The Authority of the Bible [Sermon]

Anush A. John
Oct 10
5 min read

Updated: Nov 3

Chiang Mai, Thailand

October 2025

1.0 What is the Authority of Scripture

2.0 Basis for the Authority of Scripture

2.1 Self-Attestation of Scripture

a. Repeated biblical formulas: “Thus says the Lord,” “The word of the Lord came…”

b. God is seen as a King: a king’s word is binding;

c. OT: Scripture is called both “law” and “prophecy.”

d. NT: Apostles recognized their writings as God’s Word and Jesus promised the Spirit would inspire their teaching and writings (John 14–16).

2.2 Confirmation by the Holy Spirit

John 10:27 ESV

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."

2.3 The Divine Origin of Scripture

Heb 4:12:

For the word of God is living and active ESV

‘I have to believe that Jesus was (and is) God. And it seems plain as a matter of history that He taught His followers that the new life was communicated in this way. In other words, I believe it on His authority. Do not be scared by the word authority. Believing things on authority only means believing them because you have been told them by someone you think trustworthy. Ninety-nine per cent of the things you believe are believed on authority. I believe there is such a place as New York. I have not seen it myself. I could not prove by abstract reasoning that there must be such a place. I believe it because reliable people have told me so. The ordinary man believes in the Solar System, atoms … and the circulation of the blood on authority—because the scientists say so. Every historical statement in the world is believed on authority. None of us has seen the Norman Conquest or the defeat of the Armada. None of us could prove them by pure logic as you prove a thing in mathematics. We believe them simply because people who did see them have left writings that tell us about them: in fact, on authority. A man who jibbed at authority in other things as some people do in religion would have to be content to know nothing all his life. CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

2.4 Inspiration Of Scripture

2 Peter 1:21

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. ESV

Scripture	Divine Claim	Mode of Transmission	Source of Authority
Buddhist Texts	Teachings of Buddha	Oral then written, centuries of transmission	Buddha’s enlightenment (not a deity)
Quran	Direct word of God	Dictated to Prophet Muhammed	Personal, direct dictation
Bible	Inspired by God	Written by prophets/apostles	Personal guidance, inspiration
Hindu Vedas (Shruti)	Heard divine truth	Received by rishis, oral tradition	Impersonal, cosmic revelation

2 Tim 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness ESV

2.5 Inerrancy of Scripture

Authority vs Inerrancy

Authority answers the question: Does the Bible have the right to tell us what to believe and how to live?

Inerrancy answers the question: Is the Bible true in everything it teaches?

Inerrancy vs infallibility:

A text is inerrant if it has no errors.

A text is infallible if it can have no errors in it.

Inerrancy and Truth

(1) metaphysical truth

John 17:3 the only true God ESV

(2) propositional truth

Malachi 3:6 (ESV): "For I the Lord do not change

(3) ethical truth

Involves statements about what is morally right, good, or obligatory

1 John 1:6

"If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." ESV

Inerrancy and Precision

The Bible is true but not necessarily precise. The Bible does not need to be precise to be true.

Inerrancy means that the Bible is true, not that is it completely precise. It is precise enough to be true.

The inerrancy of Scripture means that Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact.

Bible Difficulty Categories

2.6 The Unity (Content) Of Scripture

Biblical Section	Covenantal Relationship
Books of Law	Show what God expects of his covenant people.
Books of History	Indicate man’s actual response.
Psalms	Contain the praise, laments, questionings, blessings, and cursings that should be on the lips of a covenant people.
Wisdom Books	Contain applications of the covenant law to human problems.
Prophets	Bring God’s covenant lawsuit against the covenant-breakers while also promising covenant renewal.
Gospels and Acts	Present the history of the new covenant.
Epistles and Revelation	Apply the new covenant to believers and to world history.

2.7 Credibility Of Scripture

2.7.1 Historicity.

2.7.2 Truthful.

Is the Christian Faith Relevant Today? Dallas, TX, October 2022

2.7.3 Prophecy

Can I Trust the Bible? Timonium, MD, January 2023

2.7.4 Archaeology

Archaeological Credibility of the Bible, Bangalore, India, August 2024

Matthew 26:14-16

14 Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

1. The Last King of Babylon

Daniel 5:1 ff

King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand.

5 Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote.

29 Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

30 That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. 31 And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

2. Pool of Bethesda

John 5:2

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.

3. Fractured legs

John 19:32-34: So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.

4. Widow at Nain

Luke 7:11-15: Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the [casket], and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

5. Cost of a Slave

Gen 37:28: Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.

Exod 21:32: If the ox gores a slave, … the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

Matthew 26:14-15

14 Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.

L&G, Judas sold his master for 1/4th the cost of a common slave.