7 Proofs Scripture is God’s Word

From Thomas Watson’s A Body of Divinity:

“There are seven cogent arguments which may evince it to be the Word of God.

  1. Its antiquity. It is of ancient standing. The grey hairs of Scripture make it venerable. No human histories extant reach further than Noah’s flood: but the holy Scripture relates matters of fact that have been from the beginning of the world; it writes of things before time.
  2. We may know the Scripture to be the Word of God by its miraculous preservation in all ages. The holy Scriptures are the richest jewel that Christ has left us; and the church of God has so kept these public records of heaven, that they have not been lost. The letter of Scripture has been preserved, without any corruption, in the original tongue.
  3. The Scripture appears to be the Word of God, by the matter contained in it. The mystery of Scripture is so abstruse and profound that no man or angel could have known it, had it not been divinely revealed. All laws and edicts of men have had their corruptions, but the Word of God has not the least tincture, it is of meridian splendor. The Scripture presses holiness, so as no other book ever did: it bids us live ‘soberly, righteously, and godly’.
  4. The the Scripture is the Word of God is evident by its predictions. It prophesies of things to come, which shows the voice of God speaking in it.
  5. The impartiality of those men of God who wrote the Scriptures, who do not spare to set down their own failings. What man that writes a history would black his own face, by recording those things of himself that might stain his reputation? Men usually hid their blemishes than publish them to the world; but the penmen of holy Scripture eclipse their own name; they take away all glory from themselves, and give glory to God.
  6. The mighty power and efficacy that the Word has had upon the souls and conscience of men. It has changed their hearts. Some by reading Scripture have been turned into other men; they have been made holy and gracious. By reading other books the heart may be warmed, but by reading this book it is transformed. Now, the Scriptures having such an exhilarating, heart-comforting power in them, shows clearly that they are of God, and it is he that has put the milk of consolation into these breasts.
  7. The miracles by which Scripture is confirmed. Miracles were used by Moses, Elijah, and Christ, and were continued, many years after, by the apostles, to confirm the verity of the holy Scriptures. Thus God has set a seal to the truth and divinity of the Scriptures by miracles.”

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