. Yet, in this small compass, there is more real and eternal wisdom than in all the thinking humanity has done in centuries.

How do you account for that? Rationally and fairly, there is only one way: this book does not contain man’s thinking, but God’s.