How To Know For Sure If The Bible Is True

When it comes to truth, everybody talks a good game.  People will tell you they are “truth-seekers,” that they will follow wherever the evidence leads, that they only wants the facts, that they can create a no-spin zone.  On and on it goes. But truth is a big deal. It doesn’t only encompass the mundane relational, societal, and political matters of life, but more importantly that which has to do with God and the meaning of existence.  Everything comes under the umbrella of truth. You can’t compartmentalize it. To say you want truth in one category but not in another category disqualifies you from wanting truth. It’s an all or nothing package. So how do you get it, or even better, be guaranteed to get it?

Before we can even answer if truth can be known in a guaranteed way, we should ask if truth can be known at all.  The answer to this question can only go one of two directions. The first way is to embrace the view that a person cannot know anything at all.  This is plunge into total darkness, the utter unraveling of life, yet the math on this is simple. At the most generous, let’s say that I know 5% of all knowledge in the universe.  This is a staggering sum which puts me in a category of genius beyond any human to have ever lived. But none of it matters because of one crushing reality; the 95% that I don’t know can invalidate what I think I know.  Which means I can’t say that I know anything. Isn’t this what the agnostic says? No, agnostics typically only say this about spiritual matters. And there is a reason for that. If you can be agnostic about God, but retain true knowledge about other things, then you can operate in life.  But as we have seen, true knowledge is not possible without total knowledge. And the end result of this is a level of skepticism which will snuff out life. If I can’t know that what I am thinking is coherent, that there is any meaning, that tomorrow will be like today, that people exist around me, that good or bad exist, and so many other fundamental life facts, then I can’t actually live.  If anyone could actually operate consistently with this view, life becomes unlivable.  

Therefore, the other direction is the only real possibility.  The other direction for answering if truth can be known is to first acknowledge the reality of the 5% and 95%.  Our limited finiteness precludes us from attaining true knowledge on our own.  Unless we have absolute knowledge about everything, we can’t have certain knowledge about anything.  But if someone with absolute knowledge tells us what is true, then certain knowledge is attainable. There is someone like this.  God has absolute knowledge. And this omniscient God has made truth known to all people according to Romans 1:18-21. This is called common grace.  This is why people do not descend into the black madness of total skepticism, but instead go to work and raise families and balance checkbooks and create judicial systems.  They really do know things because God has revealed it to them. They may not acknowledge that God has made it known to them, but nevertheless God put within them the sense that they actually know things, including right and wrong.  This is the very point of Romans 1:18-21.

So this is where people live.  They operate in God’s world, living with confidence that tomorrow will be like today, that the laws of logic remain unchanged, and that wrong and right are fixed in place.  But what if someone wants more? What about the meaning of the universe? What about the purpose of life? What about the origins of it all? What about the existence of suffering? What about knowing God personally?  Can these things be known? If so, how does a person attain such knowledge? 

The impulse of every Christian is to turn to the Bible.  But here is the problem. Bibles abound. It is the single greatest best-seller of all time.  And with the advent of the technological revolution, every person with access to an internet connection can access all the bibles and translations they want.  And yet, people are still bumbling around for truth.  

Is the Bible not sufficient?  Quite to the contrary. It is totally sufficient.  It is the perfect revelation of truth. So why isn’t it working all the time for every person?  Because something must happen first before truth is truly known with certainty.  

What is this thing that must happen?  What is the guarantee that truth will be unleashed upon a soul?  Jesus, who is the truth and the very Word of God, explains to those who are listening to him.   

John 7:16–17 So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. 

This is a truly stunning statement.  You can know for sure whether the Bible is true.  But there is only one way you are going to know it and that one way is through your heart desires being in line with God’s desires.  Truth is only accessible to those who truly want the one who is the truth. God’s will is that you love him. If you seek him as the infinitely valuable one, then he will let himself be found.  

What does this mean about those who say they are seeking God, but say they haven’t found anything?  According to Jesus, they are not seeking God. They are seeking something, but it is not to know God.  Most likely they are wanting to find a god. They would like a god that fits with their own most cherished commitments.  Think about what the Pharisees did. They often came to Jesus with questions. Isn’t this truth-seeking? Jesus exposed the heart beneath their seeking. 

John 5:44  “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? 

The Pharisees were not willing to do his will and seek him above all else.  They had pursuits of power and influence and man-glory that filled their hearts.  They were only willing to be directed by those commitments. They were not willing to do the will of God, and so Jesus became an obstacle to remove, and his teaching something to silence.  

Just as being willing to do the will of God assuredly connects you to truth, you can see the opposite effect at play as well.  When people are not willing to do the will of God, God will keep them from the truth. He continues to give common grace so that they can know what is needed for living in this world, but God will withhold gospel truth from those who do not want it for knowing and loving him. 

Matthew 21:25–27  “The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26 “But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet.” 27 And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. 

You can also see this in the book of proverbs. 

Proverbs 1:24–25; 28-29 “Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; 25 And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof… “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the Lord. 

If you think about the parable of the soils in Matthew 13, the key issue is the nature of the soil.  Only when the soil is good soil will it receive the word and bear fruit from it. So how does the soil become good?  How does a heart become willing to do the will of God? There is only one way: the drawing, transforming, regenerating grace of God.  Soil cannot make itself good. It has to be tilled and fertilized. A heart cannot make itself want the right things. It has to be changed by grace.  When God begins this work, he will complete it. So the guaranteed way to know the truth about God and his word, is the unstoppable grace of God.  

If you realize your heart is the obstacle to truth, that it is hard, that self-deception is lingering in the recesses of your heart, now is the time to cry out to God for it to be revealed and undone.  Confess your need for a new heart. Don’t stop until all you think about, all you desire, no matter what it costs, is to know Him and his Son Jesus Christ.