Is the Bible inspired by God?  Yes, all scriptures were given by inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16).  Every book, chapter, and verse in the Bible comes from the mind of God.  In fact, every word in the Bible is inspired (1 Corinthians 2:13).   The Holy Spirit chose, out of the vocabularies of inspired men, the exact words that He wanted to convey the will of God to man; thus, the Bible is God’s Word.

The longevity of the Bible alone is evidence of its inspiration.   In a book entitled Indestructible Foundations, Peter J. Wilson wrote of the amazing endurance of the scriptures.

“Imagine the odds against the writings of a handful of unlearned Jews in a captive Roman province, surviving the persecutions of the Jewish authorities and pagan religions and the determined effort of the Roman Empire to stamp them out.  Then to survive 1800 years of the onslaught of skeptics and atheists, the compromises of disloyal friends, etc., and to be the best known, the most widely read, the best-loved, and the most influential of all the writing of men is nothing short of a miracle.” 

Peter Wilson was right in his assessment of the Bible.  The reason it has lasted throughout the centuries, despite the many obstacles it has faced, is that it is under divine protection.  God has promised, by the inspired pen of Peter, that His Word would last forever.

1 Peter 1:24-25 (KJV)
²⁴  For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: ²⁵  But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

This is the best explanation for the survival of the Bible—it is God’s inspired Word.  It is not, though, just its survival that is impressive; its unity also points to it being an inspired book.  Think about it. While the Bible is made up of sixty-six books, it really functions as one book because it has a theme that runs from the first book until the last.  The story of man’s redemption begins with Genesis and concludes in the book of revelation, covering thousands of years.  What points to its inspiration, however, is who wrote it.  It was written by about forty different men, over a period of some 1,500 years.  Most of these men did not know each other.  They lived at different times, in different places, under different circumstances.  There was no collaboration between the large majority of them, for they lived hundreds of years apart.  Yet, somehow there are no provable contradictions in the book.  Such would be an impossible task for men operating apart from inspiration.  That is why there is not another book that has ever been written, in all the history of mankind, that can boast the same thing.  The Bible is the only book inspired by God.

We do not have the space in this short blog to write of all the evidence that proves the inspiration of the Bible.  Evidence such as the pre-scientific knowledge revealed in it, archaeology, and fulfilled prophecy.  Any of these things by themselves would be proof of inspiration.  When you add to them the nature of the book itself—its unity and longevity, there is no doubt that the answer to the question, “is the Bible inspired by God,” is a decisive yes.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.