The Authority of the Bible

One of the most popular articles I’ve written is on the deutero-Isaiah hypothesis — the rather silly idea Isaiah didn’t actually write the book with his name on it.

John quotes from both halves of Isaiah, and attributes them to Isaiah. So who wrote Isaiah? Isaiah did.

Some people don’t like God’s Word, and express their God-denial in not-so-nice terms.

As I’ve said before, if someone came to me with the theory the moon is made of cheese, should I (we) spend time honoring their theory with a dignified, scholarly, well-reasoned rebuttal of moon-cheese?

Hardly (in reality, moon-cheese proponents have a better argument than deutero-Isaiah fans).

Most of these negative comments don’t contribute much, and contain errors.

  • Argument from majority — “everyone believes it”
  • Personal attacks — “you’re stupid”
  • Argument from authority — “smart people believe it”

The last one is funny. For you (ahem) youth-challenged people, remember this Camel ad?

The tag line: more doctors smoke Camels, than any other cigarette. Surely you take the word of a doctor, don’t you?

One person buried in the quagmire who actually did something beside make snarky comments brought up a valid point which is worth addressing (as opposed to moon-cheese) — that using the Bible itself to prove the Bible is circular reasoning — i.e. assuming what you’re trying to prove.

That displays a common misunderstanding of the Bible. What is that major, yet simple, error?

The Bible isn’t one book — it’s 66 books written by dozens of authors over thousands of years.

Nobody would argue otherwise … and yet … they do.

The Bible compiles many authors writings over thousands of years. It speaks with a single voice, but most definitely is not a single book.

When John speaks of Isaiah, it’s the same as Lincoln speaking of Washington.

What they subtly miss when stating the Bible is one book — it’s an admission a single theme runs through it, almost as if a silent spirit guided these guys while writing.

Wow.

Trying to claim the Bible as one book shows two things:

  1. Liberals don’t understand the Bible. Perhaps they should study a bit of history.
  2. Liberals admit a singular theme exists — as if the writings were guided by the Holy Spirit.

Don’t get caught up in their mistakes. The Bible speaks with one voice, but it is not one book.

For that reason, when John mentions Isaiah as the author, it’s not circular reasoning, it’s credible testimony and evidence.

Filed Under: Bible Study

Recommended Citation:
Yeager, Darrin "The Authority of the Bible" (2023-11-23 14:46),
https://www.dyeager.org/post/the-authority-of-the-bible.html
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